At the risk of sounding harsh, Africa’s main problem is its lack of civilisation. They choose to remain rooted in the most primitive stages of human development rather than progress and embrace modernity. This came into play once more with the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association’s rejection of the Minister of Abuja’s directive that livestock herding be restricted to the outskirts of the Federal Capital Territory.
Given his background, many anticipated a rebirth of Abuja when Ezenwo Nweson Wike, the former governor of Rivers State, arrived as minister. The Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) hired the International Planning Associates (IPA) in June 1977 to create the Abuja master plan and its regional grid. The consultants purposefully designed Abuja to become a model city that could be compared to any modern metropolis in the globe.
The idea is to create a city that has been meticulously designed and built from scratch. No Nigerian city has had the chance to be so planned, which is to blame for their chaotic and haphazard growth and development, as well as their expanding urban slums and ghettos. Abuja was designed to prevent all of that.
Lagos in particular almost fell apart under the weight of being the capital of Nigeria, and its residents had to spend the entire day stuck in traffic just to get to work and conduct business. From Lagos, the federal government had to head to a much bigger space to permit planned and staged growth and development.
Lagos is a city with a lot of land constraints. Lagos expanded into a significant business centre in the nation and the African continent while serving as both the federal capital territory and the state capital of Lagos. Today, Lagos has expanded to become Africa’s sixth-largest economy. Over 20 million people are jammed into the limited amount of territory since the population has similarly outgrown control and become Nigeria’s largest state. According to the Economic Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Global Liveability Index 2023 study, Lagos State is among the world’s four worst cities to live in, behind war-torn Tripoli, Libya, and Damascus, Syria.
Kano is as huge as Lagos, but its land area should be around three to four times bigger.
Even with the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that the major argument in favour of transferring Nigeria’s federal capital from Lagos to Abuja is still valid. To ensure that Abuja would be able to overcome the land mass disadvantage that Lagos suffered, the federal government increased Abuja’s land mass to 2.5 times that of Lagos. It was a crucial first step.
Having a well-planned, staged development was the second step. Abuja was then designed to have all the amenities and beauty of a contemporary metropolis, making the FCT competitive with and possibly better than its global equivalents. Abuja City was consequently meticulously planned, but like with everything given to Nigerians, the master plan was perverted, making it impossible to realise its master image.
Even in Abuja’s most prestigious neighbourhoods, such as Asokoro, Maitama, Garki, and Wuse, slums have sprouted up everywhere. In the same prestigious neighbourhoods of the city, houses, markets, parks, and many other unplanned amenities have made themselves known. Poor sanitation and environmental damage are now commonplace. Residents of Abuja must put up with the smell and bubbles of sewage. Water from the pipes, which is a given in any contemporary metropolis, is becoming uncommon in Abuja.
The cattle, which have recently moved in and have unnecessarily become commonplace throughout the city, are the newest addition.
These wrongs are intended to be made right with Wike’s administration. The newly appointed minister noted all these inconsistencies that have marred the Abuja master plan’s master image during his first press conference. As he promised, all the contributing elements are now receiving the attention they deserve.
On that first day, Wike said that cow rearing would be restricted to the city’s outskirts, where the grass is rich and green. However, the leaders of Miyetti Allah recently countered by calling the minister’s bluff and stating that their livestock would graze wherever they pleased. Cattle were allowed to roam freely even inside the presidential villa during Muhammadu Buhari’s misguided administration, which brought attention to the offensive sight.
The individual stated: “Nigerians want to eat cow meat, but they do not want to see cows.” This is emotional blackmail. No one in Nigeria despises cows or their breeders. What they detest is cows grazing wherever they may. In addition to being a nuisance, indiscriminate cattle herding has caused insecurity when cattle are permitted to enter farms in search of pasture.
Conflicts between herders and farmers are therefore directly related to insecurity in Nigeria, including FCT. The pointless war has claimed thousands of lives and destroyed entire villages, resulting further in worsening food insecurity and crisis in the country. It’s all because some people mistakenly believe that cattle have the freedom to graze wherever they like.
This presumption is unlawful as well as immoral. The right to one’s livelihood belongs to both farmers and cattle herders. Yes, as Nigerians, livestock herders are entitled to travel wherever in the country. However, their cattle do not have this privilege because they are not considered to be Nigerian citizens under the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of movement. Their movements shall not be so unrestricted as to cause a nuisance or pose harm to other people’s lives or property, including farms and farmers’ properties. That is transgression and trespassing.
Therefore, Minister Wike is correct when he asserts that the FCT needs to manage the movement of livestock. It is in the best interests of the cattle, the herders, Abuja, and all of Nigeria.
In the long run, the minister must think about establishing ranches in the FCT’s outer council areas. The FCT administration must get involved in the lives of the young herders who are unable to attend school since they must travel with the livestock due to their itinerant nature. A ranch is a full-blown business that includes dairy products, abattoirs, and all other aspects of animal husbandry. Life can be planned in such a settlement. Hospitals, schools, markets, and other social amenities will inevitably emerge.
Ranches will end the fight between farmers and herders. The conflict between farmers and herders has also been infiltrated by bandits and terrorists to worsen it. Killer herdsmen have destroyed the reputation of decent. Even the herders themselves have been victims as well. Bandits and terrorists are increasingly committing killings and cattle rustling and both farmers and herders are victims as well as other innocent Nigerians.
Any way you look at it, the conflict will end when the cattle cease entering the farms, and ranching is the only way to make that happen. Ranches don’t always have to be high-class businesses at first. It may begin as a sizable area of land enclosed by barbed wire with water boreholes drilled within. Locals may provide the grass, which will result in some jobs being created.
Therefore, ranching might begin small before growing into its full modern forms.
Miyetti Allah ought to reflect on the fact that Nigeria is not even among the nations that export beef. Because modern cattle breeding is not practised in Nigeria, our output is too low for export. Nigeria imports more meat than it exports. Nigeria now imports bovine (beef) meat mostly from Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, South Africa, France, and Germany.
Ranches are where countries around the world raise cattle for economic gain. However, our cattle breeders in Nigeria would rather transport their animals from Sokoto to Onitsha and Lagos on foot. This crude approach, which can be stopped through ranching in a win-win situation for all parties involved, and end tortures suffered by both the herders and the cattle. It is human rights abuse against the herders.
Nigeria is not even among the top five nations in Africa that raise cattle. Ethiopia, Chad, Sudan, Tanzania, and Kenya are those countries. Nigeria is not one of the top 20 countries in the world that raise the most cattle. However, hundreds of people have died in farmer-herder confrontations in Nigeria.
Let us support Wike in his patriotic efforts to rescue Abuja’s plan and restore the city’s preeminent reputation.
· Dr. Law Mefor, an Abuja-based forensic and social psychologist, is a fellow of The Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts; [email protected]; Twitter: @Drlawsonmefor.
