Let’s protect Nigeria’s N30tn livestock economy, stop criminalising Fulani, group urges govt

The Kautal Pulaaku Fulbe Association of Nigeria, under the Confederation of Pastoralist NGOs (CONPA), has urged the Federal Government to protect and fund Nigeria’s ₦30 trillion livestock sector and to immediately end the dangerous ethnic profiling of Fulani pastoralists.

The demand was made in Abuja on Sunday by the President of Kautal Pulaaku, Dr. Huseini Buzaye, at a press conference attended by the association’s General Secretary, Abdullahi Ardo.

Speaking on behalf of more than 30 pastoralist organisations representing millions of herders across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ardo emphasised that livestock production is a vital pillar of national food security and economic prosperity that can no longer be neglected.

Commending President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for establishing the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development after 60 years of agitation, the group expressed concern about the ministry’s lack of operational funding and grassroots presence.

“Livestock is a N30 trillion economy. It cannot be treated with levity,” Ardo warned, appealing for the ministry to be fully activated at the community level to realise its core mandate.

To unlock the sector’s full value, the group called on President Tinubu and the National Assembly to implement three critical policy measures. These include allocating at least 30 per cent of the national agricultural budget to the Ministry of Livestock Development, immediately gazetting all 417 existing grazing reserves across the country, and launching pilot ranches and commercial fodder production schemes across all six geopolitical zones.

“We are Nigerians. We are pastoralists. We are not bandits. We love this country. Our cattle feed this nation,” Ardo stressed, highlighting the sector’s central role in feeding the population and sustaining millions of rural livelihoods.

Alongside economic reforms, the leadership decried the ongoing criminalisation of pastoralists, which they warned fuels jungle justice, hate speech, and extrajudicial killings of innocent herders, women, and children.

“For too long, the word ‘Fulani Pastoralist’ has been profiled and criminalised as synonymous with banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism,” the address stated.

“We condemn in totality all forms of banditry and criminality. Criminals are criminals and have no tribe. We call on security agencies and the media to stop ethnic profiling but arrest and prosecute criminals as individuals, not as an ethnic group. An entire community cannot be punished for the sins of a few.”

Highlighting recent unprovoked attacks in Plateau, Niger, Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, and other states, the group reported that hundreds of pastoralists have been killed, thousands of cattle have been rustled, and entire Rugas have been burnt down, with little media coverage, compensation, or security protection.

Pointing out that a decade of farmer-herder conflicts has claimed over 20,000 lives and cannot be resolved by military action alone, the coalition called on President Tinubu to declare a National Dialogue and Reconciliation, involving Miyetti Allah, traditional rulers, CAN, JNI, security agencies, and state governments.

At the same time, the leadership urged pastoralist communities to take internal responsibility by respecting farmers’ property, preventing cattle from encroaching on farmland, exposing criminal elements and informants within their ranks, and prioritising their children’s education.

“We are Nigerians. We are pastoralists. We are not bandits. We love this country. Our cattle feed this nation,” Ardo stressed, announcing that the coalition will launch a nationwide sensitisation campaign across all six geopolitical zones.

The group then called for collaborative action among stakeholders, advocating “justice without discrimination, security without exclusion, development without marginalisation, and peaceful coexistence based on mutual respect and the rule of law.”

“Let us replace suspicion with dialogue, conflict with cooperation, poverty with opportunity, and exclusion with inclusive national development.”

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