Following the consistent attacks between farmers and herders in the country, Fulani leaders from across the 13 Local Government Areas of Nasarawa State have called on their kinsmen who are cattle breeders and pastoralists to live in peace and harmony among other residents of the state and Nigerians in general.
The Fulani leaders made the call on Friday in Lafia, the state capital, during a stakeholders’ engagement organised by the Fulbe Development and Cultural Organization, tagged “Consolidating the Outcomes of the IDRC-SPARC GES Research Findings on the Economic Empowerment of Pastoralist Women in Nasarawa State.”
Speaking at the event, the Nasarawa State Chairman of FUDECO, Muhammad Habib Hussaini, expressed deep concerns about the consistent disagreements between farmers and herders in several states across the country, and called on the government at all levels to work towards peacebuilding in rural communities.
Hussaini, who spoke for the Fulani leaders, while decrying the situation, called on the Federal and State governments to consider reviving most of the abandoned nomadic schools to ensure that cattle breeders and pastoralists in rural areas receive sound education, noting that illiteracy could be a major factor in the unending crisis between herders and farmers.
He said, “We are calling on the government at all levels to revive and re-open nomadic schools because we see it as a solution to the clashes between herders and farmers. Most of the problems happening in our pastoralist communities can be traced to ignorance, so promoting nomadic education is very important.
“We want children of pastoralists to be educated and enlightened. This will enable them to understand the dangers of engaging in any form of crisis in society.”
The Nasarawa State FUDECO chairman further spoke about a recent empowerment of over 250 pastoralist women in the state who gained start-up capital, vocational skills, and several platforms for economic independence.
He noted that the funding for the empowerment programme was facilitated by the International Development Research Centre and Supporting Pastoralism and Agriculture in Recurrent and Protracted Crises, and expressed gratitude to UKAID for supporting the research project which revealed the best ways to empower pastoralist women in the state.
“Your funding has enabled us to empower over 250 pastoralist women across the 13 local government areas of Nasarawa State through vocational skills training. Now, we gather to share the findings of our research.
“This project aims to promote the economic empowerment of pastoralist women, and our research has evaluated its impact, identified challenges, and made recommendations for policymakers,” he said.
Hussaini added that the research focuses on critical issues such as gender equality, social inclusion, and women’s empowerment.
He, therefore, expressed optimism that, as a result of the engagement, Fulani stakeholders will join hands with FUDECO to work towards addressing the challenges faced by pastoralist communities such as limited access to social services, insecurity, marginalisation and exclusion, resource conflict, livestock diseases, among others.
In an interview, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Sociology, Federal University of Lafia, Dr Usman Ibrahim, who is also the Lead Researcher, explained that FUDECO came up with the plan to train the women on various skills in order for them to be financially stable, citing joblessness as a major cause of insecurity in the country.
“The reason why the Fulbe Development and Cultural Organization embarked on the training of over 250 pastoralist women, who were selected from across the 13 LGAs of the state, is to enable them to have skills that can help put food on their tables.
We observed that over 70 per cent of pastoralist women did not receive formal education, so the association felt it was important to help them acquire skills so that they won’t consider crime as an option for their daily survival. We believe that if they have something to do, they will not engage in crime because joblessness is a major reason for insecurity in Nigeria,” he said.
He, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government, Nasarawa State Government, and other good citizens of the country to support the organisation in every way possible to enable them to reach out to more pastoralist women in rural communities.
Our correspondent reports that representatives of various security agencies in the state, traditional and religious leaders, Fulani women and youth groups, among others, attended the stakeholders’ engagement.
