THE RESURGENCE OF FULANI HERDERS AND LOCAL FARMERS CONFLICT IN THE MIDDLE-BELT, NIGERIA

Abstract

Hardly a week passes without a media report of clashes between the nomadic Fulani herdsmen and local farmers which result in the wanton killing of innocent individuals especially women and children in most of the states – Plateau, Benue, Taraba,
Nasarawa etc of middle belt region. In the mainstream discourse, the destruction of crops by cattle, blockage of stock routes and water points have been cited, among other things, as the root causes of the conflicts. However, this article attempts to
unravel, using evidence from primary and secondary sources, which build upon the state fragility model, the recent causes of the resurgence in Fulani pasturalists and local farmers conflict from 2010 to 2015. The findings show stark underdevelopment
of institutions of conflict management and resolution, high culture of impunity, Politico-religious expediency, foreign incursion of herders from neigbouring countries and uneducated nomadic herders, propelled inevitably the recent resurgence, of the conflict and exacerbate insecurity in the middle belt region. To prevent these clashes, the Nigerian government, should as a matter of urgency, bring perpetrators of the conflict to justice and enact a law for herdsmen to develop ranches for their cattle in their respective states instead of resorting to the establishment of grazing routes and reserves for Fulanis’ in all the states which will further exacerbate insecurity in Nigeria.