10. The Farmer-Herder Conflicts in Nigeria’s Open Space: Taming the Tide

With the wave of Nigeria’s evolving farmer-herder conflicts, the mobile Fulbe group appears to be the centre of discourse among any other pastoral group in the country. Its nomadic lifestyle has constantly led to contact with farmers. This contact takes various forms, from mutual co-existence and co-operation to competition and conflicts over shared natural resources, such as green and lush pasture, vegetation, fresh water and land for livelihood. One of the drivers of this competition over scarce resources is the ecological change caused by global warming, which is already being felt in the northern part of Nigeria. It has been forecast that these environmental changes will significantly increase, with more irregular precipitation and rising temperatures. These changes are aggravating land degradation and increasing the frequency of droughts, and consequently, lead to declining food production and a decline in the availability of water, which is a major problem for food security. The farmer-herder conflicts might increase in frequency and intensity in the coming years. The Nigerian government is searching for an alternative to the situation. The government needs to consider the historical antecedent of the mobility and migration of the Fulbe as a lifestyle when formulating policies. The government should enhance security in the country, engage on an aggressive scale in combating the desertification which has been pushing people further south, recognise the fundamental features of Fulbe mobility, formulate long-lasting ranching policies, and ensure that the grazing routes and reserves that have been overtaken by development and farming are maintained or new ones established.