The National President of Kulen Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria (KACRAN), Khalil Mohammed Bello; has said that the Federal Government is responsible for North East Development Commission (NEDC) to exclude livestock development programme for pastoralists. According to him, they are most endangered people, who heavily suffered more losses as a result of 12-year Boko Haram insurgency.
“The Commission myopically excluded herders’ associations from stakeholders’ drawing up of a master plan for implementation,” he said, lamenting that NEDC didn’t meant good for the over five million herders in the region. He noted that this is in addition to last year’s complain that NEDC excluded herders’ from the beneficiaries of its programmes. “Until now; we are yet to see any tangible project executed by the commission to reconstruct and rebuild the region,” he said; noting that members of the Commission were appointed by the Federal Government to identify people’s occupations and region’s terrains.
According to him, pastoral occupation could only be practiced in forests or the most remote areas where the insurgents hide to attack communities. He said while the Federal Government was drawing up the Commission’s mandate; it did not include all victims of insurgency for assistance and empowerments. “We want to make it clear to the Commission that it is due to the importance of pastoral occupation in the region, that there are several herders associations,” he declared. He added that there herders’ associations, including KACRAN, MACBAN, ALHAYA, TABITAL, PULAAKU and GABDAN.
“How could the Commission organize a stakeholders’ meeting without inviting any of the herders associations in the country?” he asked; stating that; “we’re herders who live in the bushes due to the sympathetic nature of our occupation of providing nutritional food to the nation.” “But we were never included among the stakeholders that drawing up the master plan for the Commission,” he said. He lamented that millions of their livestock were forcefully rustled by Boko Haram terrorists. He therefore called on the Federal Government to direct the Commission to consider the entire herders for the livestock development projects.
