FARMERS/HERDERS CLASHES AND THE CHALLENGES OF MANAGING INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS (IDPS) IN NIGERIA

Abstract

For quite some time now, particularly since the return of democracy in 1999, Nigeria has been confronted with a lot of socio-political challenges such as ethno-religious crises, militancy in the Niger Delta, Boko Haram insurgency in the North Eastern part of the country, leadership crises, corruption, just to mention a few. These problems have largely threatened the country's corporate existence and impeded her development drive, a part from posing very serious humanitarian crisis for the leadership of the country to contend with. One area that has assumed alarming dimension in recent time and has appeared to be escalating geometrically across the divides of Nigeria is the issue of farmers/Herders clashes. These groups which were hitherto living in harmony have suddenly turned to enemies, thereby causing insecurity of lives and property which has in turn resulted to a quantum of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) for government to carter for in the wake of recent economic downturn and other competing needs. It is against this backdrop that the paper examines the impact of farmers/Herders Clashes on the management of Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria, with a view to x-raying the root causes, socio-economic and political impact on the Nigerian economy and state as well as the health, infrastructural, educational and other challenges confronting the effective and efficient;, management of IDPs in Nigeria. The paper is thus divided into introduction, conceptual framework, foundations of farmer/Herder Clashes in Nigeria, socio-economic and political impacts, the challenges of IDPs' management in Nigeria, Conclusion and Recommendations.