By Dr.Mudasiru Salami
First of all, I commiserate with those who have lost lives, properties, farms, homes and their source of livelihood through these recurrent ugly crises. Human life is sacred and every death diminishes us all.
It is time to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Those who answer the appellations of leaders must START LEADING us out of and STOP MANAGING these recurrent crises. I will like to propose a 7-point action plan which if implemented should help us all to eliminate these crises.
1. Immediate announcement of a phased ban (within a year) on nomadism and open grazing. Ending this within a year will necessitate a complete change in approach from government at all levels MOST ESPECIALLY the federal government.
This government is uniquely positioned to end this crisis and this it must urgently, as time for all manner of excuses has run out. Let’s borrow a leaf from a government that live leadership and seriousness – Qatar.
Qatar was placed under a blockade by a septuplet of neighbours led by Saudi Arabia and UAE on June 5, 2017. The nation did not start crying with leaders espousing plans like our endless talk about establishing cattle ranches. No, they match talk with action!
This time last year, the tiny gulf country had no dairy herds and it had to import its milk from Saudi Arabia.
However, deep in the desert, the isolated nation created state-of-the-art AIR-CONDITIONED barns such as the Baladna farm in the northern coastal city of Al Khor - which now boasts 10,000 cattle(see the attached picture to this post). Qatari leaders have done the near-impossible within a year by creating a foundation to ensure healthy, natural food resources to birth a self-sufficient state of Qatar.
The country’s first cows were flown in on Qatar Airways, just one month after the land blockade by its Arab neighbours. Many of the animals are from top breeders in the US and up to 640,000 sheep support from Australia’s live export industry. That is leadership in action.
Our endless talk about the plan for 94 cattle ranches should stop. This government should be able to establish, support and sustain at least 40 cattle ranches within a year. It is doable when we co-opt the best heads from our 40 government funded agricultural institutes and universities in Nigeria.
Partnership with those who have succeeded in Kenya, Malaysia, US and Australia is an urgent need. The next tranche of Abacha loot recovery can be dedicated to this – we cannot buy a single human life and that $500 million which could have been used to nip these crises in the bud years ago should be used now.
Those who are blabbing about biased support for ranches should be reminded of piggery and fish farms the federal government has established for pig and fish breeders for ages.
Most especially, human life is worth any investment including the lives of millions of nomads without good education who are ready hands for exploitation towards violence. The program should have a component for addressing desertification, reforestation and restoration of Lake Chad Basin.
2. Put in place a massive and functional Special Middle Belt joint task force comprising of Army, Airforce and Police supported by the most advanced military equipment. If need be ask for external support with drones and 24-hour aerial surveillance.
We already have two fighter jets and 300 special forces just deployed by the Nigerian air force three days ago.
We should be able to scramble strategically positioned military helicopters/jets maximum within 5 minutes to attend to distress calls. It is inconceivable that criminals will wreak havoc over an hour relatively unchallenged and leaving untold carnage and loss of human lives.
Police posts need to be erected, staffed and maintained with adequate support in those communities especially border areas that are prone to attack. They must be supported by coordinated radio equipment for communications.
3. Establish a Middle Belt and Nomads Compensation and Rehabilitation programme for all affected communities in Benue, Taraba, Zamfara, Kaduna, Adamawa, Plateau and Nasarawa states.
These should be transparent with involvement of community leaders and youth of impeccable integrity. This programme must give regular monthly updates of farmers resettled, home rebuilt and aids provided for all affected.
4. A completely overhauled security architecture for the whole nation underpinned by 21st century intelligence gathering including real time surveillance drones, security cameras, first class borders and community policing.
5. An aggressive plan to improve security at our border posts and stop intercountry open grazing, illegal movement of immigrants and arms into the country.
6. Speedy implementation of trials and punishment of anyone involved in the recurrent carnage. We have heard of insinuations of involvement of politicians towards 2019 elections, bring them all to book. Try everyone involved in court of law and enthrone justice.
7. Build an inclusive society and show more urgency in creating jobs including the earlier suggested increase in N-Power jobs to 1 million beneficiaries within a year and a National Jobs Apprenticeship programme. Poverty breeds violence and idle hands are ready tools for devilish acts.
Although it may be argued that the Federal Government is working on some of the postulations here, unfortunately the government is taking these measures as a puristic social intervention and not market induced investment.
Just like the fish farms established by Federal Government, this should be commercial driven in partnership with states who are ready to go ahead.
The ranchers are not going to own the land when well implemented - they will pay for rents and other social amenities as may be determined at competitive affordable rates.
At a point in time, 19 states expressed readiness to host ranches and later the government chose ten states to launch the program guessed based on real enthusiasm and interest assessment.
Those who are ready should start and others will surely join when they see those beautiful value chain investment vehicles you mentioned. We should in the nearest future look forward to become an export hub of these products to neighboring African nations.
Trade between African countries is a goldmine poorly exploited by us. Government have been acquiring lands for housing, industrial and other infrastructural use with compensations over the years.
What we need is the will and strategy to pull this through in a timely manner. The word crisis as they say is a two letter word in Chinese, one meaning DANGER and the other OPPORTUNITY. Please let's leverage on this ideas to build sustainable economic opportunities and peace for all.
In conclusion, the security challenges are just too varied, widespread and multi-factorial that a radical change and paradigm shift in leadership thinking, response and responsibility management are urgent.
By now, we should indeed have a real time war room where the echelons of our military and intelligence gather to review situations and muster adequate smart response on time. Leaders at all levels have to realise that security is the most basic expectation of the people.
If you cannot secure the people, you may be left with no one to lead. Security and Welfare of the people remains the PRIMARY purpose of government. Dear President.
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