Some herdsmen are subjecting children to dehumanising child labour - Ex-police chief
A retired chief superintendent of police (CSP), James Vandefan, has called for the arrest of those employing children to graze cows. He said herdsmen undertaking open grazing were subjecting children to dehumanising child labour.
- A retired chief superintendent of police (CSP), James Vandefan, says herdsmen undertaking open grazing are subjecting under-age children to dehumanising child labour
- He says such children were being denied the rights to education
- Ortom asks for more military presence in Benue
A retired chief superintendent of police (CSP), James Vandefan, has urged the federal government to arrest herdsmen employing underage children to graze cows.
Vandefan told The Guardian in an interview in Makurdi that herdsmen undertaking open grazing were perpetually subjecting under-age children to dehumanising child labour by making them trek long distances for pasture for the herds. He said such children were being denied the rights to education.
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“Now you are taking a small child who will be trekking from Kano in the name of grazing, and you deprive them of education.Vandefan continued: “The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) is also supposed to come in and arrest these children who are under-age and the guardians or parents who send them to graze cows,” Vandefan said.
“They should be arrested because they are subjecting these children to labour and depriving them of acquiring formal education.“What is essence of sending cows to bush from morning to evening yet they still look very thin and unhealthy. The best thing is to embrace ranching.”
The ex-police officer asked the leadership of Miyetti Allah to exonerate itself of the killings in parts of the country by exposing bad members in its midst.
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He said people were beginning to view herdsmen as a threat wherever they are and that this was having a damaging effect on the entire ethnic group.
“We are saying these are foreign Fulani but why do we give them room to infiltrate into our fatherland and kill our people and still let them stay without being prosecuted.
“Miyetti Allah should understand that there is a thin line between nationalism and patriotism. If you are patriotic to your tribe, you must make sure that you didn’t kill the ideal of nationalism, because patriotism should not stop at the level of assisting one another,” he said.
Meanwhile, Benue state governor, Samuel Ortom, has pleaded with federal government to upgrade the Exercise Ayem A’ Kpatuma or Cat Race to a full military operation to effectively check the ongoing killings in the state’s rural communities.
Vanguard reports that Ortom, who made this statements on Monday, March 20, while inspecting four Internally Displaced Persons ( IDPs) camps at Abagena in Makurdi, said full army presence in the state may help to prevent the attacks.
Nigerian herdsmen vs Nigerian farmers on NAIJ.com TV
Source: Naija.ng