Nigeria 2013-2017

[ganulv]

Most Fulani-related violence in Nigeria is concentrated around central Plateau state, where Muslim herders are pitted against Christian farmers. Thousands have been killed in recent years.

Such conflicts - a mix of land disputes, tribal and religious animosity - are unrelated to the Islamist insurgency concentrated mainly in Nigeria's northeast, in which many civilians have also been killed.

So this 'crisis' has been festering for some time then... Can this be blamed on the colonial power? I suggest not. More an indication of incompetence by a government more interested in stealing oil money than governing the country.

These land issues where herders and farmers compete for the diminishing land resources - mainly due to population growth, over grazing and poor land husbandry - are common place. Something has to give.

Relationships between nomads and their neighbors are fraught by nature. That certainly can’t be blamed on the colonial powers. The imposition of colonial and then national borders made Fula subsistence patterns more difficult to maintain, though, so colonial and post-colonial governance have exacerbated the tensions to a degree.

[JMA]

Relationships between nomads and their neighbors are fraught by nature. That certainly can’t be blamed on the colonial powers. The imposition of colonial and then national borders made Fula subsistence patterns more difficult to maintain, though, so colonial and post-colonial governance have exacerbated the tensions to a degree.

In most of these remote areas the borders were purely administrative and movements continued must as before.

Competition over land use - as you mentioned - is probably the cause and mainly due to the growth of the population that must be sustained from the land. Not sure how much water is an (additional contributing) issue there... but you would know about that matter from US history out West with the 'water wars'.

Something has to give... there has to be a loser (and he must lose big).