Richard Turere And the Fulani Herdsmen

I must confess that until a few days ago I’d never heard the name Richard Turere. Its no surprise because he is neither a soccer player, athlete, politician, social media icon, trade unionist, hip-hop artiste nor any artiste for that matter.  Richard Turere is a fifteen years old Kenyan of the Maasai tribe. The Maasai’ tribe can be likened to the Cattle Fulani’s of Nigeria. Their livelihood and ways of life revolve around cattle. The Maasai treat their Cattle like pets and as a measure of wealth. The Maasai would rather feed on milk and drained blood from Cattle than the flesh. Like Fulani herdsmen, they graze Cattle from place to place armed with spears and other weapons to prevent the Cattles from being attacked by predators.

Richard started grazing cattle at the age of six and took charge of his parents herd at the age of nine. In recent years, one of the greatest problems faced by the Maasai herdsmen was the menace of wild animals like lions, cheetahs and other wild cattle who stroll from the wildlife forests to nearby villages in search of food. Cattle being domesticated were always easy prey hence, the Maasai villages were often forced out of anger to go hunting for these wild animals. Sometimes in 2012 six of such lions were killed in one swoop. For a country whose economy depends largely on tourism this was a national problem in Kenya.

Like most Maasai males, Richard hated lion, yet at the tender age of twelve he realized he needed to do something to safeguard the cattle in his care, hence he went about seeking solutions. First he tried to ward off the lions with fire, but saw that rather than driving away the predators, it rather lit the path for them and gave them easier access to their preys. Then he tried to use scarecrows, only to find out that lions are very intelligent, they stayed away the first night out of fear but returned subsequently once they noticed that the scarecrows have not changed location. In 2013 whilst strolling round the farm with a flashlight to illuminate his path, Richard noticed that all the animals took to flight and never returned for that night. That gave him an idea. Using accessories pooled from his mother’s transistor radio and other household electronics, he invented a small transformer and with it wired up seven bulbs around the farm. Just as he had observed, lions and other predators stayed away from his herd. When other famers took notice of the success of his invention, he helped them set up similar devices and within months words had spread all over the Maasai tribe about the invention now popularly known as ‘lion light’ which is saving their communities from the menace of straying wild animals. The ‘lion light gained national and international attention and has been adopted in Eastern Africa by wild life conservationist to control the movement of wild life. The poor thirteen years old boy who provided this solution is now a global icon.

The lesson from Richards’ story is that sometimes we look up towards the wrong direction for solutions to our problems whilst the solution lies within our reach. If Richard had not invented the ‘lion light’ perhaps his more illustrious leaders would still be playing blame games in Kenya today.  Nigeria is faced with a similar problem now. The prevailing crisis brought about by the movement of Fulani herdsmen to other parts Nigeria is a problem needing solution. Whilst most of us are busy apportioning blames, playing ethnic cards and looking up to Government for a solution is it impossible to find a Richard Turere among us? The Herdsman menace is an opportunity for new business models and new leadership solutions. Can one of us rise up to this challenge and be a hero?