Memo to Governor Kashim Shettima

Ring True

By Yemi Adebowale; yemi.adebowale@thisdaylive.com; 07013940521 (text only)

Dear Governor Kashim Shettima, the focus of this epistle will benefit all members of the Northern Governors’ Forum which you chair. As the Chairman, I sincerely hope that you will honestly digest the content and also bring this epistle to the attention of your colleagues. It has always been my dream to see a quick end to the persistent clashes involving nomadic herdsmen and farmers in different communities across our country. These clashes have assumed a frightening dimension under the Buhari administration, resulting in hundreds of deaths on both sides in the last 32 months. I often soak my pillows with tears each time lives are lost during these clashes. Human lives are sacred as ordained by Allah. I am sure that you and your colleagues in the NGF are on the same page with me on this. So, we all should work very hard to preserve these sacred human lives.

Governor Shettima, the truth that must be told is that open grazing and nomadic cattle rearing are aberrations in modern societies. Our great country should not be an exception. It is heart-warming that you are widely travelled. I am sure that you have never come across cattle on the streets of any Western European country or in the United States. Even in some African countries like South Africa, nomadic cattle rearing have long become history. Kenya has also done a lot of work to limit open grazing. Governor Shettima, you surely know this. You and your colleagues assuredly know that nobody should be roaming with cattle in the 21st century. The only way to stop these deadly clashes between farmers and herdsmen is to eliminate direct contact with the farmers. Nomadic cattle rearing will make it impossible for this country to preserve sacred human lives. The only way forward is ranching. This simply means farms for cattle and not death sentence for the cows.
For years, herdsmen in Nigeria have resisted change. They are opposed to any attempt to modernise their mode of operation. These herdsmen are ignorantly opposed to ranching. They have to return to their homes and accept change. Things have just got to change. We need a carrot and stick approach here. If they remain recalcitrant, herdsmen must be compelled to return home and accept change. Just few days back, the Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria in the North-East, Alhaji Mafindi Danburam, was quoted as saying, “open grazing is our culture and you cannot wake up one day and stop me from practising my culture. Cattle colony is not our culture. We have our culture and tradition and we want to maintain it.” Governor Shettima, you and your colleagues must believe in this change and compel herders to accept cattle ranching; members of the NGF must create an enabling environment for this to happen. You have travelled widely and seen modern cattle ranches in developed countries. You and your colleagues can create the same here, with artificial lakes established in such ranches. Industrial boreholes, powered by solar energy, pump uninterrupted water to sustain artificial lakes all year round. This can be done in cattle-producing states.

Herdsmen running down to Southern Nigeria in search of pastures during the dry season are outdated and absolutely unnecessary. Governor Shettima, I know that you are one of the few governors that read books profusely. You must have read about how the late Libyan leader, Muammar Mohammed, turned thousands of miles of desert into arable land. During his time, irrigation systems were established along the Libyan northern coastline and around various inland oases. Also, you must have read about Gaddafi’s “Great Man-Made River.” With this, the former Libyan leader funneled water from underground aquifers, by installing a large number of bore wells throughout the Libyan land. Through this process, big farms were created in hitherto deserts in Libya. The first phase was officially launched at the end of 1991, supplying more than a million cubic meters of fresh water every day from a pipeline that stretches more than 1000 km, from Sirte to Benghazi. The second phase was supplying one million cubic meters of underground water each day to the coastal belt of the country, as well as supplying water to Tripoli. And finally, the third phase offered the organised development of the first phase set-up, and provided Tobruk and other cities close to the coastline with a new underground water supply. The network of concrete pipes (each having a diameter of 4 meters) stretched more than 3500 kilometers. These pipes were hidden beneath the wilderness of the desert to stop vaporization of the water. There were more than 1000 wells, countless sections of concrete pipes, and 250 million cubic meters of excavation. Everything for the project was made in Libya. Nigerian borehole engineers can also install multiple industrial boreholes in the artificial lakes I talked about.
Unfortunately, while working to kill Gaddafi, NATO not only bombed the Great Man-Made River water system and pipelines near Brega, but also eradicated the plant that created the concrete pipes that were used as replacements during repairs.  Governor Shettima, you should also read about the Egyptian desert farming programme that aims at drilling 1,300 wells in the desert.

The point I am making with the Libyan and Egyptian examples is that the core northern states can, through a deliberate policy, also turn their dry lands into green lands all year round, which will encourage herdsmen to stay and embrace ranching. If we replicate the Libyan miracle in the Northern states for our herdsmen, there will be hays and water for their cows all year round. Farmers will have water to plant hays all year round and huge agriculture value chain businesses will develop around the ranches. The herdsmen will purchase hays to feed the cows from the farmers, thereby establishing and sustaining a peaceful affinity with farmers. Milk, leather, meat processing and corned beef industries will also spring up around the cattle ranches.
Governor Shettima, ranching is the magic wand that will turn around the economy of Northern Nigeria. This is the truth. Education in this region will also benefit as schools can easily be provided for children of the nomads around the cattle ranches instead of the bogus nomadic education programme being implemented by the federal government. This talk about local cattle not being fit for ranching is false and one of the attempts by herdsmen to frustrate the transformation of their activities. In my native Ikorodu, we have successful ranches with local cows alone. Former governor Gabriel Suswam also has a ranch in Kansio area of Makurdi with predominantly local cows. Governor Shettima, you need to visit this Suswam ranch to convince Fulani herdsmen that local cows can be ranched.

Remarks that the killer herdsmen across our country are mainly from other West African countries are preposterous and should not stop the match towards cattle ranching. Once we put our house in order, these West African herdsmen will be forced to abide by our laws. Governor Borno, may Allah give you and your colleagues the courage to implement policies that will put an end to unnecessary destruction of human lives in our dear country.

Feeding Fat on Refineries
Under the Obasanjo administration, 1999-2003, the four refineries owned by the government in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna never worked optimally. Key actors in government used them as cash cows, while conducting numerous and dubious Turnaround Maintenance (TAM). The oil cabal in the government also made good money importing refined products. The story was the same under the late Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan. Maintaining the refineries became a good opportunity to milk this country of billions of Greenbacks, yet, they never worked. Under the change administration of Buhari, the exploitation has continued undiminished. In September 2017, the refineries achieved a combined capacity utilisation rate of a mere 6.1 per cent. According to the latest data from NNPC, the four refineries made a total loss of N84 billion from January to November last year, as they continued to operate far below their installed capacity.

The story in town is that billions of Naira has again been budgeted for TAM of the refineries in 2018. This is after the corporation’s GMD, Maikanti Baru, said he was looking for external financiers to fund the repairs. Baru is the only one that knows where he would get foreign investors that would come and put money in decrepit refineries. Also, oil giant, Eni, recently presented a technical proposal to the NNPC for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery. We were not told who would fund this rehabilitation. The truth that must be told is that the cabals in this administration are only scheming to again milk the refineries in 2018 under the guise of rehabilitation.
Perhaps, Buhari will stop this vicious sect, if he is able to read a recent informed analysis on the refineries by FBN Quest Capital Limited, a subsidiary of FBN Holdings Plc.  Experts at FBN Quest expressed doubts about the latest attempts by the NNPC to undertake a fresh TAM on these refineries.
The analysts stated in a periodic report, Good Morning Nigeria, that the NNPC should consider allowing its refineries to “wither away” because new refineries like the 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) capacity Dangote refinery and others scheduled to come on stream soon would be the game changers. They also pointed out that the NNPC refineries were old and that past TAMs on them had not been successful to suggest that the latest effort would be.

“The FGN’s response to the periodic shortages is to commit public monies to another programme of TAM for the corporation’s refineries at US$1.1bn and said to be achievable over 18 months. An earlier investment in TAM in 2013 made little, if any impact. We cannot say for sure that the latest programme of TAM will not be a success. However, the age of the refineries suggests not: Port Harcourt (commissioned in 1965), Warri (1978) and Kaduna (1980).”
This is a well-versed analysis on these refineries. My conviction is that those around Buhari would not allow him to read it.

Visionscape Not Prepared for Cleaner Lagos Task
I spent quality time reading the interview granted to THISDAY by the Chief Executive Officer of Visionscape, John Irvine, on the unprecedented heaps of waste on the streets of Lagos State. I am now convinced more than ever before that this firm is unprepared for the task of keeping Lagos clean. Irvine clearly failed to properly address how it would save Lagosians from impending epidemic, by promptly clearing the waste. He gladly told Lagosians that the streets of London were worse when the British Government privatised public services in the 1980s. I was further shocked when he said that it would take his firm 18 months to clear the refuse on the streets of the state, explaining that the period would enable it to mobilise, stabilise and augment its operations across Lagos State. Haba! 18 months to mobilise and stabilise? Is Irvine unaware that when the Fashola administration privatised waste collection, the PSP operators effectively and instantly delivered the services? Visionscape does not even have enough trucks and manpower to cover 5% of Lagos State.

How come this firm was saddled with the responsibility of clearing residential waste in 20 local government areas and 37 LCDAs? The Fashola PSP operators ought to have been disengaged in phases. Virtually everywhere in Lagos is in a mess with waste. Lagosians can’t afford to wait for 18 months for result from Visionscape. Ii is shocking that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is yet to practically intervene. The Fashola PSP operators must be allowed to return to collect residential waste, at least for now, in the outskirts of Lagos. This current situation is embarrassing. For now, frustrated Lagosians are still heaping waste on the streets in tons.