Three years after its high-profile launch, Nigeria’s National Animal Identification System has faltered, leaving herders like Hashimu Yahaya vulnerable to rustlers despite the government’s N68.3 million investment.

In the rolling hills of Plateau State, Hashimu Yahaya recounts his losses with the stoic resignation of a man abandoned by the state. Two years ago, armed men stormed his settlement, butchering his relatives and driving away 80 head of cattle—his family’s entire wealth. His story is a tragic counterpoint to the glossy promises made in Abuja in 2022, when the Federal Government launched the National Animal Identification System (NAITS). Touted as a digital revolution that would end cattle rustling through microchips and barcodes, the N68.3 million project has effectively vanished into the ether.

The NAITS initiative, built around the "Ranch.ID" platform, was designed to register Nigeria’s massive cattle population, enabling real-time tracking and ownership verification. It was sold as the silver bullet for the farmer-herder conflicts that have claimed thousands of lives. Yet, three years on, the technology is nowhere to be found in the bush. Herders in conflict zones like Mangu have never seen a barcode scanner, let alone a government official ready to tag their beasts.

The Gap Between Policy and Pasture

The disconnect is staggering. While bureaucrats in air-conditioned offices point to pilot phases and stakeholder engagements, the reality on the ground is one of blood and theft. The N68.3 million allocated for the tool appears to have yielded little more than a website and a launch ceremony. Security experts argue that without a comprehensive rollout backed by physical infrastructure—veterinary checkpoints, rapid response units, and widespread sensitization—the digital tool is a "white elephant" in a digital wilderness.

"They told us the government would protect our cows," Yahaya says, looking at the empty corral. " But when the thieves came, there was no tracker, no police, only guns." His testimony indicts a system that prioritizes procurement over protection. The failure of NAITS is not just a waste of funds; it is a betrayal of the pastoralist communities who were asked to trust in a modern solution to an ancient and deadly problem.

• The Cost: N68.3 million invested in the initial phase of the digital identification tool.
• The Goal: To tag and track cattle using the Ranch.ID system to curb rustling and improve marketability.
• The Reality: Widespread non-implementation in critical hotspots like Plateau, Benue, and Zamfara, leaving herders defenseless against organized criminal gangs.

A Call for Audit

Civil society groups are now demanding an audit of the NAITS project. Where did the money go? Why has the technology not reached the end-users? As cattle rustling continues to fund banditry and terrorism across the Middle Belt and North West, the silence from the Ministry of Agriculture is deafening.

For Nigeria to secure its food supply and peace, it must move beyond performing solutions. A sticker on a cow’s ear is useless if there is no one to scan it and no police to recover the animal. Until the gap between the digital promise and the dusty reality is bridged, men like Hashimu Yahaya will continue to count their losses in lives and livestock.