The Anambra State Government has adopted a proactive measure to prevent the activities of Fulani herdsmen who have been attacking farmers and villagers in the state by deploying helicopter for aerial surveillance.

The Governor of the state, Willie Obiano disclosed this in Akwa, saying his administration would deal ruthlessly with herdsmen should they become “needlessly hostile against their host communities.”

Obiano said, “There is routine helicopter surveillance across the borders of the state to ensure that any suspicious gathering of herdsmen or curious movements across the borders are quickly picked up and analysed by security experts.”

The governor also stated that he has set up a special committee to foster peace between various host community and herdsmen in the state.

According to the governor, the committee was made up of leaders of the Hausa-Fulani community, government officials, security agents and some representatives of agrarian communities across the state.

“This committee has made the herdsmen to pay compensation to communities whose crops were destroyed by their cattle seven times in the past. And we have also paid compensation to the herdsmen when one community breached the peace against them. That is the nature of our engagement with them in Anambra State,” he said.