Land governance is an important element of peace and security in the borderlands of northern Nigeria, to enable of animals to be moved peacefully between grazing areas and water points, and for herders and farmers to have access to land, through user rights or ownership. Deficiencies and irregularities in land governance, which includes the seizing of farmland and grazing land from local people by politicians, are contributing to insecurity. Infringement on the ability to move and graze animals and the lack of support for the pastoral economy costs herders their livelihoods and weakens Nigeria’s domestic livestock sector. These are factors in rising crime rates, tensions between farmers and herders, increasing food insecurity, and cross-border pastoral migration out of Nigeria.
Grazing reserves that should be protected are being turned over to cultivation by farmers, degraded through tree-cutting and over-grazing, or taken over by urbanbased elites. The loss of grazing reserves increases the encroachment of herds onto crops. Livestock routes (burti) that allow animals to be herded from one place to another without trampling fields of crops are being blocked, which can trigger conflicts – such as if a route has been cultivated and merged into a farm. XCEPT field research encountered stock routes that had been blocked by farms owned by politicians, raising concerns among local community about rising insecurity as a result. Protecting and reviving stock routes and grazing reserves would help towards long-term prevention and management of conflicts in Nigeria’s borderlands. Some of these ideas were envisaged as part of Nigeria’s National Livestock Transformation Plan (2019–28) but have not been implemented (NEC, 2019).
In Cameroon’s borderlands, in places where fieldwork was carried out, cattle tended to be kept in designated areas similar to grazing reserves or small ranches but were also mobile with organised transhumance and rights of passage at specific times of year. The rights of pastoralists are better protected in Cameroon than in Nigeria, and disputes between farmers and herders, or between nomadic pastoralists and local pastoralists, more rarely escalate into violent conflict compared with Nigeria. The state plays a more active role in conflict prevention and resolution in Cameroon and the pastoral association MBOSCUDA (Mbororo Social and Cultural Development Association) is active in dialogue and local development initiatives.
Dialogue is a cornerstone of building good and peaceful relations between pastoralists and other communities. Routine dialogue is essential in addressing land issues and community relations, and enabling economic cooperation between farmers and herders. Traditional rulers – emirs or chiefs, or district and village heads – play a key role in preventing, mediating and resolving tensions and conflict. Religious leaders can also facilitate dialogue when there is a religious element to potential or actual disputes, such as between predominantly Christian farmers and Muslim herders. Women and young people are generally under-represented in dialogue and conflict resolution mechanisms. Effective dialogue relies on genuine representation of different age, gender and social strata of herding and farming communities. Successful outcomes also depend on the capacity of state or of customary institutions to implement decisions and recommendations that emerge from dialogue. Currently, there is little government support for inter-community dialogue in most Nigerian States. The Adamawa State government has a farmer-herder committee and dialogue initiatives supported by the state and by international partners, but with minimal resources.
In pastoral contexts, raising animals has traditionally involved the whole family – elders, women, youths and children. But responsibilities for looking after livestock are increasingly becoming the domain of young men. This is not the case everywhere, but is an emergent trend the full implications of which still need to be explored. But it is affecting generational and gender divides and insecurity. In longer-term pastoral migrations, for example, elders, women and small children tend to travel in vehicles while the cattle are herded by young men and boys ‘on the hoof’. Older men with cattle are a target for kidnapping as they are assumed to be the owners of the livestock – younger herders can be dismissed as ‘hired herders’. Some women and girls still migrate with the cattle, but more are settling permanently in camps and villages, leaving young men and boys with the main responsibility for herding the animals. Income for sedentary pastoralist women when separated from migrating herds, such as from selling dairy products, has shrunk as a result.
These emerging trends also mean that younger male herders are spending longer periods of time away from their wider communities and from education and other important social structures, and can be more exposed to threats and risks as a result. Farmers involved in XCEPT research complained that young herders grazing cattle without supervision are less capable of controlling herds, which can exacerbate encroachment onto crops and cause disputes with farming communities as a result. XCEPT research also encountered anecdotal evidence that younger male herders are increasingly susceptible to experiencing problems with drugs, which further affects their ability to maintain livestock effectively and safely, or to navigate peaceful passage of herds. Rural development projects rarely include pastoralist youth, who are hard to access and are not well-represented in pastoralist associations and networks.
State security providers – the military and police, and also intelligence agencies – have formal responsibility for maintaining peace and security in the borderlands of northern Nigeria and its environs. But particularly in Nigeria, the failure of state providers to protect communities from threats of armed conflict and violent crime has left gaps that are increasingly being filled by non-state security groups. Vigilantes have become the main security providers and first responders in many borderland areas of northern Nigeria. Vigilantes in Nigeria are officially answerable to the state authorities, but in practice they have taken on significant security work acting autonomously, including gathering local intelligence, patrolling, and confronting armed gangs. Vigilantes’ role has grown over the past decade in Nigeria, and many are officially recognised and are registered with the police. Their members are issued with identity cards and some of their operations are carried out alongside the police or military. Examples include the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN), different Hunters Associations, the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) in Borno State, and Tabital Pulaaku vigilantes in Adamawa and Taraba States.
Vigilantes have contributed to improving the security for some groups and in some circumstances. But weak systems of accountability mean that vigilante groups can also commit serious violations of human rights and of the law, such as extrajudicial killings and targeting specific ethnic or clan groups. The multiplicity of security actors presents challenges for migrating herders. Mobile pastoralists need to make themselves known to local authorities in the areas they move through as part of the strategy for safe passage an due to local regulations. But many are deterred from registering due to fear of informal taxes placed on them by state authorities, traditional rulers, and non-state security groups. In Cameroon’s borderlands, the state retains a primary role in security, even while working with non-state groups in some instances. Herders have responded to different forms of violence by relocating away from high-risk areas, or mitigating risks within those areas. Contrary to prevalent narratives that insecurity in northern Nigeria’s borderlands is being caused by cross-border herder movements into Nigeria, many herders are leaving Nigeria as a result of insecurity.
Pathways towards more peaceful relations between pastoralists and farmers in the borderlands of northern Nigeria in terms of land use could include improving the quality of grasses in degraded areas, planting native trees on deforested land, and strategies to coordinate and integrate pastoral activities with crop farming to avoid conflict. There is currently scant investment or policy and programme implementation on these issues, and at the same time education in rural areas and the delivery of key services such as veterinary expertise and human health care have been much neglected. The lack of attention to education is particularly serious as it reduces the life chances and opportunities for young people and prevents livelihood diversification. As a result, pastoralism in Nigeria is at crisis point, with implications within and beyond herding communities.