Baba Ngelzarma, the National President of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to maintain the National Commission for Nomadic Education as an agency under the Ministry of Education, emphasizing its crucial role in providing basic education to nomadic communities across the country.
Ngelzarma’s plea comes in response to the Federal Government’s announcement on February 28, 2024, regarding the implementation of certain recommendations from the 12-year-old Oronsaye report. This report proposed significant restructuring of statutory agencies, including the reduction of agencies from 263 to 161, among other measures.
Addressing the importance of retaining the commission during a security summit, Ngelzarma stressed the necessity of adequate funding to ensure the delivery of functional basic education to nomadic children. He cited a research report indicating that out of over 10 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, 8 million are pastoralist children, underscoring the critical role of the commission in addressing this challenge.
“The committee constituted to implement the recommendations of the Orasanya Report should consider as a necessity the retention of the National Commission for Nomadic Education,” Ngelzarma emphasized in a communique issued after the summit.
Furthermore, Ngelzarma urged the Federal Government to adopt a non-kinetic approach to combat banditry, kidnapping, and cattle rustling, expressing dissatisfaction with the limited success achieved through kinetic tactics.
“The Government has not made much inroads towards addressing the genesis of the current conflict, challenges of the Fulbe,” the communique stated. “The FG should revise and adopt a non-kinetic approach to ending banditry, kidnapping, and cattle rustling, as the kinetic ways used over the years have only achieved very little result.”