Nigeria Police has inaugurated the Cattle Ownership Identification and Tracking tool to curtail cattle rustling in Nigeria.

Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, had December last year inaugurated a twenty-seven-member National Implementation Committee for the curtailment of cattle rustling in the country.

The committee was mandated to work out modalities for identification and implementation of strategies to curtail cattle rustling and its attendant security implications in Nigeria.

Inaugurating the tool, the Chairman of the Occasion, former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, said security was every body’s responsibility and not for government alone.

Gowon who spoke through Chairman of Police Service Commission and former Inspector-General of police, Mike Okiro said the tool would effectively check incessant cases of cattle rustling in the country.

Idris in his remarks, said the menace of cattle rustling and Farmers/Herdsmen clashes had eroded unity among Nigerians.

Idris who spoke through Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Information and Communication Technology, Foluso Adebanjo, said this was a keg of gunpowder that must be assuaged before it consumes everyone.

According to him, the force was collaborating with other security agencies to provide security for all Nigerians, saying it was on this basis that the force decided to among, other measures to constitute the committee.

Idris commended members of the committee for working very hard in the past eight months to come up with the tool to check cattle rustling.

He said in the cause of carrying out the assignment, the committee approached several government and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) for support.

So far, we have not received any substantial partnership package from these bodies but hopefully they will soon buy-into this project,’’ he said.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Force Animal Branch, Charles Ugomuoh said no sacrifice was too much to reduce or eradicate security challenges in the country.

Ugomuoh said the frequent clashes between pastoralists and farmers had posed a negative impact on the socio-economic wellbeing of Nigerians.

Ugomuoh, also the chairman of the committee, said the mandate of the committee was being carried out through provision and application of animal loading and offloading among others.

He explained that the technology would be deployed for proper identification, tracing and tracking of animals to prevent cattle rustling.

The chairman called for inter-agency and multi-sectoral collaboration to tackle security challenges in the country.

National President, Mihyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Muhammad Kirowa, who spoke through Idris Bawa, said the association would support the initiate to end the menace of cattle rustling in the country.

He commanded the Federal Government for its efforts to end cattle rustling.