Miyetti Allah: What's the perspective on climate change and the herders/farmers crisis?
The herder's and farmers' crises are escalating mostly due to a lack of understanding and paucity of dialogue which in most cases the sociocultural and political groups compound daily.
By Taiye Olaniyi
Climate change is now a global concern. A crisis that no matter how religious, prayerful or irreligious people’s cultural orientation may be, without actively being scientifically minded, humanity as a whole would face the brunt of its miseries and woes. The industrial nations of the world, their advancement and crudity in geopolitics as well as their economic spheres of influence thus create backlash and ripple effects on the developing and third-world countries of the world. Africa and its sub-regional configurations have been aptly described as ” Africa are too rich to be poor and too poor to be rich”. This, in every instance, goes to show that the fallout and the dispositions of the advanced countries of Europe, America, Asia, and what have you would make Africa as a whole, cage under the dictates and influences of the advanced societal order. Today the abject poverty in Africa as a whole, the economic interests of the advanced world in Africa which will further compound the strife and poverty in Africa including the crudity of the interplay of man in his biotic and abiotic environment surely would be worsened by the advent of climate change. Climate change is no respecter of primordial tradition, culture, religion, tradition, and customs of the peoples in places, and will no doubt toll on the environment and lives of the people according to how crude or scientifically minded they are inclined to mitigate its debilitating influences. Sahel and Savannah lands are getting drier day by day, and agrarian and pastoral means of subsistence are yielding to forceful movements of the pastoralists and forceful occupation of lands all in an attempt at feeding cattle and allies. When nature takes its toll, man and other creatures cringe, crisis abounds, and man-to-man starts meting out unjust treatment toward one another. Nigeria is getting daily worsened as the herder’s and farmers’ crises are getting escalated mostly due to a lack of understanding and paucity of dialogue which in most cases the sociocultural and political interest groups daily compound. The Miyetti Allah, an association of cattle breeders has been forthright and forthcoming in proferring solutions to the incessant and uncontrollable brawls between mostly Fulani and farmers in other agrarian communities. In other geopolitical areas of Nigeria but most times there is no headway to solutions as they should be. Cultural, tribal, and ethnoreligious differences are most times imputed whereas if more emphasis is placed on what cooperative and communal efforts are placated with sincerity of purpose, the nation could make the best of a bad situation. Pastoralism and cattle rearing need to be modernized. Scientific and technological advancements are required to be introduced to cattle ranching and animal husbandry in schools and various communities in dry and agrarian lands. Public-private partnerships like the one introduced in Shonga, Kwara State needs to be understudied, improved upon, and replicated to the benefit of the community populace than politically personalized entities in the Kwara case study. Agricultural Institutes and Institutions should try to incorporate ranching and animal husbandry in their school’s syllabus while they invent tailor drive courses for grassroots including nongovernmental organizations having in mind climate change and scientific findings for the advancement of society. The Federal and States Government including Local Governments in Nigeria should admit that both climate change, farmers, and herders have serious environmental interplay to promote and that with regular dialogue, the crisis-prone areas would be greatly reduced to the barest minimum. Miyetti Allah and farmers associations may be replicated in especially crisis-prone areas purposely to dialogue and discuss how climate change may though affect but with sincere cooperation and understanding amongst all parties, the “Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of Man” should be most respected for the sake of God and humankind.
God bless Nigeria.
Taite Olaniyi, a retired Postman from the Nigeria Postal Service, is based in Lagos.
