Herdsmen neglected since independence while farmers enjoy govt’s attention – Bello

*Says “Cattle routes” no longer feasible, the practice “has to stop”

GOVERNOR Abubakar Bello of Niger State has said herdsmen deserve better treatment than they have been receiving from the government considering that they add to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product.

Bello, who said given better treatment herdsmen can reduce unemployment, lamented that much attention has been paid to farmers in the country while the herders were neglected.

The governor stated this today at the Government House in Minna, the state capital, while addressing journalists on progress made to secure the release of abducted students and members of staff of Government Science College, Kagara.

Bello also said he would be meeting with stakeholders at the grassroots to proffer solution to the insecurity in the state.

He said, “I have called for a meeting with all the first class emirs on Tuesday and all the Fulani heads to discuss. Sometimes, we need to understand ourselves to find solutions. Maybe they also have problems, maybe. So, we need to talk to them to read their minds and to understand what their problems are, so that we can address it.

“The truth of the matter is that since independence, no one has paid attention to herdsmen who are mostly Fulanis because not all herdsmen are Fulanis but 90 per cent are Fulanis. Nobody has paid attention to them, no one has paid attention to their education, all we do is we see them on market days, they come and we see them and we laugh. Nobody paid attention.

“So, they were moving from place to place with their cattle being attacked but now the time has come to stop all that practice, it is no longer feasible, there are no longer cattle routes anymore.

“As long as they move their cattle from different towns, different states, down South, there will be problem because there are no more cattle routes, population has increased, we are about 200 million now, more people are farming.

“We have paid more attention to farmers, all the programmes, all the incentives to farmers, zero to herders. They (herders) also add to the GDP, they also will increase our economy, they also can create jobs if planned very well. So, the time has come to look at them to capture them very well in the system and that must be done for an everlasting peace.”