2014 National conference is a recurring spectra which APC administration ignores at the peril of the national development. Today I reproduce the recommendations of the Conference with respect to MODERNISATION OF PASTORALISTS/NOMADIC LIVELIHOOD with the hope that policy makers will see them as guide to the so-called recurring herdsmen/farmers clashes. Happy reading;
“a. An integrated development and livelihoods modernisation program should be designed and implemented to address the issue of settling nomadic herdsmen into settled communities based on established cattle ranches with fodder development technologies, and including abattoirs, processors and other businesses along the livestock value chain;
b. The integrated development and modernisation program should be funded by both Federal and State Governments in States where such settlements are allowed and established;
c. The integrated development program should be undertaken and wrapped up within a period of 5 to 10 years after which such settlements should have become self-sustaining with the full integration of the nomadic herdsmen community into modern Nigeria political economy;
d. Officers and men of the Nigerian Immigration Service should be more imbued by a sense of patriotism at ensuring that aliens do not take advantage of our porous borders to gain entry into the country for subversive activities;
e. Nigeria needs to commit more resources into building border fences across the nation;
f. The government must involve border communities in the policing of Nigerian borders. Traditional rulers have a significant role to play in this respect;
g. There is also the need to have a regional approach to the management of Nigerian borders. Nigeria should establish cooperation with neighbouring states on the movement of persons. As experienced in the other parts of the world, intelligence information should be exchanged across borders;
h. The Public Key Directory (PKD) Infrastructure be installed, having obtained the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) since 2011. This enables countries to authenticate passports presented at points of entry and ensure that people with criminal records are not allowed into the country;
i. The Nigerian government should revive collapsed industries in Nigeria as part of its larger objectives of building local economy, preventing forced migration of labour and improving National security;
j. Taking the foregoing into consideration, it is recommended that the Nigerian Government must also ensure the strengthening of the country’s land, air and sea borders. The most problematic however, is land border control because of the expansive nature of land;
k. The NIS should be reformed, retrained and kitted for better effectiveness in managing our land borders;
l. The NIS needs to have a unit known as “Border Guards” or “Border Corps”. The capacity of this unit should be built for full combat operations;
m. The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) was found to be under-staffed and requires at least 10,000 persons to be recruited yearly within the next five years;
n. There is the need for increased interagency collaboration between the NIS and other security agencies for a more effective policing of Nigerian borders;
o. Nigeria needs to map the identified illegal routes and create control posts for them;
p. There is need for community policing of the borders as well as a redirection of attitudes of members of the border communities;
q. There should be the construction of border plazas which should be equipped with radars, sensors as well as cargo and document scanners;
r. Capacity building and motivation for border patrol personnel;
s. Conference summarised approaches for managing Nigerian borders into three categories: the existing surveillance approach, community approach and cross regional approach (the Sahel and Gulf of Guinea dimensions);
t. The Federal Government should partner with Civil Society Groups and NGO’s through the NIS to carry out advocacy at all border communities to build confidence and patriotism;
u. In this age of asymmetric conflict and international terrorism, the Federal Government must monitor more carefully, those seeking refugee or asylum status in Nigeria;
v. The Government must also ensure that those being granted asylum in Nigeria are properly investigated and are found not to be related to any agents of destabilization. This kind of vetting should involve the Interpol;
w. Refugees and asylum seekers should be properly documented and those granted temporary or permanent stay in Nigeria should be properly monitored so as to prevent them from fronting for other troublesome groups across the globe;
x. Refugees should be returned to their countries immediately the causes of their movement to Nigeria have been proactively dealt with;
y. Nigeria should tap more creatively into international resources which abound for managing refugees;
z. Government at all levels has responsibility for preventing anything that could cause man-made human displacement. It should also increase the facilities for managing natural disasters;
aa. NEMA, SEMA and related agencies should be better empowered to respond in a timely manner to the needs of IDPs;
ab. Credible data is needed on the numbers, location and conditions of IDPs in order to design effective policies and programmes. Data should be disaggregated by age, disability, gender and other key indicators so that the specific needs of particular groups are taken into account;”
ac. Training programmes for government officials, including camp administrators, military and police in the Guiding Principle on internal displacement is essential for ensuring that they are aware of the rights and needs of the displaced and their own official duties to protect and assist them;”
Issa Aremu mni
