Apart from indicating that climate change has been a source of disputes and a drive for land grabs, the literature shows four significant waves and patterns of migrations within and outside Nigeria relating to farmers' and herders’ conflicts since the 1980s.
Dr Onyekachi Nnabuihe's research aims to stimulate debate on the connections between climate change, governance, land politics and conflicts in Nigeria. It interrogates how climate change has induced conflicts and how government interventions to redress the disputes have further deepened land politics, worsened the conflicts, and threatened food security.
In Nigeria, state-led interventions have encouraged further migrations and sparked off new conflicts and have sustained the cycles of conflict, complicated peace processes, increased environmental challenges and affected human well-being, A substantial percentage of the population of 206 million still directly rely on land for their livelihoods. Changes in climate over time have induced harsher weather conditions, which have led to desertification – which in turn has influenced human decisions on where to live and where and how to grow food. This has significantly affected human migrations, inter-group relations, conflicts, and food security. It has also deepened the politics over land administration because the amount of usable land is decreasing due to a significant increase in the number of people requiring land usage.
There is mistrust and resistance to state-led interventions both in the North-Central/South-West zones and the broader Nigerian State – it is interpreted as political strategies to grab lands by the elite class, which has complicated climate change governance, deepened land politics, induced further migrations, hardened the conflicts, and worsened food insecurity.
Dr Nnabuihe's study provides a fresh perspective on an alternative participatory approach that draws from institutional change, institutional plurality, and constitutionality. Its overarching goal is to contribute significantly to the peacebuilding process in Africa.
He asks how climate change-induced migrations from within and outside the country have spurred farmers'/herders' conflict in Nigeria. He has conducted a significant literature review. Apart from indicating that climate change has been a source of disputes and a drive for land grabs, the literature shows four significant waves and patterns of migrations within and outside Nigeria relating to farmers' and herders' conflicts since the 1980s. Information on this retrieved from the National Archive Ibadan suggests that the waves and migration patterns significantly impacted the generation of farmers' and herders' conflict. This is supported by documents emanating from the colonial archives in Kaduna. Institutional reports were retrieved to support or contest the information from the archives.
During the interaction with herders, many of them acknowledged that as nomads, it is only typical and traditional to move from place to place, indicating that several Fulani herders from neighbouring West African countries like Burkina-Faso, Mali and the Niger Republic have moved to Nigeria, particularly the central region and Southern Nigeria as to have access to fresh water and green plants. In the process, they have been involved in conflicts with farmers, mainly in host communities. This shed light on identity, places of origin, and migration histories and significantly worsened climate questions and shaped land struggles.
Dr Nnabuihe investigated how climate change governance has interfaced with conflicts and complicated land politics in Nigeria. His results showed that attempts by authorities to manage the disputes had been politicised, and the trend has induced ethnic consciousness. It has infused ethnic character in land ownership and conflicts. The archives show that elite management of such conflicts has seen managers appropriating more lands to address the challenge. Field data revealed that governments – at the federal and State levels of the states visited – have made legislation and policies on anti-grazing, land appropriations for grazing purposes, and strategies to manage climate change questions.
He interrogates if there are instances where government conflict management strategy provided the impetus for elite land grabbing. Archival sources reveal occasions when the elite manipulated government interventions to seize lands. Information from interviews and focus group discussions indicates that most farming communities perceived the Federal Government Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) policy as a strategy by the ruling Fulani elite to grab lands for the nomadic and herding Fulani. Dr Nnabuihe says the host farming communities perceive the Fulani as inflicting terror on them. This trend intensified the struggles and killings. Farmers suspect the trend may continue despite measures to control the phenomenon.
Dr Nnabuihe is developing policy suggestions to foster lasting solutions to the negative interaction between climate change governance, land politics, conflicts and food security in Nigeria and Africa.
Heidi Sonnekus | FAR-LeaF Programme
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