The Director-General of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) Prof Oshita Oshita has raised alarm that the ongoing and incessant clashes between farmers and herdsmen across the country is pushing Nigeria to a ‘security dilemma’ similar to Somalia where everyone want to have weapons due to the fear of the unknown.
He was speaking yesterday in Abuja at a stakeholders media roundtable organised by the Search for Common Ground (SCG) as part of measures to find lasting solutions to the herders and farmers incessant clashes especially in Benue, Plateau, Taraba and Nasarawa states.
According to Oshita stringent measures must be immediately put in place to curb the lingering farmers/herdsmen clashes in the country as many believe having any forms of weapons to protect themselves due to the uncertainty that the government could not protect them.
“This was the road to Somalia. It is really scary and we must take steps against this and not take things for granted. There are many remoter places in the country that lack the presence of security apart from their being porous, this has led to radicalization of many of the citizens. This is a destabilizing phenomenon and we must all rise to tackle it.
“So we need to take serious measures to end the farmers/herdsmen crisis and not take things for granted, so as not to have a warlord situation due to proliferation of weapons. We need to approach the crisis with all seriousness because it holds potential of redefining what our country really needs in terms of the political configuration. When many communities begin to do this, we will get to a situation characterized as security dilemma whereby everybody is getting one weapon or the other for fear of the unknown,” he said.
In series of policy paper co-authored by the SCG’s Research Fellow Dr Chris Kwaja and the Conflict Analyst and project manager Mrs Bukola Ademola-Adelehin, the Benue State Government was urged to review some sections of the Anti-Open Grazing Law.
It also urged the state government to organize inclusive multi-stakeholder consultations to build trust and plan for realistic implementation of the law among other solutions to the conflict.
Ademola-Adelehin said that a partnership between researchers and practitioners in the field of peace building and conflict resolution was necessary for policy makers in Nigeria to proffer lasting solutions to the conflicts through searching for common ground between farmers and herders across the country.
