Normadic migrancy and arms proliferations : A theoretical perspective of herders/ farmers rurals violence in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

The upsurge of attacks between the herdsmen and farmers in the North, is posing a potent threat in the issue of National security. The level of depredations and sheer brutality leveled on each other by both parties involved, is without doubt comparable to the Insurgency in the North-east. Up till date, there's unrestrained killings by herdsmen in Kaduna, Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa, and Taraba, which has resulted in massive destruction of people's lives and properties. These have added to the Nations challenges in terms of growth, development and even at worst threatens the unity of the Nation. The Country is at the moment faced with a myriad of challenges that have huge implications to its conjoin existence, among which is the security threats constituted by the insurgency in the North-east, Armed banditry in the North-west and the herdsmen militia in the North central. This study looks at the uncontrolled Nomadic Migration and pastoral movement in search of grazing lands and how it has festered the escalation of rural conflict, banditry and proliferation of small arms. The theoretical framework adopted is the Ungoverned space thesis, the analytical framework looks at the conditions of Nigeria's weak security and uncontrolled migrants going in and out of our geographical space thereby making the Nigerian borders porous. The study strongly relies on secondary sources of data drawn from existing literatures.