RESOURCE BASED CONFLICTS AND REGIONAL STABILITY IN WEST AFRICA: AN ASSESSMENT OF HERDER FARMER CONFLICT IN NIGERIA’S MIDDLE BELT REGION

Sunday Omojowo; Sunday Toyin; ADEBAJO; Aderayo Adeola

doi:10.59689/jsps.v7i3.357

Sunday Omojowo Tai Solarin University of Education Ijagun Ogun State
Sunday Toyin Tai Solarin University of Education Ijagun Ogun State
ADEBAJO Tai Solarin University of Education Ijagun Ogun State
Aderayo Adeola Tai Solarin University of Education Ijagun Ogun State

DOI: https://doi.org/10.59689/jsps.v7i3.357

Keywords: conflicts, herder-farmer, Middle Belt, regional stability, resource based conflict

Abstract

Resources are vital to a nation’s economic development, growth and sustainability. However, resources are also sources of conflict as a result of intense competition over their control and exploitation. The situation is terrifying in West Africa, particularly in Nigeria, where herders and farmers continue to clash over arable lands and water supply. The paper examined resource-based conflicts and their impact on regional stability, focusing on herder-farmer conflict in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria. It adopted the desk review research method and the theory of environmental resource scarcity as its theoretical underpinning. The paper argued that the herder-farmer conflict was triggered by pressure on depleting land and water in the region as a result of climate change and heightened by factors such as weak governance, illicit arms, and ethnic conflicts, among others. The conflict has led to the loss of lives and properties, humanitarian crises, food insecurity and instability in the region. The region has continued to experience a cycle of bloodbath, particularly in Benue and Plateau states, which are the hotbeds of the conflict. The paper concluded that if the conflict continues unabated, the region could degenerate into a state of anarchy. The paper therefore recommended that a regional security agency should be created by state governments in the Middle Belt to strengthen formal security architecture. Also, alternative dispute resolution methods should be highly encouraged, as they have been effective, to a large extent, in managing the conflict in the region

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