00:00Herds of cows roaming the streets may be a familiar sight in pastoralist areas of Africa,
00:07but not in cities like here in Abuja.
00:10The search for green grass in suburbia is frustrating for everyone.
00:15Currently it's easier to get around on foot than in a car.
00:21Look over here, all these cows crossing the road, blocking the traffic, and it seems like
00:27no one is taking the initiative to bring them to a better place.
00:34Herders are grazing their cattle in urban areas because they were driven out of their
00:38traditional nomadic pasture.
00:40Trapped between climate change and urbanization, herdsman Alamin Usman says bandits are active
00:46in rural areas.
00:49In the bush there's bandits, so they'll collect our cow, sometimes they are kidnappers.
00:55So that is why we have no chance to go that side because of insecurity.
01:02Finding grazing and water for his animals is a daily struggle for herdsmen like Alamin.
01:07He walks for hours, often along busy highways, to the annoyance of other road users.
01:15I'm not happy because I've been blown on since to come out.
01:19I think the government should do something about it.
01:22The cows are not supposed to be crossing the road, they should be in a rut or something.
01:26The government wants the cows here, in one of four grazing reserves outside Abuja.
01:32But the head of Nigeria's Cattle Breeders Association says the plan is not working for
01:37the traditionally nomadic Fulani herders.
01:41What is missing are these basic things, water and pasture.
01:46This is what an average pastoralist requires.
01:50Kidnappery and kidnappings are major problems.
01:53We can only enter the reserve with armed guards.
01:57It's not safe for herders or their herds.
02:01It has been happening since 2014.
02:03Today we are talking of losing our pastoralists, losing about 4 million cows as a result of
02:10cattle wrestling and due to activities of kidnappers, farmer-herder conflict.
02:15The insecurity also made it impossible for the pastoralists to stay.
02:21The Fulani herders say the government has failed.
02:24They want to harness the potential of their herds.
02:28For Alamin, action cannot come soon enough.
02:31His cows are weak and hungry.
02:35Sometimes because of no food, no grasses, they are chopping nylon or poison.
02:41Sometimes it's killing them, cows are dying.
02:45Ten years a day, the small ones die.
02:49His remaining cows only produce a litre of milk each day.
02:53That's not enough to ensure his family's survival.
02:58This is my business, this is what I know, so it makes me worry.
03:06So he's begun selling some of his animals.
03:08The profit ensures that his family can eat again, but in the long run it's a move that
03:14will destroy his livelihood.
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