In 2022, the Nigerian government, through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, launched the National Animal Identification System (NAITS).

It has already been two years, and Hashimu Yahaya still counts his losses.

The young herder recalls the day when armed men invaded his home in Rudwang, a small Fulani settlement in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State, in 2023.

The attack, which he said nearly claimed his life, was a spillover of farmers-herders violence that erupted in Mangu a month earlier and lingered till the end of the year, spilling into neighbouring local government areas and resulting in what was reported as a Christmas Eve attack.

Even though he narrowly escaped, Mr Yahaya lost five relatives, including his younger brother, Ismail.

“They were killed, and their bodies were sliced into pieces before dumping them in a well,” he muttered, his voice cracking.

Apart from losing his loved ones, Mr Yahaya explained that the assailants went away with 80 cattle belonging to him and his family.

He said the theft was reported to the police and the military. “But we could not recover the cattle,” he told PREMIUM TIMES, estimating the loss at N40 million at the time.

Hundreds of people have been killed in such violence in Plateau State in recent years. For herder families, such as Mr Yahaya’s, not only do they lose their loved ones, but their cattle are also rustled, thus making economic recovery difficult for them.

A tech solution far from herder’s reach

Mr Yahaya’s ordeal with his cattle mirrors the gap between policy promise and reality in Nigeria’s livestock sector.

In 2022, the Nigerian government, through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, launched the National Animal Identification System (NAITS), presenting it as a technology-driven solution to curb cattle rustling and scale up the livestock industry.

NAITS was built around a digital livestock identification and tracing tool, Ranch.ID. The tool, as explained on NAITS’ website, uses two-dimensional “data matrix barcodes on ear tags.”

The ear tags contain “biometric identifiers such as facial recognition and extensive cattle passport information.”

In theory, the system reflects key principles of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). It aims to create a standardised national database, improving interoperability across agencies, and including pastoralists who have historically operated outside formal systems.

But several years after its launch, herders like Mr Yahaya say they haven’t seen it materialise.

“I only heard about something like that four years ago when some colleagues were discussing it in our village,” he said.

Investigations show that the federal government spent N68.3 million (N68,363,636.36) to design the initiative. Yet there is no publicly accessible dashboard showing how many animals have been registered nationwide, how many states are actively using the system, or whether [tagged] livestock have ever been successfully recovered after theft.

This opacity, experts say, is part of the problem.

The scale of cattle rustling

Cattle rustling has evolved from sporadic theft into a major driver of rural violence in Nigeria. According to security analysts and herders’ associations, armed groups now steal livestock at scale, selling them in poorly governed markets and using the proceeds to fund terrorism.

The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) estimates that more than four million cattle have been rustled since 2014, the peak of the Boko Haram insurgency. MACBAN’s national president, Baba Ngelzarma, in an interview with this reporter, noted that there is no centralised data to substantiate this.

A 2024 study by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) and the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) found that cattle rustling, as it is now known, began as sporadic theft in Nigeria in 2011, becoming a primary revenue stream for terrorists locally known as bandits.

The industry evolved into a mass criminal economy, but diminished in 2019 as attention shifted to kidnappings and mining. By late 2023, the researchers argued that the scale of theft had become so extensive that armed groups themselves were described as the largest cattle owners in parts of North-west, triggering infighting over the remaining herds.

Yet as herders continued to flee to safer places, terrorists followed suit, preying on their livestock.

An emerging DPI that has yet to mature

Digital governance experts describe NAITS as an emerging DPI, one with potential but weak institutional execution. While its design partially reflects inclusivity and reusability, it lags in other key DPI principles.

Even though livestock management in Nigeria is largely decentralised, NAITS appears to operate as a federated system. The federal government announced in 2022 that implementation had commenced in at least ten states – Bauchi, Edo, Enugu, Lagos, Katsina, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, and Ondo – and the FCT. Yet there is no verifiable public record showing operational status, adoption rates, or state-level integration.

Mr Ngelzarma, the MACBAN president, said the initiative, which was initially piloted by a private company, Megacorps Nigeria Limited, has not “taken off.”

He blamed the delay on “policy and bureaucratic issues that have not yet been completed for the programme to take off smoothly.”

Starting new initiatives like the NAITS, Mr Ngelzarma says, comes with challenges, one of which he said was the creation of the Ministry of Livestock Development. The new ministry will now take control of NAITS, the MACBAN president told PREMIUM TIMES. But there seems to be inter-ministerial rivalry as observed with the recent launch of the initiative in Kogi and Kwara states.

Ezeaja Ikemefuna, an assistant director at the information department of the Ministry of Agriculture, told our reporter that the initiative “is now under Livestock Development,” advising that all questions be directed to the ministry.

However, the livestock ministry has yet to respond to enquiries sent to them.

NAITS also falls short of another DPI principle—interoperability. It is not clear whether NAITS’ data is integrated with those of relevant entities, such as security agencies.

As part of Nigeria’s broader digital transformation strategy, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has since 2018 been leading what it describes as ‘Nigerian e-Government Interoperability Framework (Ne-GIF).’ The framework, backed by the NITDA Act 2007, aims to standardise communication, data exchange, and service integration among Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

This year, it plans to put the framework into practice. The agency said it will begin deploying actual interoperable systems, such as the Nigerian Data Exchange (NGDX), that allow government platforms to share data securely.

“Sometimes you can trace the cattle, but you can’t easily find security operatives who will recover them,” Mr Yahaya, whose cattle were rustled in Plateau, said.

His point was similarly echoed by Mr Ngelzarma, who argued that the tool is “not enough” to curb cattle rustling. “But it will also be useful in improving standards of livestock production and consumption.”

A digital governance expert and the digital rights lead at the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Ali Sabo, also shared a similar view.

“While tools can generate data, recovery and deterrence require security agencies,” he said.

The herders this reporter spoke to also raised concerns about ear tags, saying perpetrators could easily remove them. Allaying their fears, Mr Ngelzarma said the tags come in different models. Some are ear tags, while some can be chipped in an animal’s skin, he explained, noting that those handling the technical aspects will know which works best.

Findings show that Megacorps, the private company, still handles the technical parts of the initiative. This, Mr Sabo feared, could strip the government of data sovereignty and cause “long-term sustainability challenges.”

He also emphasised the importance of transparency, accountability, and public procurement oversight, highlighting the inability to assess value for money without public data on usage and outcomes.

The initiative, Mr Sabo said, shows potential as an emerging DPI. “But implementation is actually incomplete, especially in governance, transparency, and institutional integration.”

Uche Ononye, Megacorps’ Chief Operating Officer and Project Lead for NAITS, told this newspaper that his firm has developed the system. He said the initiative is inclusive, interoperable, and privacy-protected, and that it can be improved.

The “biggest challenge”, Mr Ononye said, is the implementation of the initiative. “The system has been developed; it is just the implementation.”

He noted that there is a need for proper sensitization and awareness about the initiative.

Herders like Mr Yahaya have the hope that cattle rustling will be mitigated if the initiative is implemented.

“I haven’t seen or officially been told about it,” he reiterated. “But I believe something like that technology will help reduce the problem.”

This report is produced under the DPI Africa Journalism Fellowship Programme of the Media Foundation for West Africa and Co-Develop.