Pastoral challenges and the misunderstood conversation

Nigeria’s livestock sector has once again found itself at the centre of public controversy — this time, due to a serious misquotation at the recently concluded maiden edition of the National Livestock Development Council in Yola, Adamawa State.

The Minister of Livestock Development was widely reported by sections of the media as declaring that the federal government had banned or outlawed open grazing nationwide. Within hours, the misinformation spread like wildfire, igniting heated debates across social media and feeding into the already sensitive discourse around pastoralism.

To his credit, the Minister promptly issued a press release denouncing the report as false, clarifying that the government has not taken such a blanket position, and reaffirming that any future livestock reforms would be rooted in consultation, phased implementation, and adherence to constitutional provisions.

This media misinterpretation is not a trivial matter. It reflects a larger problem: a national conversation on pastoralism that is often driven by emotions, stereotypes, and half-truths rather than evidence, context, or genuine understanding. And nowhere is this misunderstanding more damaging than in discussions about Sahelian pastoralists — particularly the Fulani who form the backbone of Nigeria’s cattle economy.

Pastoralism is not merely an occupation; it is an ancient system of survival, knowledge, mobility, and community. Sahelian pastoralists are nomadic and semi-nomadic herders who traverse the savannah belt of West and Central Africa, managing cattle, sheep, goats, and camels. In Nigeria, the largest group is the Fulani, known locally as Bororo’en or Mbororo whose transhumance routes predate the Nigerian state itself.

Their contribution to the national economy is immense. They supply a major share of the beef consumed in the country, sustain vibrant dairy chains, and support rural economies that would collapse without livestock mobility. They maintain cultural traditions and networks that bind the Sahel together.

Yet despite this importance, pastoralists are today confronted with a series of multi-dimensional crises that threaten their survival and Nigeria’s broader stability.

As a consequence of climate change, desertification as a first wave of crisis is advancing southward at over 350,000 hectares every year. Pastures shrink, water points disappear, and the rainy season becomes increasingly erratic. Traditional knowledge which previously allowed herders to predict weather patterns is being disrupted.

As grazing land declines, herders now travel longer distances, increasing the likelihood of conflict, exposing livestock to disease, and destabilizing family structures. Many pastoralists are climate refugees long before the term became fashionable.

Nigeria once maintained a functional system of grazing reserves and livestock corridors that are now getting lost. Over time, urban expansion, mechanized farming, and infrastructural development have encroached upon these lands. Stock routes are blocked, converted, or erased entirely.

Without access to rangelands or safe mobility, pastoralists are pushed into territories where tensions are inevitable. This structural loss is often overlooked in public debates that narrowly frame conflicts as purely ethnic or religious.

Nigeria’s farmer-herder conflict, that was a symptom and not the disease, has now escalated into one of the deadliest internal security crises in the country.

Competition for land and water, weapon proliferation, governance gaps, and ethno-religious sentiments have created cycles of violence in states such as Benue, Plateau, Taraba, and Kaduna. Farmers often feel invaded; herders often feel criminalised. Yet both are victims of the same structural weaknesses: lack of land use planning, degraded ecosystems, weak mediation systems, and absence of modern livestock management infrastructure.

The collapse of security architecture across rural Nigeria has degenerated into banditry, and the erosion of trust especially in the North West, has further worsened the situation. Armed bandits, rustlers, and kidnappers terrorise both farmers and herders. Pastoral communities are displaced, impoverished, and sometimes coerced into criminal networks. This insecurity damages national cohesion and weakens public trust in government institutions. Despite being central to Nigeria’s meat and dairy supply, pastoralists remain politically marginalised. Their voices are rarely included in policy making processes. Initiatives like the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) have stalled due to inadequate grassroots involvement. Local bylaws that criminalise mobility further alienate mobile herders.

Pastoralist communities suffer some of the lowest human development gap social indicators in the country: Nomadic schools are underfunded; due to mobility, they lack access to healthcare and veterinary services. Women and youth face deep socio-economic exclusion.

Though ECOWAS Transhumance Protocol of 1998 guarantees free movement, border closures and regional insecurity restrict traditional transhumance. Climate refugees from Niger, Mali, and Chad complicate the situation, intensifying tensions at border communities.

The Media misquotation matters, the false report that the government had banned open grazing feeds into a polarised atmosphere. Such misinformation risks heightening tensions between farmers and herders, undermining confidence in government reforms, fueling ethnic profiling with hostile rhetorics, distracting attention from the real solutions. Nigeria does not need sensationalism; it needs clarity, empathy, and informed debate.

To build lasting peace and modernise the livestock sector, we need to chart the way forward through the revitalisation of grazing reserves and secure livestock corridors, backed by legislation and physical demarcation; investments in climate resilient pastoralism — fodder banks, solar-powered boreholes, and weather information systems; strengthened farmer-herder dialogue platforms involving traditional leaders, youth, and women; expanded mobile veterinary and health services; reinvestment in nomadic education; empowering pastoralist organizations such as MACBAN to promote peace building, self-regulation and policy making eengagemens; implement ECOWAS transhumance protocols transparently and humanely, and above all depoliticise pastoralism and reject stereotyping of entire ethnic groups. The Sahelian pastoralists are not Nigeria’s enemy. They are partners in our quest for food security, national cohesion, and sustainable development.

As the Minister rightly clarified, reforming pastoralism requires consultation, inclusion, and a clear understanding of the realities on the ground, not hasty declarations or misquoted headlines.

Nigeria’s future stability depends on getting this conversation right. Let us build a livestock system that is modern, peaceful, climate-smart, and inclusive — leaving no pastoralist behind.

Ahmad wrote from FMA2, off Yaya (Petel) Abubakar Road, Fadamar Mada, Bauchi and can be reached via [email protected]

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