The President, National Movement for Positive Change (NMPC), Barrister Niyi Aborisade has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to adopt a model propounded by the former Premier of the defunct Western region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, as the final solution to the lingering farmers/Fulani herdsmen in the country.
Aborisade made this call in a statement signed and issued this week.
The lawyer said Chief Awolowo, had in an article in 1953 gave a model to curb the incessant attacks, and in the same vein suggested ways where hundreds of employment opportunities can be created for teeming Nigerian populace.
According to Aborisade, “the Scourge of the Fulani herdsman does not come as a surprise to any thinking person or people with any sense of history. It was foreseen by the Yoruba sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo; and as it is usual with him, he does not just criticise, he always provides a solution.
“In 1953, Chief Obafemi Awolowo wrote a well reasoned article in the Nigerian Tribune which not only provides a solution but also provide employment for the teaming masses of unemployed youths in the Northern part of Nigeria.
“In summary, Chief Awolowo suggested that cattle rearers and/or Fulani herdsmen should remain in the North (possibly within ranches they own). Their cows are normally sold in the south of Nigeria. Therefore Abattoirs should be established in various parts of the North where cows would be killed overnight. The government should procure refrigerated railway coaches which would bring the beef down to the South and arrive in the early ours of the morning to be delivered to abattoirs still fresh.
“Awolowo went further to suggest that all parts of the cows unused or not fit for consumption can be used for industrial purposes. He therefore suggested the establishment of factories where the skin of cows can be used to make shoes, leather bags, etc; and factories where the bones and hoof can be used to make soaps. Even the blood can be collected and used for various purposes in industrial quantities.”
Aborisade proudly stated that all suggestions by Chief Awolowo are still valid till today, calling on President Buhari to call for that article and proffer lasting solution to the killings.
His words, “All the suggestions above are still valid today as they were in 1953! Obviously because the suggestion came from a Southerner, the powers that be in Nigeria did not bother to look at it, not to talk of implementing it.
“IT IS DOABLE! I respectfully ask that Nigerian Ministers of Transportation, Agriculture, Commerce and Industry should please work together to bring this forward and implement it together with Northern state governors.
“This eliminates the need for Fulani herdsmen to bring their cows to the South. There would not need to be any cattle ranches or colonies in the Southern part of the country. No ethnic group need to fear the other and peace will reign in the land.”
