To start with, the Nigerian government RUGA rural settlement project for 'cattle herders' would not have been a problem but for the existing mutual suspicion among the nationalistic entities lumped as ''One'' in a glaringly divided nation-state. The nation-state called Nigeria is suffering from what Onwuejewu (1987) called hyper-ethnic instability syndrome. The syndrome is further entrenched and deeply ingrained due to political incorrectness of our leaders who are nationalist pretenders and confirmed homolooters, fighting 'Nigerianly nationalised' when monies are to be shared at that selfishly convoluted space but 'ethnically nationalised' when they perceived cheating or when cheated at 'Nigerianly national' cake sharing.
RUGA for instance being a product of active politically incorrect gladiators and selfish homolooters is a good programme introduced at the wrong time, when suspicion against the Fulani ethnic group is rife. Again, the programme is too jejune to be a catalyst to issue (farmers-herders conflicts) directed to solve.
The manner with which the programme is projected can be summarized thus:
1. Create a settlement
2. Provide grazing area
3. Bring other 'cattle related' farmers and products producers
4. Provide amenities
5. Provide security
6. Problem is solved.
This simplistic outline is wacky and glaringly nonsensical!
As a sociocultural analyst and trained anthropologist, some questions are of essence for this not to be another sheer myopic waste of funds:
1. Are the Fulanis ready to do away with their nomadic culture? And how has the programme inculcate this into the new settlement system? (Bearing in mind that some of these persons do not wholly own the cattle and some of the positive aspects of their nomadic lives which is vital in their cultural, psychosocial development, among others).
2. Their acceptance within/in the immediate community, long term 'indigeneship-citizenship' brouhaha that might result (and no one should raise the popular Hausa 'Sabo' system here because the Sabo lands were 'willingly' given with expected acceptance of 'non-indigeneship' status but convivial co-existence) and the plausibility of herders-products producers in the same environment.
3. How informed are the public on the nature and essence of the programme?
4. How will the influx of Herders in neighbouring West African countries be managed?
In addition to these questions, I am also interested in how the RUGA project will separate POOR Fulani nomads and their cattle from the RICH cattle OWNERS because we cannot be providing for the RICH to be RICHER using the poor as the cover.
Adeyemi J. Ademowo, teacher and development anthropologist, works at Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti.
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