Transhumant herders in the borderlands of Nigeria and the Chad Basin

Nigeria is undergoing rapid and dynamic changes in land use and in security conditions in rural areas. These are impacting the grazing areas and transhumance patterns of herders, and relationships between herders, farmers and wider society. Changes in one location can have impacts in another, as herders move with their livestock to places with available land and water, in some cases across borders – such as between Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon. How pastoral systems interconnect regionally and in borderlands of west and central Africa is only partially documented and understood, which makes it difficult to know the extent to which pastoral conflicts have cross-border elements or implications. This is a point of focus in this study, based on fieldwork in borderlands of Nigeria and Cameroon.

Mobility is a key adaptation of livestock herders in Nigeria and across Africa to environmental variability and strong seasonality in climate and vegetation. Differences in rainfall and in the availability of pasture, water and crop residues between locations depending on latitude, topography, land use, soils, and seasons, combined with socio-political factors that determine access, explain why herders continue to be mobile. Peace and security are among the political and social factors that pastoralists consider when making decisions on where to move their livestock. Different kinds of armed conflict and violent crime have proliferated in rural Nigeria – as well as in other parts of west-central Africa. In some cases, pastoralists have redirected their seasonal movements or relocated completely within or outside Nigeria to avoid high-risk areas.

In Nigeria, analysis and discussion of herders tend to be highly politicised and negative. There have been deadly conflicts involving herders and farmers in some parts of the country and there are very serious security challenges around banditry and kidnapping for ransom. People from pastoral backgrounds are implicated in violent conflict and insecurity but pastoralists are also victims of kidnapping and of violent attacks against them. Herders do not form a single socio-political ‘bloc’, even where they have a common ethnic identity. The majority of herders in Nigeria are ethnic Fulani, who consist of many different clans and families that depend on their cattle and other livestock for their survival, as that is their main wealth. But Fulani herders are not a homogenous ‘community’ – rather they consist of many kinship groups forming separate though in some cases inter-connected networks. Among herders there are also differences based on generation (youth and elders) and in the social roles of men, women and children.

Herding groups tend to be decentralised and relatively autonomous, and their decision-making is generally not controlled by any association or central authority. Nonetheless they depend on socio-economic interactions with wider society and on local chiefs and state officials to access land and grazing routes peacefully. Pastoral Fulani groups are widely dispersed with different geographical bases and variations in their breeds of cattle and in the ecological adaptations of their animals. Also, the Chad Basin and especially Borno State in north-east Nigeria has a higher ethno-linguistic diversity of pastoralists than other parts of Nigeria and the region. These variations need to be factored into how policy interventions are made, as each group has its own representatives, with socio-cultural, geographic, and linguistic specificities. Pastoral systems, including transhumance movements, vary from one place to another and are determined by rainfall, vegetation, the relationships between communities (farmer-herder and herder-herder) and state policy.

Understanding pastoral systems and pastoral society is essential for understanding the forms of conflict and insecurity that involve and affect herders. Interactions between crop farming and livestock herding are important because there are complementarities that can be reinforced to reduce tensions and improve production in each sector. Where there is violent conflict, it is usually not simply the result of ‘competition’ between groups. Many variables and processes impact social relations in borderland areas, ranging from land governance, state security policies, and the presence of armed groups and violent criminals. The performance of the state in rural governance and its ability to provide security is a significant concern in many areas.

The presence or absence of existing conflicts in places that herders migrate through and the actions of farmers and herding groups themselves all impact security dynamics. The provision of education, veterinary services and health facilities to herders and farmers in rural areas would be likely to improve the life chances of young people. However, in XCEPT research field sites, herders and farmers alike often pointed out that these social goods and necessities were lacking or were not being maintained. This study probes these inter-linked issues in selected field sites, connecting local, subregional and regional dynamics. Many peace and security challenges experienced by herders, including violent criminality, armed insurgency and inter-community conflict, relate to how borderland areas are governed. In many instances state institutions have not been working with herder and other communities and civil society groups to tackle insecurity and prevent and resolve conflict.

The case study is structured as follows. The sub-section immediately below introduces the rationale and objectives and outlines the research methods. The following section outlines the main sources and forms of insecurity affecting and involving herders, with some thematic context on land issues and on social stigmatisation and political exclusion of pastoralists. Examples drawn from fieldwork, including a brief outline of armed conflict in Numan (Adamawa State), focus on different dimensions of insecurity and conflict, and consider cross-border aspects and implications. The third section of the case study has a more specific focus on borderlands and on the cross-border movement of herders, highlighting the main trends and recording some of the experiences of migrating herders in the borderlands of Nigeria–Cameroon, Niger-Nigeria and the Chad Basin. The final section draws some conclusions from the research.