Not fewer than 70 Fulani youths and herdsmen from Niger state have been employed into the state and federal governments’ services as part of eff orts to eradicate herders/farmers’ clashes. Th e state Director-General, Nomadic Aff airs, Alhaji Aabdullahi Babayo, disclosed this in an interview with Blueprint in Minna at the weekend. Babayo said he embarked on the employment programme in order to get educated Fulani youths, most of whom “are degree holders, out of criminal activities,” adding that farmers who lived in same communities with the herders were also benefi ciaries.
“When I assumed offi ce about two months ago, I immediately initiated programme to bring all the herdsmen to speak in one voice. I held meeting with all the associations that have been operating separately and we agreed to work together under one umbrella of Fulani Association of Niger state. Th is will surely ensure peace and stability in the state,” he said. He said the state government was concerned over the conditions of nomadic schools in the state, adding that assessment of facilities in such schools “will soon commence.”
He lamented that several nomadic schools in the state lacked basic facilities, including class rooms and other learning equipment, and that “in most cases classes are done under trees.” Babayo advised farmers and Fulani herders in the state to live in peace with one another, saying “they should know that they have come to stay together and no one can tell another to leave.” He condemned situations in which some Fulani and farmers took the law into their hands in killing innocent residents and destroying property, explaining that both Christian and Islamic religions abhorred murder and criminal activities
