The Effects of Climate Change on the Herdsmen and Farmers Relationship in the North-Central Nigeria

Climate change and Farmers- Fulani herdsmen conflict is of concern to governments and has generated serious scholarly attention in Nigeria. Statistics has shown that Nigeria has 22 million cows that consume about 1 billion gallons of water per day and 500 million kilograms of grass and forage crops. Desertification and drought caused by climate change in the far north coupled with the intensification of the Boko Haram crisis has caused Fulani herdsmen to abandon their foraging fields in the north east resulting in the migration southwards by the cattle herders. The increased southward movement of the Fulani herdsmen led to conflicts with local communities resulting to loss of life and property; seriously affected inter-group relations and corporate existence of the country. This paper examines the effect of climate change and the crisis in North Central Nigeria, and the increasing conflicts between host farming communities and Fulani herdsmen and its impact on inter-group relations in North Central Nigeria. The paper relied on data from secondary sources such as books, journals, conference papers, reports from national sources and international organizations and it is basically descriptive. The paper finds that climate change is a serious threat to the socio-economic activities of the Fulani herdsmen in Northern Nigeria. Furthermore, the Fulani herdsmen are forced to migrate to other states with favourable climatic conditions. They are viewed as threats and this lead to conflicts between the host communities and the Fulani herdsmen leading to loss of lives and properties and serious effect on intergroup relations. The paper recommends the creation of large acres of ranches across the country which should be allotted to the Fulani herdsmen; the government should sensitize and educate the host communities and the Fulani herdsmen on the need for ranching and peaceful co-habitation and national integration.