NANFeatures/Vol.11/No.75/2017 (May 24)
Finding solutions to farmers-herdsmen clashes
A News Analysis by Joseph Edeh, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
Nigeria has, in the past, contended with various security challenges ranging from crises among community members to conflicts of interests in politics and socio-economic concerns, among others.
Concerned Nigerians observe that most of the crises involve killings and destruction of public property at the expense of the development of the country.
Worried about the spate of this development, the Nigeria Police Force, in collaboration the Leadership Newspapers and National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria recently organised a national security summit to find solutions to the challenge.
The newspaper had, in one of its editorials, raised concern about the security situation in the country, especially the frequent clashes between the farmers and herdsmen across the country and inadequate security personnel.
At the summit, Mr Ibrahim Idris, the Inspector-General of Police, agreed that no nation could develop without adequate security, peace, law and order.
He noted that the force needed additional 155,000 personnel to adequately provide security for the Nigerian populace with an estimated population of 180 million.
He, therefore, appealed to Nigerians to cooperate with security agencies to check the security challenges in the country.
“I want to appeal to all of us that security is every body’s business and we should all join our hands to address the security challenges together,’’ he said.
He, nonetheless, identified poor funding and manpower challenges as some of the problems inhibiting performance of the police.
“Over the years, the Nigeria Police Force, saddled with the responsibility of policing the country, has been grappling with fundamental challenges which have impeded performance.
“Among these challenges are funding, shortfall in manpower and training and retraining of the personnel; the issue of police funding has been critical to all past police reforms and it has yet to be addressed,’’ he said.
Irrespective of this, speakers at the summit insisted that incessant fights between farmers and herdsmen were taking a toll on local food production.
According to them, farmers in affected rural communities are always afraid go to their farms for fear of being attacked.
In the light of this, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, urged relevant authorities in the country to implement the recommendations of previous conferences and symposia on how to resolve security challenges confronting the nation.
According to him, failure to implement those recommendations to address challenges such as farmers-herdsmen clashes, pipeline vandalism, oil theft and other forms of criminality will make the problems recurring.
“We are never short of recommendations for problems; if these recommendations are implemented, there will be no need for this conference,’’ Abubakar said.
Apart from the recurring farmers-herdsmen clashes, he identified the social media, political intolerance, corruption and unemployment as other threats to national security.
Abubakar said anyone who took up arms against a fellow Nigerian or government would be assumed to be a criminal and unpatriotic that should be dealt with in accordance with the law.
Sharing similar sentiments, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, the Ooni of Ife, called for justice and equity in dealing with criminal matters.
He insisted that the reason why people took up arms against one another or government must be explained and addressed.
He also called for the provision of employment opportunities for the teeming youth to meaningfully engage them and turn away their attention from crime.
As part of solutions to the challenge, Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue, who spoke on behalf of the governors present at the summit, proposed the establishment of cattle ranches to end the farmers-herdsmen clashes.
He observed that the growing population and human activities across the country while the land mass remained static with no more space for open grazing was part of the causes of the clashes.
Apart from this, Prof. Oshita Oshita, Director-General, Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution said easy access to automatic weapons was a major driver of violence in Nigeria.
“Politics and sentiments were other major factors contributing to the recurring clashes between farmers and herdsmen in the country.
“The other important driver is the deliberate polticisation of the clashes by imputing motives to parties involved in the crisis’’ he said.
“Given adequate resources, security agencies in the country were capable of ensuring peace, law and order.
“Nigeria has not been over-run by criminality and indeed cannot afford to succumb to crime,’’ he said.
Oshita also observed that the recurring issues in policing in Nigeria were discipline, alleged corruption and absence of motivation for personnel.
In his view, Prof. James Ayatse, the Tor Tiv, said the establishment of ranches was the only solution to the recurring clashes between farmers and herdsmen in the country.
He said to regulate the movement of the herdsmen would be difficult, noting it was only practicable on paper.
Ayatse said although the introduction of ranches would create jobs, it would not stop free movement of herdsmen, especially if they were passing through a particular state.
“If you allow free movement without control, you put everybody at risk and this is what we are seeing in Benue; ranching is part of the control,’’ he said.
He said creating ranches would not go against the policy of ECOWAS on free movement of persons in the sub-region as being thought.
He also observed that a committee had been constituted in conjunction with the police in his domain to identify the “bad eggs’’ and hand them over to the police.
Ayatse noted that unless Nigeria planned towards having an enduring security system, it would fall short in other aspects of national development.
In the same vein, Prof. Garba Sharubu of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, called on the Federal Government to regulate grazing activities in the country to curb the recurring farmers-herdsmen clashes.
He also called on states and local governments across the federation to regulate the activities of the herdsmen to end the clashes.
He insisted that states should legislate on the rearing of animals as professional activities, while grazing by minors and movement of cattle in the night should be banned.
Sharubutu called for the deployment of massive security personnel to the local government and rural areas to be able respond to crises effectively.
He decried a situation where personnel of the police, the army and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps were concentrated in the cities.
He also called for the involvement of traditional rulers in resolving the recurring farmers-herdsmen clashes and other crises in the rural areas.
In addition to these suggested approaches to checking security challenges, Prof. Armstrong Adejo of the Benue State University, called for continuous dialogue between the farmers and herdsmen.
He suggested an effective collaboration between the security agencies and traditional institutions to achieve results in tackling security challenges.
Participants at the summit, nevertheless, believe that organising security fora to discuss security challenges is not enough to proffer solutions to the problems without implementing the recommendations of such fora.
According to them, in checking the recurring farmers-herdsmen clashes in the country, security agencies in the country must carry out their responsibilities without regard to ethnicity and religion.
They advise the Federal Government to make concerted efforts to always nip in the bud issues of clashes among these two groups as their contributions to the economy are also cardinal to the development of the country.(NANFeatures)
**If used, please credit the writer as well as News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)