Reoccurring Farmers-Herders Conflict in Nigeria: Political and Socio-Economic Implications of Herders Attacks on Farmers in Uzo-Uwani Communities of Enugu State

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue VIII, August 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186

Reoccurring Farmers-Herders Conflict in Nigeria: Political and Socio-Economic Implications of Herders Attacks on Farmers in Uzo-Uwani Communities of Enugu State

Boris Happy Odalonu
Department of Political Science Federal College of Education, Eha-Amufu, Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract: The study examined the political and socio-economic effects of farmers-herders conflict in Nigeria with particular reference to Uzo-Uwani local Government Area of Enugu. The study was anchored on climate change theory and survey research design was adopted for the study. The primary data for the study was generated through structured questionnaire and in depth interview. Eight communities that were affected by the conflicts were purposively sampled. The study revealed that the immediate causes of the conflict were destruction of farmlands, contamination of streams by the herders’ cattle and killing of cattle by farmers. The remote causes include competition for land and water resources and government ineffective environmental policy. The conflicts led to loss of lives, loss of houses and other properties and loss of crops, loss of cattle, reduction in food and animal production by both farmers and herder, displacement of farmers and rise in tension and volatile inter-group relations amongst the farmers and herders. The study recommended that conflict resolution mechanism should be established in those communities that are prone to herders-farmers clashes, there should be an established database of Fulani herdsmen in order to identify the herders in every community across the country, there should be sensitization of the farmers and herdsmen on peaceful co-existence and cooperation.

Keywords; Conflict, farmers, herders, effects, remedies, Enugu, Nigeria.

I. INTRODUCTION

Nomadic cattle grazers have been named as one of the deadliest terror groups in the world comparable to Boko Haram, ISIS, the Taliban and Al-Shabaab (Sun, 2015; Eyekpimi, 2016; Crisis Group, 2017). The group has rack enough havoc to be acknowledged by the global community as the fourth deadliest group in the world. The Fulani militants, as they come to be known, is made of Fulani or Fula ethnic group, a tribe of over 20 million people, 70% of home and Nomadic grazers, who are native of at least seven west African countries (Udoh, 2014). Historically, Fulani pastoralist has grazed in the lands around the regions of West Africa partly because of the environmental conditions that limit the amount of land for agricultural purposes leading to less intense competition for lands between herders and farmers.

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