Transhumance Nomadism and Farmer’s Conflict in Southwest Nigeria

Raji Sulaiman has pointed out in Chapter 6 that conflict between nomads and farmers threatens the existence of Nigeria. Nomads are Fulani (fula) ethnic groups in Nigeria and other West African countries. Their primary occupation is livestock raising through the random movement of herds. The southwest of Nigeria is predominantly Yoruba, and farming is the mainstay of their economy. There exists a symbiotic relationship between them. The Yoruba’s love for festivities makes cattle business lucrative in the region, and nomads look out for greener pastures and surface water for their flocks, which they find abundant in southwest Nigeria. Climate change, the Boko Haram insurgency, cattle rustling and indiscriminate grazing all contribute to unhealthy competition over biosphere and hydrosphere resources between the two agricultural communities.