By Eric Teniola
President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has often referred to the gazette which published the grazing laws in Nigeria. In his television interview to mark his 6th anniversary in power, he made reference to the so called gazette. The President was echoing what his Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari said on April 1, 2018 when he was the Chancellor of the Kwara State University in Ilorin.
On that day Professor Gambari referred to existing laws on grazing and that the major problem facing us now is the non-implementation of the grazing laws as contained in the gazette. My understanding is that both the President and his Chief of Staff were equating the laws of Northern Nigeria on grazing as if they were laws passed by the Central government. The grazing laws which the two men referred to were passed into a decree by the then the Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello (12 June 1910-15 January 1966), the Sardauna of Sokoto. The laws were not operative in the West, Mid-West and Eastern regions.
According to
Dr. Ismaila Iro, Grazing reserves in Nigeria started during the pre-colonial
era. Although formally introduced by the British, grazing reserves were
demarcated by the Fulani who conquered and ruled Northern Nigeria.
The attempt by the British in 1940
to separate the grazing land from the farm land, however, faltered because the
Europeans imposed land use controls divorced from economic and demographic
dynamics in the pastoral system. Formal grazing reserves in Nigeria started
accidentally in the 1950s when Hamisu Kano, working with pastoralists on
livestock vaccination, foresaw the shortages of grazing land in Northern
Nigeria.
Supported by the government, he initiated the grazing reserve scheme from the abandoned government resettlement schemes (Fulani Settlement Scheme). The resettlement schemes collapsed because the government had neither the financial nor the managerial ability to continue with the financially burdensome scheme, and the best alternative use of the land, the government thought, was to convert it into grazing reserves that were less financially demanding.
Grazing reserve hatched in 1954 after a study of
the Fulani production system contained in the “Fulani Amenities Proposal.” The
proposal suggested the creation of grazing reserves, the improvement of Fulani
welfare, and the transformation of the herd management system. By 1964, the
government had gazetted about 6.4 million hectares of the forest reserve,
ninety-eight percent in the savanna. Sokoto Province had twenty-one percent of
the land, followed by Kabba, Bauchi, Zaria, Ilorin, and Katsina, with 11-15
percent each. The Wase, Zamfara, and Udubo reserves followed in succession.
In 1965, the Northern Nigerian Government
incorporated the Fulani Amenities Proposal into the Grazing Reserve Law. Before
the enactment of the Grazing Reserve Law of the Northern Nigeria, the pastoral
Fulani relied on the goodwill of the farmers, who conferred upon themselves the
lordliness of occupied and unoccupied land. Because interpersonal and kinship
affiliations governed the dispensation of land, the Fulani worried about being
evicted from the land when their relationship with the hosts become strained.
The planners, however, applied a top-down approach that excluded the Fulani
from formulating and implementing this well-intentioned program.
Accordingly, the Fulani gave less
than the expected cooperation in the scheme. Professor Gambari coming from
Kwara state had in mind, the Kwara state grazing laws that were in existence
years ago. In an article by Professor Ade Olomola, he said the grazing laws in
Kwara state was in operation only in Kwara state. According to him, the main
focus of the settlement policy is the development of grazing reserves in the
state.
The objectives of the policy are (i)
to provide feed and water for pastoralists on a year round basis, (ii) to
eliminate nomadism, improve cattle production and raise the living standard of
pastoralists, (iii) to ensure efficient use and protection of environmental
resources and (iv) to prevent or minimize incessant clashes between herders and
farmers which often result in bloodshed and loss of life. The procedures
involved in the implementation of the policy include land acquisition,
demarcation, surveying, gazetting of grazing reserve, development of grazing
reserve and settlement of pastoralists. The following are the grazing reserves
at various stages of acquisition in Kwara State. They are Nweri, Kinikini,
Gidan Magajia, Moli, Wuru, Okuta, Olodan, Igbaja, Alapa, Babanla, Chita, Lata,
Oro, Sharagi, Shao, Kaiama and Omi-Eran (LSC).
The Gidan
Magajia is one of the two grazing reserves that have been gazetted in the
state. It is the largest in the state and the focus of attention. Two
implementation committees were set up for the purpose of development and
management of the reserve as well as settlement of pastoralists. They are the
policy committee at the state level and grazing reserve management committee at
the local government level. The former is charged with the responsibility of
formulating and defining development policy and ensuring that the management
committee is provided with the means to achieve management objectives.
The latter
is to advise and assist on matters affecting the settlers on a day-to-day basis
as well as identifying settlers for the reserve. The Order setting up the
reserve stipulates that it should be maintained through proper grazing
management and improvement activities such as water development, fodder
conservation plan, range reseeding and fertilization, control of undesirable
weeds and fire tracing. Other development activities include construction of
earth dams, boreholes and wells to provide watering facilities, construction of
roads, office and residential quarters, establishment of livestock services
centre and pasture development.
Moreover,
efforts are to be made to ensure that the highest possible level of
productivity is achieved without endangering the reserve. To this end the
government stipulates that soil and water conservation and other erosion
control methods should be used to prevent degradation, desertification and
overgrazing, and to maintain the carrying capacity of the reserve. Both the
Federal and Kwara state governments are supposed to play active part in the development
of the grazing reserve.
The Federal
government is to be involved in the provision of infrastructure such as dams,
roads and means of transport for range guards through the agency of the
National Livestock Projects Division (NLPD). The Kwara state government has the
responsibility to acquire the land following stipulated legal procedures and
provide staff for the management of the reserve. As at 1992, five government
officials consisting of a project officer, a veterinary assistant, two range guards
and a security guard were operating in the reserve.
The Order
setting up the reserve stipulates that it should be maintained through proper
grazing management and improvement activities such as water development, fodder
conservation plan, range reseeding and fertilization, control of undesirable
weeds and fire tracing. Other development activities include construction of
earth dams, boreholes and wells to provide watering facilities, construction of
roads, office and residential quarters, establishment of livestock services
centre and pasture development. Moreover, efforts are to be made to ensure that
the highest possible level of productivity is achieved without endangering the
reserve. To this end the government stipulates that soil and water conservation
and other erosion control methods should be used to prevent degradation,
desertification and overgrazing, and to maintain the carrying capacity of the
reserve.
Both the
Federal and Kwara state governments are supposed to play active part in the
development of the grazing reserve. The Federal government is to be involved in
the provision of infrastructure such as dams, roads and means of transport for
range guards through the agency of the National Livestock Projects Division
(NLPD). The Kwara state government has the responsibility to acquire the land
following stipulated legal procedures and provide staff for the management of
the reserve. As at 1992, five government officials consisting of a project
officer, a veterinary assistant, two range guards and a security guard were
operating in the reserve.
In short the Central
government did not enact any grazing law. The best the Central Government has
done was the promulgation of National Commission for Nomadic Education, Decree
25, 1989 and National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-formal
Education, Decree 17, 1990. These two decrees were promulgated by General
Ibrahim Babangida (rtd.), GCFR. The Minister of Education at that time was
Professor Babatunde Aliu Fafunwa (23 September 1923 – 11 October 2010).
All the military governors at that time were ordered by General Babangida to launch it in their states. I remember at that time there were public outcries about the decree that they favoured the Fulani people. I think it was the best thing at that time that the Central Government ever did for the Fulani people. The Commission devised a series of innovative approaches and strategies. The broad goals of Nomadic Education Programme are: To integrate nomads into national life through relevant, qualitative and basic functional education and to raise both the productive and income levels of nomads, as well as boost the national economy through improved knowledge, skills and practices of nomads. The NCNE’s mandate includes, among other things, the following function: formulate policy and issue guidelines in all matters relating to nomadic education in Nigeria; provide funds for: the research and personnel development for the improvement of nomadic education in Nigeria, the development of programmes on nomadic education and the provision of equipment and other instructional materials, construction of classrooms and other facilities relating to nomadic education.
Other mandates include establishment, management and maintenance of primary schools in the settlements and grazing reserves carved out for nomadic people, to determine the standards of skills to be attained in nomadic schools, to arrange for effective monitoring and evaluation of activities of agencies concerned with nomadic education; to liaise and co-operate with other relevant ministries and agencies; to receive block grants and funds from the Federal Government or any agency authorized on that behalf and allocate same to nomadic school based on any formula approved by the Federal Executive Council; to act as an agency for chanelling all external aids to nomadic schools in Nigeria; to ensure effective inspection of nomadic education activities in Nigeria through the sections in the Federal and State Ministries of Education performing duties relating to nomadic education; to collate, analyse and publish information relating to nomadic education in Nigeria; and to undertake any other action desirable for the promotion of nomadic education.
The
objectives of the nomadic education programme are to: expose the nomadic child
to the elementary forms of modern education; enable the nomadic child take part
in the development of his immediate environment, in particular, and the country
in general; make the nomadic child self-reliant to improve his living
conditions, thus eliminating the hardships and constraints in his/her life;
help him/her modernize his/her techniques of herdsmanship on animal management,
fishing or farming as the case may be; assist the nomadic child develop rapidly
and fully both physically and intellectually, to cope with the demands of the
contemporary world; and develop the initiative of the nomadic child and
stimulate in him/her scientific and analytical modes of thinking.
On
November 22 last year, the Executive Secretary for Nomadic Education, Professor
Bashir Usman said out of the estimated population of 9.4million nomads in
Nigeria, 3.3 million are children of school age. The participation of the
nomads in the existing formal and non-formal education programmes is abysmally
low, with a literacy rate ranging between 0.2 % and 2.9%.
*
Teniola, a former Director at the Presidency wrote from Lagos.
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