Prof. Yusuf Turaki, a convener of the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance (NINAS), has reacted to the proposed new Ministry of Livestock Development, saying that its implementation would reveal its true intentions.
The federal government had recently announced the creation of the Ministry of Livestock Development, and since then the proposal has been generating debate among Nigerians from various ethnic and socio-cultural backgrounds.
While some see the ministry as a solution to the recurring farmers-herders clashes, others view it as a move to favour the Fulani ethnic group.
According to the report by The Sun Newspaper on Saturday, Turaki recalled the divisive debate in the National Assembly, where the South and Middle Belt opposed open grazing, while the far North supported it.
He accused the federal government of playing a political game to appease the far North, citing past policies like RUGA, ranches, and cattle colonies aimed at giving the Fulani an advantage in Nigeria.
He stressed the historical seasonal migration of Fulani herders to the Middle Belt, which avoided clashes between farmers and herders.
Speaking further, he shared his experience on the Kaduna State Peace and Reconciliation Committee where the Fulanis complained about blocked routes, and how Hausa communities accused them of destroying crops.
He said, “I was a member of Kaduna State Peace and Reconciliation Committee after the 2011 crisis in the North over former President Goodluck Jonathan.
“We went to the northern part of Kaduna State, and the Fulanis were complaining to us that the Hausa people have blocked all their ways and routes that they can’t go back to the far North and Hausa communities in the northern part of the state said that when they do farming that Fulani people would come with their cattle to eat their crops. So they blocked them. Farmers have blocked the cattle routes that were free in the far North…..Viêw_More
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