The Council of Fulani Chiefs of South-West Nigeria has announced a ban on night and underage grazing as part of new measures to curb insecurity and reduce farmers/herders’ clashes in the region.
The Chairman of the Council and Sarki Fulani of Lagos, Mohammed Bambado II, made this known in a statement sent to PUNCH Online on Monday.
Bambado said the measures, which also discourage inter-state migration of herders, were necessary to restore peace and sustain the cordial relationship between herders and their host communities.
The South-West has witnessed years of bloody clashes between farmers and herders over open grazing, with several state governments enacting anti-open grazing laws in response.
In some cases, farmlands have been destroyed, while kidnappings and killings linked to herders have heightened tension between indigenous communities and Fulani settlers.
Bambado, however, stressed that the Fulani community had lived peacefully with indigenous people in the South West for over 200 years.
He also noted that the council was determined to preserve that relationship for future generations.
The statement partly read, “The council unanimously, with strong terms, affirms an absolute ban on night grazing, underage grazing, and herders carrying firearms and other related dangerous weapons that are not relevant to the profession. This indeed will contribute to effective sanity and peace in the sector.
“The council is firm, committed, and determined to pass on to future generations the sustained cordiality of the relationship and peace that they have maintained for those two centuries. Considering the current security realities of the country, it becomes pertinent to discourage herder migration from one state to another and encourage modern grazing patterns at any of our respective locations that could be sustainable.”
The council chairman added that parts of his resolutions include collaboration with the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria Commission to strengthen regional security, regulating herder migration across states, and launching a sensitisation tour to educate herders on modern grazing practices.
He also condemned banditry, kidnapping, farmland destruction, and any form of conflict linked to herders.
While calling on security agencies and the National Security Adviser’s office to fish out criminal elements both within their community and among local collaborators, Bambado also disclosed the council’s decision to integrate Fulanis of Kwara State into its fold to ensure a joint solution that is easy.
“Kwara State should be included under this council for a joint security solution, as any insecurity tendency I’m Kwara tends to spread into the southwest due to the close border posts through Ekiti State, Oyo State, and the Benin Republic, respectively,” he added.
On achieving peace and livestock development, he stated, “We have agreed to launch a comprehensive sensitisation and engagement tour to educate our people on adopting global best practices in livestock production and strict adherence to the law of the land, promoting peaceful coexistence, given the current security realities of the country.”
This is as he called for the revival of nomadic education centres across Fulani settlements in the Southwest.
He explained that the council had embarked on data collection to enable it to know its members and their cattle for easy management.
The PUNCH reported in January that farmers in southern states said they were beginning to have respite from incessant attacks by herders who invade their farms with cows and attack teams in the process.
They linked the positive development to increased dialogue and the government’s body language, saying the herders feel they no longer have the government’s tacit support as before.
