Herders-Farmers’ Conflicts: A Critical Analysis of Intergroup Relations In Nigeria

Abstract

Intergroup conflicts, arising from hostile relationships between groups with
parallel goals and interests, are ubiquitous. Intergroup conflicts derive from the fact that humans live in group formations because of their nature as social animals. Due to the conflictual nature of humans, intergroup relations are sometimes tempered by tensile and antagonistic conditions characterized by conflicts in forms of competition, discrimination, alienation, subjugation, intimidation, extermination, war, etc. depending on the social formation of any society. This is the case in Nigeria, a place where herders and farmers are engaged in incessant fratricidal clashes across the country. This paper therefore seeks to explain the dynamics of intergroup conflicts in Nigeria by using the farmers-herders’ conflict as an example. In providing a perspective to herders-farmers’ clashes in the context of intergroup relations in Nigeria, the study utilizes the Territorial Imperative Theory by relying on secondary data for sourcing information to explain the nature of intergroup conflicts between the Fulani herders and the native farmers in Nigeria that have assumed a violent dimension.