The Niger State government has declared that henceforth, any pastoral entering the state without official permit from the government would be considered rustler.
The Commissioner, Ministry of Normadic and Pastoral Affairs, Umar Ahmed Sanda Rabe, made the declaration during the new Niger quarterly media briefing tagged, “A Quarterly Government Performance and Citizen Engagement Forum”, featuring Commissioners and Head of Agencies, held at I.C.T Center, Minna on Tuesday 28th July, 2026.
Sanda Rabe explained that the state government took the measure to monitor all the pastoralists entering the state, hence the need to check their activities, especially across the local government areas sharing boarder with some states.
According to Rabe, “since the ministry came on board in August 23rd 2022, we don’t know the exact number of pastorals in Niger, but with the political will of Governor Bago, we are able to provide complete data of the leaderships of pastoralists in Niger State. Today, we knew their associations, even the pastoral chairmen in the localities.
“In the next 3 years, we will know the number of pastoralists in the state, the number of their cattle, and after that, we will be able to identify where they are and provide them with social amenities, such as portable drinking water among others”.
The commissioner hinted that the governor had provided a lot of supports to their women and youths, adding that government is also working out the modalities that would contain the harder and farmers clash in the state.
He emphasized however, that most of the crisis witnessed in the state in recent times is land dispute.
In Rabe’s words, “We don’t have bandit camp in Niger State, bandits penetrate through the neighbouring states, and security agencies have been directed to profile any pastoral coming into the state so as to identify the genuine ones”.
Earlier, the Commissioner of Police, Niger State Command, Adamu Abdullahi Elleman, who spoke through the command Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Wasiu Abiodun, highlighted that the recent influx of large number of pastoralists into the state was as a result of security challenges they are facing in the neighboring states.
He noted that Nigeria’s constitution states that every citizen has freedom of moving from one location to another, unfortunately, Niger is facing challenges because of it’s boarder with some states.
CP Elleman maintained that Fulanis are human beings and also have right to security of life and property, adding that it is in their best interest to move to safer communities where their life can be best secured and continue with their normal activities.
“As you are aware, everybody has freedom of movement from one location to another, nobody can stop any body from moving to another location”, Elleman emphasized.
