Abdullahi Ganduje, the former Governor of Kano State and the current National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), recently shed light on the various categories of herdsmen active in Nigeria.
This revelation came to light during a meeting he attended alongside President Bola Tinubu and security chiefs at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, which took place on a Thursday.
Ganduje specifically identified two groups of herdsmen that have been a source of concern.
Firstly, he pointed to those herdsmen who come from outside the country, implying that they may not be Nigerian citizens. Secondly, he highlighted the herdsmen who engage in north-to-south movements within the country. These distinctions help to provide a clearer understanding of the complexities surrounding the issue of herdsmen in Nigeria.
According to him, “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.”
