Whenever I heard the word 'veganism', the first thing that comes to my mind is those that exclude meat in their diets. Technically, veganism goes beyond that because some vegans go as far staying away from not just meat, but anything animal-related.
Those that adopt veganism lifestyle are of different types:
Ethical vegans adopt the vegetarian lifestyle in order to do away with any form of animal cruelty. Statistics have it that approximately 33.33% of the world's vegans adopt the lifestyle to avoid hurting animals in any way.
Environmental vegans adopt veganism lifestyle so as to contribute their quotas to saving the environment from destruction. It is generally known that livestock farming contributes more to greenhouse gases emission than automobiles in addition to deforestation and pollution of the environment by livestock droppings. Greenhouse gases are responsible for global warming and its destructive features on the planet while deforestation and pollution all contribute to a varying degree in the destruction of the planet.
Health vegans adopt the lifestyle mainly for their health benefits. Various medical research has reported on how red meat is inimical to human health and whatnot. It is believed that health represents the most important reason for adopting a vegan lifestyle after ethics.
- The last but not the least type of vegans are the religious vegans. This group adopted a vegetarian lifestyle based on their religious beliefs. I remember when my wife gave birth at the religious-based hospital and she was served a meal with egg - lol.
"What happened to the normal meat or fish? She asked".
I quickly shut her off and explained to her later how the establishment does not allow animal-based meals due to their spiritual beliefs. It was a tough few days for her.
A little background about the Nigerian problem
One major security issue that Nigeria has been facing for more than a decade now is the issue of herdsmen. The job of raising cattle for meat, milk and hide production in Nigeria seems to have been sectionalized to a particular tribe - the Fulani nomads.
The nomads are generally known to be wanderers, not entirely settling in one place as they keep looking for greener pastures for their herds. As the population of the country keeps rising, the demand for meat and cattle-related products increases, and this makes the rearing of cattle more profitable. Hence, the Fulani nomads flood into Nigerian in numbers along with their herds from neighboring Niger country.
The increase in the demand for meat and the associated increase in the number of Fulani herdsmen in the country started putting a lot of pressure on the available grazing lands for cattle. Global climate change also plays a huge role in the desertification of lands that could have otherwise served as grazing lands. Consequently, more and more of the herdsmen started moving down south to the heart of the country, destroying farms and arable lands in search of pastoral lands. This represented the beginning of hostility between Fulani herdsmen and farmers.
The hostility has caused huge losses to lives and properties with the Fulani herdsmen labeled as the fourth deadliest terror groups in the world at some point. According to particular research:
Records show that violent deaths as a result of clashes between herdsmen and farmers accounted for 68 percent of the total number of deaths across north-central Nigeria (786 of 1,150). This trend of fatal conflict has since spread to the eastern part of the country, with a total of 710 Nigerians killed by Fulani herdsmen over ten months in 2015-16.
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A few weeks ago, the herdsmen still struck by attacking a village overnight, killing several of the villagers in cold blood. It is on record that Fulani herdsmen have killed more people than COVID-19 in Nigerian since the breakout of the pandemic in the country.
Going vegan the way forward?
I have always think about it, what if we stop eating meat and meat-related products as a nation? The answer should not be far fetched. A decline in demand will definitely lead to a decline in supply and when demand for a product is no longer available, the manufacturer of such product will have to close shop or look to diversify.
If not for the recent lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, Nigerians slaughter thousands of cows every weekend in the celebration of one event or another. These actions continually create demand for meat and put more pressure on the herdsmen to meet demands. As such, the violence to take over farmlands will keep increasing. Herdsmen can virtually be found at every nooks and cranny of Nigeria nowadays.
If we decide to go completely vegan, what do you think our own vegan group should be called?
Feel free to engage me in the comment section.