CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

Pastoralist – farmer’s conflicts in Nigeria have grown spread and intensified over the past decade and today poses a threat to national survival. Thousands of  people have been killed, communities have been destroyed and so many farmers and pastoralist have been killed, communities have been destroyed  and property in an orgy of killings and destruction that is not only destroying  livelihood but also affecting national cohesion (Premium time, January 12, 2018).The coming of the Forth Republic in Nigeria where new political parties were formed and elections conducted at various levels of government i.e. Locals, States, and Federal in 1999 having witnessed bitterness during the long regimes of various Military Heads of State makes a lots of Nigerians believed that democracy have come to stay with joy and happiness. Not knowing that the game religious and politics came to play in Nigeria till date, series of crises ranging from ethno – religious, political, militancy, Boko Haram, Niger Delta Avengers and the most dishearten one  that is occurring between herdsmen and farmers across the country are all posing security challenges for the growth and development of  Nigeria. Much of Nigeria was under British colonial rule before Nigerian independence. Fulani herders established friendly relationships with community members, and they shared culture and ideology by sharing resources such as land and water. Strong social networks between the Fulani herders and local cattle dealers, politicians, and landowners were established (Bukari, Sow, &Scheffran, 2018). However, migration routes and grazing zones were not protected for the Fulani herders, and the herders often had conflicts over land allocation. The most impacted states in Nigeria, such as Benue, Taraba, and Plateau were slow to develop. Fulani herders established various forms of interactions with local farmers. Herders and farmers violence was mainly because of the increased need of herders to access grazing lands and farmers who tried to prevent the Fulani herders from coming to their lands (Bukari, Sow, &Scheffran, 2018). 

Since the Fourth Nigerian Republic was founded in 1999, many people were killed in the Fulani-farmer violence due to an expansion of the agriculturist population and deteriorating environmental conditions. Insecurity and violence have led many people to create self-defense forces and militias, and they participated in further violence, especially between Muslim Fulani herdsmen and Christian farmers (Bukari, Sow, &Scheffran, 2018).

Recently, Christian leaders in Nigeria claimed that 6,000 people were killed at the beginning of this year by the Muslim Fulani group, and the majority of people who were murdered are women and children (Clark, 2018). The frequent attacks on the Nigeria farmers weakened the communities’ growth. According to the International Crisis Group, the conflict between Nigerian farmers and herders killed at least 1,300 people in the first half of 2018. Since the beginning of 2018, more than 18 people from adamawa State were killed, and thousands of people were displaced because of attacks. Also, people living in the Southern region were impacted by the Boko Haram insurgency. Government’s failure to handle the insurgency quickly caused social instability and pressure (Clark, 2018).

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