Fulani group urges Tinubu to fund N30trn livestock economy, end marginalisation

A coalition of Fulani pastoralist organisations has urged President Bola Tinubu’s administration to adequately fund the livestock sector, protect grazing reserves and end what it described as the ethnic profiling and marginalisation of Fulani herders.

The Kautal Pulaaku Fulbe Association of Nigeria, under the Confederation of Pastoralist NGOs (CONPA), made the demands at a press conference in Abuja on Sunday.

The association’s president, Dr Huseini Buzaye, made the call through its General Secretary, Abdullahi Ardo, who said livestock production was critical to Nigeria’s food security, economic growth and rural livelihoods.

Ardo, who spoke on behalf of more than 30 pastoralist organisations representing herders across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, expressed concern over what he described as inadequate funding and limited grassroots presence of the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development.

He commended Tinubu for establishing the ministry after six decades of agitation but urged the federal government to provide the resources needed to enable it to fulfil its mandate.

“Livestock is a N30 trillion economy. It cannot be treated with levity,” he said, calling for the ministry’s operations to be extended to communities across the country.

The group urged the president and the National Assembly to allocate at least 30 per cent of the national agricultural budget to the ministry, gazette and protect the country’s 417 existing grazing reserves, and establish pilot ranches and commercial fodder production schemes across the six geopolitical zones.

Ardo said investment in livestock development would help unlock the sector’s economic potential while improving food production and creating opportunities for millions of Nigerians.

“We are Nigerians. We are pastoralists. We are not bandits. We love this country. Our cattle feed this nation,” he said.

The coalition, however, said the economic challenges facing pastoralists were compounded by what it described as the criminalisation of Fulani communities, warning that ethnic profiling could fuel hate speech, jungle justice and extrajudicial killings.

“For too long, the words ‘Fulani pastoralist’ have been profiled and criminalised as synonymous with banditry, kidnapping and terrorism,” the association said in its address.

While condemning banditry and other criminal activities, the group urged security agencies and the media to distinguish between criminal suspects and the wider Fulani community.