Former Nigerian Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and also former Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Danbazau has suggested that part of the workable solution to stem the tide of the Fulani Kidnapping and banditry in the country is an urgent need to mop up weapons and hard drugs amongst the Fulani youth. Danbazau made this known today while delivering his paper titled “Dilemma of Fulbe Pastoralist” during a pastoralist and Fulbe security Conference in Abuja.
Speaking during the conference on the theme, “Exploring the Contemporary Challenges Facing pastoralist and Fulbe with the view of proffering a workable solution in curbing insecurity across the nation” Danbazau suggested that there was a need for urgent steps to be taken to ensure the problem does not escalate beyond the present stage of Fulani youth wasting too many lives through kidnapping and destruction of lives and properties on the quantum scale.
The former COAS opined that to have a serene environment, weapons in the hand of Fulani pastoralists must be retrieved and as well detect and block the circulation of same in the hand of gun runners.
In his statement which partly reads, “We must also clean up the stable and by this, I mean, with the help of the NDLEA, the society must work on the drug abuse among the Fulbe pastoralist youth.”
Danbazau lamented that it seems there was a concern that drug traffickers targeted Fulani youth on drugs and have succeeded as drug abuse is now common amongst them.
To end the menace, the former Minister suggested that there should be political will to prosecute those found wanting in the violent crime to deter others from committing the same crime.
However, to achieve full implementation, there must be full access to education, as only enlighten somebody that values life, while healthcare should be provided for the pastoralist including skill acquisition.
Therefore, he called on the federal government for the full implementation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) approved in 2019, in an attempt to modernize livestock rearing, stressing that it would provide the foundation upon which the integration would be mounted.