Why Nigeria must take animal identification seriously

By : Adewale Adeyeye

Date: 16 December 2025 8:45pm WAT

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Nigeria’s national security challenges are often discussed in terms of insurgency, banditry, and terrorism.

Yet, one persistent and deeply destabilising issue that continues to receive insufficient policy attention is cattle rustling, especially amid insecurity fuelled by farmer-herder conflicts.

In a new book, Animal Identification System and National Security:

A Study of North-West Nigeria, Dr. Elsie Uduak Mbuk-Onuwuhafua, FCVSN, mni, makes a compelling case that the theft of livestock is not merely an agricultural problem but a national security emergency, and one that technology can effectively and efficiently help to address.

The book arrives at a critical moment. Across north-west Nigeria, cattle rustling has fuelled violent conflicts, displaced communities, impoverished pastoralists, and strengthened criminal networks.

Dr. Mbuk-Onuwuhafua, a fellow of the College of Veterinary Surgeons (FCVSN) and Member (mni) of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Plateau State, argues that Nigeria’s heavy reliance on military operations to combat this menace, though understandable, has produced limited results.

Her central thesis is simple but powerful: without a robust Animal Identification System (AIS), Nigeria will continue to fight the scourge of cattle rustling blindly.

From the outset, the author situates animal identification within a broader national security framework and demonstrates how AIS, already in use in several countries, can enhance animal surveillance, trace stolen livestock, disrupt criminal supply chains, and support intelligence gathering.

Importantly, the book does not treat technology as a silver bullet.

Instead, it frames AIS as part of an interconnected system involving security agencies, ministries, breeders’ associations, and technology institutions such as the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA).

Drawing on General Systems Theory and the Technological Acceptance Model, the book explains both how AIS fits into Nigeria’s security ecosystem and why its adoption may have been slow.

This theoretical grounding strengthens the book’s argument, moving it beyond advocacy into evidence-based policy analysis.

Data for the study were collected from a wide range of stakeholders, including the Nigerian Police Force, the Military, NSCDC, ONSA, Federal and State Agricultural Ministries, research institutes, and cattle breeders themselves.

This breadth gives the findings robustness, credibility, and practical relevance.One of the book’s strongest contributions is its comparative perspective.

Dr. Mbuk-Onuwuhafua shows how countries such as the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Uruguay have successfully adopted animal identification to improve cattle traceability and curb rustling. The author traces the history of animal identification methods, from traditional branding and ear tagging to modern digital and satellite-based systems adopted in much more developed climes.

African examples, from Kenya to Senegal, demonstrate that AIS is not a luxury of the Global North but a practical solution adaptable to developing contexts.

Also, while acknowledging Nigeria’s endorsement of the 2015 Pretoria Declaration on Animal Identification, the author exposes the gap between policy commitments and implementation.

The launch of the National Animal Identification and Traceability System (NAITS) in 2022 was a step forward, but adoption across the north-west states has remained inconsistent and uneven.

Nonetheless, Katsina State stands out as an exception, of public policy action exploring the possibilities of AIS, while elsewhere security responses remain overwhelmingly militarized.

Consequently, the book argues that Nigeria’s slow progress in fully adopting AIS appears less a matter of feasibility and more a question of political will.Perhaps the most sobering part of the book is its analysis of why AIS has not taken root in north-west Nigeria.

The barriers are many: low literacy among herders, fear that technology could harm cattle, high installation costs, nomadic lifestyles, weak legal frameworks, and limited awareness of the benefits of AIS.

These findings suggest that technology alone is not enough.

Any serious AIS policy must be accompanied by education, sensitization, incentives, legislation, and sustained engagement with pastoral communities.

The book’s conclusion is both cautious and hopeful. Military intervention, the author acknowledges, will remain necessary in the short term. But without complementary technological and policy solutions, cattle rustling will continue to undermine national security.

A national AIS policy, backed by law and supported by stakeholder education, could shift Nigeria from reactive force to preventive governance. In a country where security challenges are increasingly complex and interconnected, this book is a timely intervention.

Policymakers, security agencies, agricultural administrators, and development practitioners would benefit from reading it. Ending cattle rustling will require more than boots on the ground; it will require technology, data, sensitization, coordination, and political will. Dr. Mbuk-Onuwuhafua has shown us a viable path.

The question now is whether Nigeria is ready to follow it.

Professor Adewale A. Adeyeye writes from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine! at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, and is Editor-in-Chief of the Sokoto Journal of Veterinary Sciences.

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