Assessing Peace Journalism for Managing Herdsmen Conundrums in Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

The spate of communal conflicts in Nigeria has become a nightmare for citizens. In Benue State, the farmers/herdsmen conflict has become a cause of concern as armed herdsmen continue to openly graze, destroy crops, maim and kill citizens on daily basis despite the implementation of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law in 2017 which forbids open grazing in the state. Efforts by stakeholders to address this problem has failed to yield positive results. This study assesses the role of peace journalism in managing herdsmen conundrum in Benue State. Premised on the agenda setting theory, the survey research design was implemented with questionnaire to collect data for sample size of 120 respondents. Findings from the study indicate that herdsmen conundrum in Benue State is caused by encroachment and destruction of crops by herdsmen. Further findings indicate that the role of peace journalism in managing herdsmen conundrums in Benue State ranges from exposing the root cause of conflicts, encouraging parties involved in the conflict to shun violence and embrace peace. Also, the dissemination of truthful information can turn public sentiments towards peacefully resolving these conflicts despite the limitations of peace journalism in the form of inadequate information, language barrier and security reasons respectively. The study recommends that peace journalism should be employed in order to encourage the parties involved in communal conflict to shun violence. Additionally, security agents in the state should intensify efforts to prevent herdsmen from encroaching into farmlands to destroy crops.