Abstract
There is a plethora of studies on the herdsmen and farmers’ crisis in Nigeria. Majority of these studies have interrogated the lethal roles of climate change and the other drivers of the conflict. Others have examined the security and socioeconomic implications of the conflicts for the victims and affected communities across Nigeria. This paper investigates the herdsmen and farmers’ conflicts from the standpoint of how the proliferation of porous borders and state failures in enforcing the dictates of regional protocols interweave to jeopardize human security in Nigeria. The study relies on the analysis of primary and secondary data to argue that the proliferation of many porous borders across Nigeria and governmental failure to enforce the dictates of the conditions for the immigration of humans and cattle among ECOWAS member states have occasioned the influx of armed foreign herders to Nigeria. The study argues that the influx of foreign herders armed with sophisticated weapons has intensified the contestation for depleting land space between Fulani herders and farmers in North Central Nigeria. The study argues that the recurrence of violent contestations, attacks on farming communities, and reprisals jeopardize human security in North Central Nigeria. The study recommends the enforcement of the provisions for the free movement of humans and cattle among ECOWAS member states as stipulated in the ECOWAS Protocol on the free movement of persons and the ECOWAS Transhumance Protocol of 1998. It also recommends that the Nigerian Government should barricade illegal entry routes and secure its borders. Transhumant herders from ECOWAS member states who violate the dictates of the ECOWAS protocols should also be arrested and evicted from Nigeria. Lastly, the study recommends the adoption of state police in Nigeria because it will engender a swift response of state police officers to security challenges within their localities.
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Idowu, D.L., Agbalajobi, D.T. (2022). ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement, Border Porosity, and the Emerging Threats to Human Security in North Central Nigeria: An Appraisal of the Influx of Migrant Fulani Herders. In: Oloruntoba, S.O. (eds) The Political Economy of Colonialism and Nation-Building in Nigeria. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73875-4_15
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