INTERROGATING THE CHALLENGES OF MANAGING RESOURCE CONFLICT BETWEEN HERDERS AND FARMERS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The primary responsibility of the Nigerian State as contained in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is that of securing human lives and property. Events in the last decades have shown that the Nigerian State has failed to live up to expectations in its responsibility, especially as it concerns the issue of managing resource conflicts. Human lives are wasted on a regular basis as a result of the fierce contestations for ecological resources such as land and water sources by herders and farmers. Government’s responses through the deployment of security agencies and the use of agricultural policies have not successfully resolved this resource conflict or even mediate peace. While security agents are often belatedly deployed in conflict situations, agricultural policy initiatives are either poorly implemented or abandoned by the government. By way of a qualitative analysis of secondary data, the paper interrogates the challenges the Nigerian State faces in managing resource conflict between herders and farmers. The paper argues that the capacity of the Nigerian State to resolve the conflict has been weakened by the ruling elite who have certain interests to protect. This explains why the conflict has persisted across the country in recent years with devastating consequences. The paper recommends among others that the State should be relatively autonomous and ensure it does not allow the elite to influence it in such a way that its primary responsibility of securing human lives and property would be jeopardized.