Grazing activities of Fulani herdsmen in the Igbariam campus of the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University has reportedly overtaken educational activities in the university.
According to a report by Vanguard, cow dung litter all the asphalted roads that crisscross the campus just as cows are seen surrounding lecture halls, faculty and administrative buildings even when work is going on.
According to some eyewitnesses, cows have become part of the Anambra university community since nobody was prepared to chase them away.
“It is embarrassing to see this kind of thing in the university campus every day and I wonder what the management of the university is doing about it. Sometimes one would stay for minutes waiting for cows to pass, even when one is trying to beat time,” Mr. Stan Nwobi, a visitor to the school sadi.
A staff of the university, who gave his name as Douglas said there was a time students threatened to handle the matter their own way, but were stopped by the management of the school.
He said that sometimes, hundreds of cows could be seen roaming the campus and destroying farmlands, wondering why the herdsmen should be acting as if they were above the law.
“I know that authorities of this university can stop this menace if they want to, but it would appear that they are afraid of taking the necessary action and I don’t know why,” Douglas said.
Fulani herdsmen grazing their cattle in farmlands have been the source of tensions between communities and the cattle rearers all across the country.
A terrorist group has emerged out of this crisis, the Fulani Herdsmen militia, named the 4th most deadly terrorist group in the country. The Islamist group has been responsible for attacking Christian dominated communities Southern Kaduna, and states across the Central Nigeria and the southern regions of the country.
