Former Kano State Governor and current APC National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje has identified four types of herdsmen operating in Nigeria.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the former governor while speaking at a meeting with President Bola Tinubu and security chiefs at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Thursday, said the herdsmen causing trouble are those from outside the country and the ones who move from the north to the south.
He identified that the four types of herdsmen are:
- Settled herdsmen: These are herdsmen who live in one place and do not move around. He said they typically cause no problems.
- Migratory herdsmen: These are herdsmen who move from the north to the central and southern parts of Nigeria. According to him, they sometimes cause problems along the way.
- Transhumance herdsmen: These are herdsmen who move from West Africa to northern Nigeria, the Middle Belt, and the southern part of the country. They often cause problems in the areas they pass through.
- Settled herdsmen among ethnic nationalities: These are herdsmen who have settled among certain ethnic groups in Nigeria. They typically have a good relationship with their host communities.
Ganduje said that in the past, there was a symbiotic relationship between herdsmen and farmers. The herdsmen provided manure for the farmers, and the farmers provided grazing areas for the herdsmen.
He said, “You are all aware that there are four types of herdsmen: the ones that are settled at home and have their [livestocks] around their homes and create no problems whatsoever.
“Another one, herdsmen moving from the northern parts of this country to the central part of Nigeria and the Southern parts of Nigeria, creating problems along the routes; and the other one is trans-human- herdsmen coming from West Africa down to northern Nigeria, down to the Middle Belt and down to the Southern part of Nigeria, creating a lot of problems down the roads.
“The fourth one are herdsmen who have settled among certain ethnic nationalities in Nigeria.
“Because in the yesteryears it was a symbiotic relationship between herdsmen and farmers.
“Herdsmen provide manures for the farmers and the farmers provide grazing areas for the herdsmen.”
