Nigeria’s Fulani Herdsmen-Farmers Conflict and Peace Building (Published)
Farmer-Herder conflicts have grown in frequency across Nigeria. They have spread and intensified over the past decade and currently are a threat to national survival: Fulani-farmer conflict linked to poverty, migration, inequality, and religious groups. The impacted states are those of the Nigerian Middle Belt like Benue, Taraba, and Plateau (UsmanLeme, 2017). This paper assessed the Fulani-farmer conflict between Fulani herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria, and gave explanations for the causes of the Fulani-farmer conflict by using the Wehr’s Conflict Model, and provided alternative resolutions for sustainable development. Tens of thousands of Nigerians also have been displaced. Women and girls were particularly affected: they experienced poverty and lack of access to resources, and their husbands were killed in the violence in the Fulani-farmer conflict (International Crises Group, 2017). Violent conflicts between herdsmen and farmers from Nigeria have escalated in recent years, which threatened people’s lives and the country’s stability. The conflicts between herdsmen and farmers have resulted in a humanitarian crisis (Leme, 2017). The objective of this study is to discuss the causes, as well as the economic, political, and cultural implications of these attacks for peacebuilding and to establish conflict resolution strategies between Fulani herdsmen and farmers.
Keywords: Cultural Identity, Cultural Neighbors, Farmer-herder Conflicts, co-existence, structural violence