To be released

Abuja

01.08.23

THE CONTEXT:

Centre for Community Empowerment in Conflict and Peacebuilding is concerned as our country is in dire straits, and some may even say, we have never had it so bad. We are being pushed to the edge of a precipitous fall by an unscrupulous ruling class, revelling in both economic and ethnic irredentism and ethno religious war mongering. Ethnic warlords have taken over the space, filling a vacuum left by the clear lack of vision and grand dereliction of duty of a selfish and self-centred light fingered ruling elite. Choices have consequences, and the choices made over the last several decades by successive generations of the ruling class has imposed this consequence of an existential threat on all of us, and there should be a reckoning for this in the interest of accountability and social justice. From where we are at now, an adequate and thorough tackling of this crisis with a view to resolving it in a manner that builds peace, reinforces inter-communal confidence and trust, and augurs well for nation building and holistic human centred national development will require working from, and being guided by the following sets of precepts and principles.

THE CURRENT SITUATION

From the northernmost point of the country, to her southernmost tip, across the wide expanse of her east-west sweep, Nigeria is bedevilled and Nigerians are entrapped in deepening and heightening levels of insecurity, poverty, homelessness, joblessness and hopelessness. No single part of the territory is safe or secure, armed gangs, roving bands of armed bandits, and other armed criminal gangs roam the land and seas, and dominate rural and urban poor neighbourhoods. These unprecedented levels of insecurity are compounded by the perennial, endemic and increasingly violent nature and the crisis between herders and farmers. No single road, urban or rural is free from the rampaging actions of impetuous armed criminal gangs of kidnappers.

The economic situation is such that the utter failure of the ruling class, the governments at national and subnational levels, and the state is very clear for all to see. The ruling class, the governments, and the state have failed in their constitutional obligation to ensure the security and wellbeing of citizens; and their constitutional duty to protect citizens and residents from harm, from fear, from hunger, and from want. To highlight the complicit nature of the ruling class as a collective in our existential crisis, and demonstrate the crass incompetence and gross failure of leadership and governance; since the 1999 return to civil rule the ruling class and the state has convened two national dialogues and consultative processes – one in 2005 and the latest in 2014. Both national dialogues which were widely representative of the ethno religious, and even ideological and political diversity of the country, discussed and deliberated on urgent national issues.

The 2014 conference in particular had extensive, and even often contentious deliberations on issues of poverty, pastoralism, security, the economy, social security and national development. Where it made policy recommendations it prepared draft texts of policy frameworks; and where it recommended constitutional changes, it prepared draft constitution including texts for the proposed amendments, including restructuring among others. The issue is not the absence of proposed solutions to our myriad of problems, the challenge has been the lack of political will by a ruling class complicit in the present crises, and that benefits material from our current situation.

OUR DEMANDS:

Economic Safeguard Post-Subsidy Removal: It is crucial for governments to assess the specific circumstances of the subsidy removal and work closely with Nigerians to determine the most appropriate safeguard measures. The goal is to strike a balance between supporting domestic industries during the transition and promoting long-term economic sustainability and competitiveness. There must be deliberate public investment initiatives to drive this process as well as incentivised private investment initiatives. The Bank of Agriculture, Bank of Industry and the Development Bank, will need to be restructured to ensure that departments and technical teams are established to manage the disbursement of these special purpose investment post subsidy removal. But this rollout plan by the President must be a planned, and as such it must be timed and measurable. An initial 2-year revitalization period can be considered, subject to a further additional 2-year period to complete the value chain.

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Address Criminality: In the context of this raging crisis, crimes are being committed and acts of criminality are being perpetrated. Destruction of property including livelihoods sources is a crime, and so is the attacking, maiming, and killing of persons, or sacking of communities and razing down of their properties. These are criminal acts and they should be treated as such. Criminals should be identified, tracked, arrested and prosecuted. Crimes should be investigated and prosecuted. And measures must be put in place to enhance the safety and security of persons, communities, their properties and their livelihoods – on both sides. The members of the various communities should be deliberately involved in the determination and implementation of measures to ensure their safety and security, and inter-communal and inter-agency coordination structures, systems and mechanisms will need to be put in place – for confident and trust building, to enhance shared appreciation and defence of common security and safety, and to enhance harmonious co-existence.

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ENSURE JUSTICE: In the context of this historically evolved and developing crisis, compounded as it has become several intertwining acts of criminality, often fostered by processes of mutual interdependence, several horrendous acts have been committed. People have been killed, many persons have suffered bodily harm and injuries, communities have been attacked, people have been displaced, properties have been destroyed, and livelihoods have been lost. In this context, it is important to identify and hold criminals to account and to ensure that just is served for those who have suffered losses of various types, including those who have been killed. A system and mechanism for identifying victims, for verifying claims, and for addressing justice issues including compensations must be put in place. And as this crisis is very evidently the result of the inability of the state to protect citizens and ensure their wellbeing, the state must bear the responsibility for compensating and rehabilitating victims, and resettling and rebuilding destroyed communities.

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Eschew Ethnicisation: There is an urgent need to eschew ethnicization of the crisis, to label, tag and stereotype entire ethnic groups as criminals. Strategic communication and proper messaging is important here. How we communicate the crisis will either help to enhance efforts aimed at resolving the crisis or aid the process of deepening distrust and contribute to blocking the emergence or evolution of any acceptable resolution of the crisis. Ethnic groups are not criminals, even though their maybe and there often are criminals and outlaws among every ethnic group. The same is true of religion and faith. No religion should be criminalized, at least not in this instance of the crisis between herders and farmers. 

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Farming And Cattle Breeding Are Agricultural Livelihoods Systems: It is important to recognise, and place at the center of solution seeking the fact that both sedentary farming and cattle breeding are livelihoods systems, and as such the approach should be one that ensures that policy measures and programs, including institutional, legislative, regulatory, and public investment measures are crafted, designed, and implemented in a manner as to support the improvement and transformation of these livelihoods systems, towards ensuring not only increased prosperity and improved incomes for their practitioners, but also harmonious coexistence and mutually beneficial interdependence between both livelihoods.

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Restore Peaceful Transition in the Southeast: There were reported incidents of attacks on government buildings and infrastructure, further destabilizing the security situation. The nation has lost personnel and citizens to the rascality going on in the region. On the flipside, the Nigerian security forces carried out operations to counter the activities of militant groups in the region. These operations sometimes resulted in clashes between the security forces and militants, leading to casualties and tension in affected areas. The security challenges in the southeast had adverse effects on economic activities in the region. Business operations and transportation are weekly disrupted, affecting livelihoods and investments.

Conclusion:

Our duty is to take collective action as citizens and residents, to hold the government accountable, and ensure we build bridges of confidence amongst ourselves to remake our country. To be sure, the growth in human population, and the consequent growth in human development activities and the size of settlements, the impact of climate change, as well as the growth in the size and population of herders as well as the herds, is such that neither crop farming, nor cattle breeding can any longer be efficiently and effectively practiced in a manner that mitigates and avoids conflict, builds trust and confidence, and on the scale and scope necessary to meet the food, industrial and developmental demands of the modern population, through the expansive and untrammelled utilization of land and water resources. Land use as well the utilization of the resources on the land, can only be efficiently and effectively utilised within the practice and culture of conservation, and not waste.

Signed:

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Salaudeen Hashim

Executive Director