The inexplicable failure of the Buhari administration to decisively deal with the unending attacks on farming communities in Nigeria’s middle belt and elsewhere by suspected herdsmen has created a truly existential threat for the nation – the prospect of widespread food insecurity.
Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Taraba and Adamawa states, in addition to parts of Ebonyi and Kaduna states constitute the bread basket of Nigeria. Together, they are responsible for a substantial percentage of the country’s annual output of 50 million metric tonnes of cassava, about 20 million metric tonnes of yam, and three million metric tonnes of rice, along with other staples. Tragically, they are also the very areas that have been most negatively affected by the repeated onslaughts of heavily-armed cattle-rearers.
Sustained attacks began in Benue State in 2010 when herdsmen attacked Tiv farmers in Gwer Local Government Area. The attacks gradually spread to Makurdi, Guma and Logo Local Government Areas, ultimately becoming an outright invasion as the herdsmen occupied farms and homes for extended periods of time, destroying what could not be stolen, and making it impossible for the traumatised survivors to return to their farms.
Community markets stopped taking place, since the agricultural products which are central to commercial activity could no longer be brought in. Farmers who should be at work have taken refuge in schools and displaced persons camps.
This pattern has been repeated in other states across thecountry over the past seven years. The inability of the Federal Government to bring the killings to a halt has resulted in a massive loss of confidence in the affected farming communities. Convinced that the state cannot guarantee the safety of their lives and property, many have apparently opted out of the agricultural activity that is vital to Nigeria’s economic, social and political wellbeing.
It is time the Federal Government took this grave crisis with the seriousness that it demands and fully confront the violence with the same determination with which it claims to be facing the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east.
The first thing to do in this regard is to bring about the immediate cessation of violence. Although much of the focus has been on the actions of armed herdsmen, it is clear that they are not alone in the orgy of mayhem. Security forces must be sent into all affected areas with the twin aims of disarming all groups without discrimination, and enforcing peace and stability.
It is incredible that heavily-armed herdsmen have been allowed to wander across the nation’s countryside, killing and looting at will for years, without any serious effort to stop them. Indeed, it is probably the main reason why the phenomenon has become so widespread; if armed criminals are certain that they can get away with their actions, they have every incentive to continue.
The Osinbajo Committee set up to look into the herdsmen menace must ensure that it comes up with workable recommendations that can end the crisis permanently. In achieving this end, the committee must ignore the blatant ethnic and religious chauvinism that has shaped much of the public response to the herdsmen problem. What is being sought is a definitive end to impunity and violence, not the suppression of a particular ethnic or occupational group.
Vengeance should not be mistaken for justice. Not all herdsmen are guilty of the attacks, nor can the significance of their contributions to the country’s agriculture be disregarded. All-encompassing solutions which take all parties into consideration are likely to be the most sustainable means of ending the violence.
Artificial food shortages are the last thing Nigeria needs as it struggles out of recession. The continued failure to resolve the herdsmen issue will cripple the Federal Government’s acclaimed agricultural development programmes and could strike a fatal blow at the already-shaky credibility of the Buhari administration.
