Cool, calm and collected, Mallam Mohammed Ahmed Umar gathered himself and delivered his first line of message effortlessly and very suave the way he delivered it. He looked down at the tome of papers and files on the table before him, before he looked up again to continue. He had a wide grin of self satisfaction on his face.

The cross sections of the audience he was addressing gazed back at him, with imperturbable faces. Some of them wearily looked on, with short hisses quiet audible that pervaded the absolute stillness of the atmosphere of that grey, wintry morning. The voice of Mallam Umar was calm and resolute. Some elderly Fulani pastoralists were imperceptibly nodding every instance at the progress of the meeting. The meeting was held on the 21 of June at Bankubu Baptist Primary School, Okuta, Baruten Local Government of Kwara State.

The Emir of Okuta, Alhaji Idris Abubakar was represented by his Waziri Alhaji Zilani Usman,the Bankubu Head Council was represented by Alhaji Bio Saliu, Security agencies were equally represented. Mallam Umar who is a Director of Livestock at the Kwara State Ministry of Agriculture had gone there to represent the Honourable Commissioner. Not fewer than 250 farmers and pastoralists were there led by their leaders.

It was a quick intervention from the Emir of Okuta, Security agencies and Ministry of Agriculture on behalf of Kwara State to calm the frayed nerves and freeze the tension between pastoralists and farmers from boiling point. It was dubbed "conflict management workshop". It was gathered that there was no love lost between the pastoralists and the farmers in recent time.

The current tensions started brewing when the indigenous farmers of Bankubu suddenly started craving back for land that had been acquired several decades ago for grazing reserve. It was the land at Gidamagajia grazing reserve,21,156 hectares, the reportedly largest and the most partially functioning grazing reserve in the state. It was also one of the two officially gazetted grazing reserves in Kwara state. The farmers started craving for the grazing reserve's land being the most fertile land around the area.

The farmers's quest for grazing reserve could be attributed to the recent demographic shift which resulted into a geometric growth in farmer's population, 75% of which were youth population and most of whom were unemployed. The pastoralists also witnessed geometric increase in their population, both human and cattle due to migration.Most of them who are of mixed tribes of Fulani stock migrated to Bankubu from as far as Ghana,Cote-de voire, Sudan and Mali. They have made Bankubu, Baruten their permanent abode. Due to climate change and desert encroachment in the Sahelian where 85% of Fulani pastoralists reside, they have been migrating toward the Guinea Savannah Belt to which Kwara belongs in the South of the Sahara.

It was gathered that during this coming dry season, most of them will migrate back to the Sahelian looking for pastures to graze their cattle while they will live their families back in Bankubu. It was this climate change and drought that have equally been responsible for the farmers' recent quest for more farmland.They needed land for crop farming and they perceived the Gidamagajia grazing reserve as the most ideal land for encroachment.

This reportedly was the recipe for cold war between farmers and pastoralists. The meeting was epoch making because ,it at least averted a looming war in the state. A breathless femine voice of a middle aged, scraggy looking farmer broke the stillness that intermittently crept in,in the course of the meeting. The farmer who was a man was repeatedly echoing a murmur of deep rhapsodic assurance saying "we are ready to give peace a chance provided there would be truth and sincerity from both sides".

It appeared the representative of the commissioner, Mallam Umar was the most suited for the assignment. He was familiar with that area, an indigene of Kaiama local government. With anecdotes, he availed the audience of cordial relationship of the recent past between older generations of the pastoralists and farmers. He referred them to the archives, urging them to avail themselves of history of ethnic relationship in that area.

He said government was committed to atmosphere devoided of rancour and hostility, warning sternly however that government will not hesitate to deal with troublemakers. He stressed that Kwara which is a multi ethnic state has had its fair share of ethnic conflicts, saying enough is enough. The two communities responded represented by their leaders.It was the farmers' leader who first responded, appreciating the initiative of the masterminds of the workshop. He said such open conversation was constantly needed to enable the two groups know each other's feeling. Almost echoing him, the pastoralists 'leader agreed that such dialogue was constantly required to let out ill feelings each community harbours against each other. He said this will often time nip any brewing conflict in the bud sooner than later.

Investigation reveals that Kwara state government has started a census enumeration of the entire Fulani pastoralists in the state to document their movement in and outside of the state. This was meant to identify them in order to know who causes what trouble at a point in time .It was also meant to enable government properly tax them. The Herald's investigation however revealed that this has been a Herculean task for the State Government simply because of the migratory nature of the pastoralists. It was reportedly also difficult to know the exact number of cattle an average pastoralist has."These Fulanis will not tell you the exact number of cattle they have. For example if a pastoralist has 500 cattle, he will tell you he has just 50? The Herald's source says. But a Fulani pastoralist by the name Ahmodu told The Herald that the Fulani pastoralists using the Gidamagajia grazing reserve have been regularly paying all taxes levied on them by the State Government.

He lamented that despite this the services they have been getting from the Gidamagajia grazing reserve fall below expectation of what they been seeing in other countries. The Gidamagajia grazing reserve has facilities such as four earth dams,5 or 6 boreholes none of which is presently working, it has a Nomadic school. It however lacks clinic as a result of which the pastoralists often travel long distances to access health care facilities .It was the presence of the Gidamagajia grazing reserve that made the nomadic pastoralists to make Bankubu, Baruten their permanent home.

Gidamagajia grazing reserve serves the economy of that axis, especially the Ilesa Baruba Kara market.This always brings a huge economic benefits to the state. The meeting went on successfully while lessons were learned by the two communities at loggerheads.The two however left no one in doubt that it was not yet Uhuru in spite of the meeting. This was shown in their final comments ,with leader of the farmers telling the elderly Fulani pastoralists at the meeting to warn their wards to desist from trespassing while grazing. The pastoralists 'leader equally warned farmers to always exercise caution in the face of slight provocation, saying mutual understanding and maturity are always the best option when tempers were rising.