By Frontline Reporters

Fulani leaders under the Confederation of Pastoralists have urged President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly to allocate at least 30 per cent of the agricultural budget to the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development and establish pilot ranches across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.

The leaders also called for the protection of the country’s 417 grazing reserves, saying the measures would address longstanding challenges confronting pastoralists and support the modernisation of Nigeria’s livestock industry.

The General Secretary of the Kautal Pulaku Fulbe Association of Nigeria, Abdullahi Ardo, made the demands on behalf of the coalition during an international press conference in Abuja on Sunday. He also urged the Federal Government to investigate alleged killings of pastoralists in Plateau, Niger, Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara and other states, while providing relief materials to displaced victims and protecting them against attacks and ethnic profiling.

Ardo commended Tinubu for establishing the Ministry of Livestock Development in 2024 but lamented that the ministry remained inadequately funded and lacked a clear operational framework. He called for its presence at the community level to ensure that its objectives were effectively implemented.

“We call on the President and the National Assembly to allocate at least 30 per cent of the agricultural budget to the ministry, immediately gazette and protect the 417 grazing reserves, and start pilot ranches and fodder production in the six geopolitical zones,” he said.

Describing livestock as a sector worth about N30tn, the leaders argued that it deserved greater government attention and investment. They said modern ranching, improved pasture production and better livestock infrastructure would help unlock the sector’s economic potential.

The coalition also urged Tinubu to convene a national dialogue involving pastoralist associations, including Miyetti Allah groups, religious leaders, traditional rulers, security agencies and state governments, to address persistent farmer-herder conflicts. According to the leaders, the conflicts have claimed more than 20,000 lives over the past decade.

Ardo alleged that hundreds of pastoralists had been killed in coordinated attacks in several states in recent months, with women, children and elderly people among the victims. He further claimed that thousands of cattle had been rustled or killed and several pastoralist settlements, commonly called Rugas, destroyed by fire.

The leaders called for independent investigations into the alleged killings, urging the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) to provide relief to displaced pastoralists, as they do for other affected communities.

They also appealed to security agencies to protect pastoralists and uphold their constitutional rights as Nigerian citizens, citing Sections 14 and 33 of the 1999 Constitution.

The coalition urged federal and state governments, farmers’ groups, traditional institutions, security agencies and development partners to work together towards lasting solutions to farmer-herder conflicts. It emphasised equal access to justice, inclusive security, compensation for victims and peaceful coexistence as essential to national development.

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