HERDERS AND FARMERS CONFLICT IN CENTRAL NIGERIA: A REVIEW OF CONTENDING ANTIDOTES (original) (raw)
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Policy Issues in Managing Farmer-Herder Conflict in Nigeria
HUMANUS DISCOURSE, 2022
This study critically examines the management of farmer-herder conflict from policy perspectives. This is because several policy proposals were initiated by the Federal Government in an attempt to ameliorate the fierce conflict between pastoralists and sedentary crop farmers in Nigeria. However, it is quite disturbing that these proposals, such as cattle colony, Rural Grazing Area (RUGA)), retrieval of defunct grazing route recovery, and reserves were all components of the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) aimed at managing conflicts between farmers and herders. However, all these policies were received by Nigerians with disdain, mistrust, and other associated mixed feelings along with ethnic, regional, and religious divides. More often, states government challenged the proposals from the point of view of the Land Use Act of 1978 which vested all lands in the hands of the state governors. Thus, any policy aimed at carving land for cattle grazing is viewed as a ploy to confiscate ancestral lands of the natives in the affected states to Fulani pastoralists, who were often alleged to be foreigners or at best settlers. These struggles for policy acceptance have to a large extent endangered the age-long harmonious relationships between farmers and herders in Nigeria which more often than not resulted in wanton destruction living the landmark of horrendous humanitarian effects on innocent and defenseless citizens. To this end, Karl Marx's theory of historical and dialectical materialism was used as a framework for analysis. The theory explains the existential conflicting contestation for land and resources between farmers and herders. Thus, the study discovered that there is a high level of mutual distrust, mistrust, and suspicious which often takes the form of North Vs South, Muslims vs. Christians, majority vs Minority, We vs them, Christian farmers vs. Muslim herders among other fault lines confronting the cooperate existence of Nigeria as a corporate entity. It is given this sense of disunity and mutual suspicion the study recommended as follows; government at all levels should do much in gaining the trust and confidence of its citizens in policy formulation and decision making, and government should key into modern ways of animal husbandry (ranching), the government should adopt the bottom-top approach to policy formulation and implementation to entrench the culture of community participation, especially in matters relating to religion, ethnic or region in the federation and both religion, traditional and the civil society community should be incorporated in the policy formulation and implementation in an attempt to gain the confidence, trust, and cooperation of the various interest groups in a matter such as this.
International Journal of Business and Technopreneurship, 2020
The solution to herders-farmers violent clashes in Nigeria has remained elusive due to lack of consensus, especially between the Federal Government of Nigeria and affected north-central and southern states' Governments, regarding the right methodology for curbing the menace. This lingering lack of consensus is attributable to the sentimentalization of this sensitive national issue given the wide ethnic and religious differences between two warring groups-the 'herders' who are predominantly Muslims and Fulani, and the crop farmers who are predominantly Christians from the middle-belt. The quest of this paper, therefore, is to identify any key stakeholder group that uses scientific methods devoid of sentiments to study any phenomenon before concluding fact-based findings. It is against this backdrop that this study strives to examine academics' recommendations on the sustainable panacea to Herders-Farmers conflict in Nigeria. The paper is empirical in nature to the extent that it employed library-and-desk research methods for data collection. The population of the study constitutes journal articles on Herders-Farmers clashes in Nigeria. Twenty-eight papers were sourced and analyzed using content analysis. The study found that the majority of the academics recommended conflict resolution mechanisms, mass orientation, and ranches as the sustainable panaceas to the constant herders-farmers conflict in Nigeria. The study, therefore, recommends that the ranches proposed by the Federal Government of Nigeria should be piloted in some affected states to be able to appraise its real potentials rather than totally rejecting it without subjecting it to any form of experimentation.
Dynamics of Farmers-Herders Conflict its Implication On Nigeria's Foreign Relations
Oseloka H. Obaze - Selonnes Consult Policy Brief , 2018
Tackling the post-conflict reconstruction/integration aspects of the farmer-herders conflict, presupposes that certain variable are presents. It is assumed that the conflict is ripe, has been mapped sufficiently that we have transcended the four initial stages of any conflict, the Latent stage, Perceived stage, Felt stage, and Manifest stage and indeed, have arrived at the Aftermath stage, which compels the exploration of the outcome of conflict, resolution/dissolution as well as the post conflict reconstruction/ integration components. I do not consider that to be the case here. Bluntly, we have not reached the Aftermath Stage of the farmers-herdsmen conflict. I presume therefore, that this exercise is futuristic in nature and proactive. Basically, we are asked to help in formulating and holding in place, policy options that may be open to Nigerian authorities for use, when required. As experts contend, the farmers-herders conflict “has been largely borne out of problems of land encroachment by, and the transgressions of, itinerant herders, over farmlands, of sedentary farmers. The conflict is exacerbated by the availability, easy. Just as all politics is said to be local; economics is also localized. Therefore, whatever threatens the economy of any community is deemed to threaten its livelihood; and that is the crux of the farmer-herders conflict.
Diffusing the Dynamics of Herder-Farmer Conflict in Nigeria
African Political Science Review, 2021
Herdsmen/farmers clashes are feuds that have adversely led to wanton destruction of lives and properties over the years largely across Africa and Nigeria in particular. The necessity to provide food of crop and animal origin, as well as raw materials for industry and export in order to meet ever-growing demands, has led to intensification of land use. The competition between farmers and herdsmen, however, has often times turned into serious hostilities and social friction in many parts of Nigeria. The basic thrust of this paper is to examine the dynamics of farmers and herdsmen clashes in Nigeria. The study adopted ex-post facto research design with a systematic review of literature. The study relied on secondary sources of data and adopted conflict theory by Karl Marx as a framework of analysis. The paper found out that herdsmen/farmers conflicts have remained the most preponderant resource-use conflict in Nigeria that has led to a death and humanitarian toll with thousands killed and tens of thousands displaced. The clashes have become potentially dangerous as the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East and has become a source of worry especially in wetland areas of the middle-belt. The paper therefore recommended that the government should develop strategies and programs to disarm herdsmen of their dangerous weapons. Keywords: Farmers, Herders, Conflict, Displacement.
KILLING FOR PASTURE AND WATER? THE SECURITY CHALLENGES OF PASTORALISM IN NIGERIA
One of the most knotty security challenges in contemporary Nigeria aside from the Boko Haram menace is the protracted resource-use conflict among the Fulani herdsmen and Farmers in several states in Nigeria, predominantly in Plateau, Kaduna, Benue and Nasarawa. This conflict has assumed a dangerous dimension in recent times in terms of intensity, cruelty and sophistication, posing threat to the nation's peace and security, stability and economic development. Several theories have emerged to explain the causes of the problem, broadly revolving around the search for pasture and water by Fulani herdsmen 'illegally' in various local communities. This paper however, contended that this perspective may not exclusively explain the problem as this warfare which is threatening sustainable peace in Nigeria also has the infusion of ethnic, religious and political factors into it. Also, the paper interrogated the foreign dimension claim to the crises and analyzed the various challenges the problem posed for Nigeria's security. The paper discussed possible dispute resolution mechanism to prevent further degeneration of the conflict and concludes that the government and traditional systems plays the most vital role in bringing an end to the crises.
History and Management of Farmer-Herder Conflicts in Nigeria, The Society for Peace Study and Practice, 2019
There is an unusual prevalence of conflicts associated to resource conflict between crop farmers and herders in Nigeria particularly in the Middle Belt region. Recently, the level of armed violence tends to have changed from the usual communal conflicts between farmers and herders to outright killing of persons and sacking of entire villages in most local of Adamawa, Benue, Plateau, Taraba and Nasarawa States. The vortex of this activity which authorities seem to have misunderstood and lumped among other conflict norms in society poses severe challenge for peace and security in affected communities and portends grave danger for the nation’s national security. This paper interrogates the phenomenon of the new threats posed by “armed militia herdsmen” in Nigeria particularly in north central zone and the extent to which pastoralist and sedentary farmers crisis has been capitalized upon and transformed into a neo and undefined threat by non-state armed actors extraneous to the communities. The paper further examines the current security regimen in place and the security provisioning in affected areas and proffers recommendation to fill likely gaps identified in the course of the study.
Changing Patterns of Herders/Farmers Conflict and the Implications for Nation Building in Nigeria
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED ACADEMIC RESEARCH/ARTS,HUMANITIES AND EDUCATION, 2019
Herders/Farmers conflict in Nigeria is a vexed national question that is threatening nation building. Though the conflict is historically an old one spanning pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial epochs; the Nigerian State is yet to find a remedy to the crisis. The patterns of the conflict have also changed. The conflict has metamorphosed from a local community conflict to a large scale conflict using sophisticated weapons and involving the sacking of settled communities on their ancestral homes. This development has ignited debates as to the real motives for the persistence of the conflict. Indeed, the lethality of the contemporary pattern has left damnable implications for nation building and begs for thoughtful policy interventions. This paper historicizes the patterns of herders/farmers conflict in Nigeria since 1914 and highlights the implications on nation building. It contends that herders/farmers conflict is escalating the bound of a local resource conflict to a politicized ethnic and religious one. The implications of this development on nation building and human security are damning and capable of degenerating into a wide scale civil war just as the experiences of Somalia and Rwanda depicts. Thus, the paper proposes thoughtful policy prescriptions to tame the gradual slide to State failure. The analysis in the paper is laced in a historical methodology using primary and secondary sources.
Constructing the Herder-Farmer Conflict as (in)Security in Nigeria
African Security , 2020
The recent spate of violence mostly in north-central and southern Nigeria, typically credited to conflicts between herders and farmers, and the reactions, narratives, and representations that have attended them, calls for an examination of core security questions: who or what is to be secured, from what threat and by what means. In fact, it could be further contextualized as: how is the conflict between farmers and herders constructed, framed, and represented as (in)security within the Nigerian context? Several existing works have approached the evolving conflict between pastoralists and farmers in Nigeria from a range of perspectives, mostly accounting for the reasons or causal factors driving such conflicts. This commonly includes references to ecological factors as responsible for the uncontrolled north-south migration of herdsmen which encourages the struggle forand access toland and its resources between herders and farmers. At the same time, some studies point to the rise of herdsmen militancy and in doing so draw inconclusive links to other security issues in Nigeria such as terrorism and secessionist movements. However, there have been significant efforts by state officials and interest groups to describe the conflict, either as producing insecurity or to refute such claims of insecurity. This study employs critical constructivism as advanced by Jutta Weldes to examine how the conflict is framed and represented as insecurity. It finds that the discourses produced by the federal and state governments as well as interest groups, constructs it in specific ways by linking specific factors to offer possible explanations of the conflict. As such, the discourses that frame the herder-farmer conflict in Nigeria are: securitization, fulanisation, and sedentarisation. This study presents an important contribution to understanding the framing, constructions, and representations of the herder-farmer conflict in Nigeria.
Journal, 2022
Farmers and Pastoralists are two principal land resource users primarily involved in crop production and animal husbandry respectively. Historically, the two groups had hitherto co-existed in all manners of complementarities. However, effects of environmental degradation had forced the pastoralists out of their usual traditional ecological zones, migrating southward to the North-Central and Southern Nigeria in search of greener pasture. This phenomenon, combined with other factors such as population increase ignited a destructive competition for land resources, leading to the present perennial clashes between the two warring groups. Thus, the Nigerian government has severally been accused of being tepid, lackadaisical and indifference in the response to the conflict. Hence, this study assesses the level of the responses by the Nigerian government to the conflict in Benue and Nasarawa states in North-Central Nigeria. Survey research method was adopted with 350 questionnaires randomly administered to respondents in the purposively selected affected communities. In addition, Key Informant Interview and Focus Group Discussion techniques were equally employed to obtain empirical information. The secondary data was sourced from array of published documents including Journals, reports and newspapers. The quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis were used to analyze the data obtained from the field. The findings reveal that the conflict has not been adequately responded to, by the Government. The study therefore recommends settlement schemes (grazing reserves/ranches) as viable options for a more sustainable solution to the conflict.
Rethinking the Herdsmen-Land Cultivators Crises in Nigeria: A Historical Perspective
2021
Peaceful coexistence is crucial to socio-economic development. In a country like Nigeria where political, ethnic and religious crises are the order of the day, economic development becomes slow, at best, and elusive at worst. Herdsmen and land cultivators clashes have cost the country so much in terms of finance and loss of lives. Consequently, if nothing tangible is done to ameliorate the situation, more finance and human lives would go down the drain. The study takes a historical perspective on the clashes between herdsmen and land cultivators with the aim of identifying the causes and effects, as well as projecting possible solution. Textual analysis of existing literatures was carried to boost hindsight on previous researches on the subject. Also, face-to-face interviews with some resource persons were also conducted to ensure that historical methodology was adhered to. The study shows that the crises have assumed ethno-religious dimension among other findings. Consequently, del...