By Ngozi James
A former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Martin Luther Agwai (rtd) says Nigeria can tackle the escalating conflicts if govenrnent embrace dialogue and revive the role of traditional rulers.
Abuja at a National conference, themed ‘Management of Farmer-Herder Relations in Nigeria,’ organised by the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), in collaboration with Neem Foundation and Karuna Center for Peace Building.
Agwai said his miltary career including perace keeping missions revealed the critical role dialogue parts in conflicts and urged tye Nigerian state to do so as much as possible. While noting that traditional rulers are rarely recognised, the former CDS pointed out that the new management style which Nigerian govenrnents must adopt is the bottom-top approach and nit vice versa.
“The new principle in management is bottom-up, we need to take our people.from the grassroot up. It is key to note that most of the crisis, whether farmer-herder that have now metamorphosed into criminality, all started because people at the top want something; and because they want something, they would find all sorts of means in their research, data and statics, sometimes tell lies, so that they will have their way. I hope in our discussion tody, we will begin to accept that the traditional rulers rarely still have a place,” he said.
Governor of Katsina state, Aminu Masari also acknowledged the role of traditional rulers play. He informed that his We realised the importance of traditional rulers to tackle herders crisis , integrate the traditional system in the state security’s architecture to manage local conflict and success recorded.
The governor while noting that the farmer-herder conflict started off as a local problem and then graduated to an unimaginable level, said security forces have become overstretched; hence the need for traditional institutions to majorly address the drivers of conflict.
He equaly pointed out that the farmer-herder crisis is now a forgone issue in the Katsina and some North West Region, saying a the major problem is now banditry, and if not tackled, will escalate into a much bigger problem.
In his opening remarks, the Director General, IPCR, Dr. Bakut Tswah Bakut, said the conference was timely considering the violent clashes between farmers and others across the country and to some extent the whole of West Africa.
He said the crisis had led to the loss of lives and destroyed livelihoods and by extension, affecting other sectors of the economy.
Executive Director, Neem Foundation, Dr Fatima Akilu, said there was need to strengthen efforts to curtail farmer-herder crisis in the country.
“There are already existing initiatives being done by farmers and herders across Nigeria. These strides should be magnified and promoted as potential solutions for other farmers and herders,” she added.