Causes of Intergroup Conflict Between Herdsmen and Farmers in North Central Nigeria
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Date
2015-07
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Department of Sociology, Kaduna State University, Kaduna, Nigeria
Abstract
Naturally, man is created to live in groups, and through group life, man has been able to overcome many challenges of nature. However, despite numerous benefits inherent in group living, it could also be source of problems in some instances especially when the groups existing in a society differ in terms of one social property or the other. Practically, Nigeria is a society consisting of different social groups delineated on several social variables ranging from language, ethnicity, belief system, cultural and occupational background. These social variables have been the basis of social categorization and have been source of differences and conflicts among various social groups existing in the country. In contemporary Nigeria, cases of intergroup conflicts are becoming too prevalent. An example of such is the prevalent intergroup conflicts between the Fulani who are usually herders and the natives who are usually farmers. This paper theoretically examines the causes of inter-group conflict between the Fulani herders and the native farmers in the North-Central Nigeria. As a theoretical discussion, narrative research approach was used to achieve the study objective. Based on the position of the theories, the paper observed that intergroup conflicts between the Fulani herders and the native farmers were consequences of certain socio-economic cum political factors and the paper recommended that some measures should be taken in order to resolve problems of inter-group relations between the two groups.
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Keywords
Group, Intergroup relations, Conflict, Fulani herders, Native farmers