Exploring Farmer-Herder Conflict and the Banditry Crisis in North Central Nigeria

This chapter draws on findings of an empirical study conducted by the authors in 2020 involving 72 in-depth interviews with the farming and herding communities in three selected states in North Central Nigeria, particularly Benue, Nasarawa, and Plateau, to analysing the nexus between the farmer-herder conflict and banditry in the region. The key informants were comprised of traditional rulers, community leaders, religious leaders, representatives of local government authority, farmers, herders, security agencies, and the civil society across selected affected communities in the three selected states of the zone. This was complemented by an up-to-date systematic tracking and documentation of incidences of banditry in the North Central zone of Nigeria as reported in the mass media in 2021. In so doing, it attempts to answer the following questions: What is the context of conflict between farmers and herders in North Central Nigeria? What are the root causes of the conflict and banditry in the North Central zone? What are the nature, trajectories, and patterns of the farmer-herder conflict in North Central Nigeria? What are the structures and dimensions of banditry in the region? What have been the responses of the government to the crisis?