From nomadism to sedentarism: An analysis of development constraints and public policy issues in the socioeconomic transformation of the pastoral Fulani of Nigeria

As sedentary or as nomadic pastoralists, the Fulani, Nigeria's traditional cattle-rearers, are searching for a near-ideal condition for raising their herd. In their sojourn, the Fulani have met serious obstacles. The problems have included aberrant landscape, struggles with competing land users over scarce land resources, chronic illiteracy, and alienation by government decision-makers.;On a theoretical level, the Fulani herding system that strives at producing and retaining the largest number of animals for the sake of it or for esthetics (cattle complex) is blamed for the lack of improvement of the traditional pastoral sector. Similarly, the tendency of a Fulani person to maximize dividend from immediate communal resource use without consideration for the long-range negative effects on everyone else (tragedy of the commons) is cited as the primary cause of impoverishment of the state of the rangeland. Yet, these two factors have contributed in lowering the carrying capacity of the land to the detriment of all pastoral producers in Nigeria.;Using survey and statistical methods, involving the application of survey schedules in twenty-one randomly selected sites in the study area, this research seeks to find the factors that are retarding the development of pastoral Fulani of Nigeria. The research also examines the effects of public policy on nomadic pastoralism, particularly the repeated failures of state's interventions in pastoral development.;Analysis of the data shows that three factors have contributed to the miserable perfomance of past development endeavors in Nigeria. First, the difficulty the Fulani have adapting to rapid successive pastoral migrations. Second, the misjudgment on the part of the government about the effectiveness of traditional form of raising livestock and the lack of understanding of the mechanism and rationale of traditional livestock enterprise. Third, the non-involvement of the pastoral Fulani in the design and implementation of development programs.;To insure the existence of the pastoralists, the government stepped and the public followed, in the bid to improve the welfare of the Fulani and their herds. Different approaches based on different theories and models were applied to solve the problems of the Fulani and to bring them into the fold of a progressive society. However, every attempt has failed, leaving the Fulani at the mercy of the weather and faulty government actions that impoverish rather than promote the welfare of the pastoral producers.;The conclusion in the findings in this study is that ineffective policies that stress administrative and technological solutions in Nigeria are the result of the above oversight. Negative stereotypes evolved from repeated failures of development programs. Many Fulani have lost faith, some have abandoned pastoralism, many more prefer to be left alone, yet, others, in despair, resign their fates to natural and anthropogenic forces. (Abstract shortened bt UMI.)...