THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF RURAL BANDITRY IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIA

ADDRESSING RURAL BANDITRY IN NORTHERN NIGERIA: A POLICY BRIEF

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF RURAL BANDITRY IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIA

Prepared by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) and The Pastoral Resolve (PARE) in

partnership with the Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Program (NSRP)

Background

Rural banditry associated with cattle rustling—the practice of stealing cattle and animals from herders or raiding of cattle from the ranches—has become a major concern for public policy in contemporary Nigeria. Cattle rustling does not only intersect with the larger issue of rural banditry, which includes rape; kidnapping; organized attacks on villages and communities; and looting of property, it is also driven by different needs and factors. There is an increasing economics-based form of criminality perpetuated by criminal networks that are illegal and informal, and has unsettling effect on pastoralist transhumant activities. Furthermore, rural banditry, including cattle rustling, has become a part of the wider issues of the Nigerian political economy: human and national security; altered balance in state-society relations; the impact of climate change on agricultural practices and different occupational groups; the emerging challenge of food security and the modernization of agriculture; and the question of inter-group relations and social harmony in Nigeria’s diverse and plural setting. Even more important, rural banditry is a threat to pastoralism and the livestock sub-sector of the Nigerian economy.

In more recent years, there has been a transformation in the character and dimensions of cattle rustling, which has exponentially increased the levels of the associated rural banditry. It has been estimated that, in 2013 alone, over 50,000 cattle were rustled across the various states, especially in the northern and north-central parts of Nigeria. While it is estimated that over 300 herders were killed in that year, the number of non-herders that have been killed in the frequent deadly confrontations between farmers and grazers is unknown.

Rural Banditry and Cattle rustling: Underlying Factors

The challenge of rural banditry and cattle rustling arises from the tension between Fulani nomadic pastoralists and agricultural farmers. The former find transhumant activities, which have both economic and cultural meanings, critical to the survival of their herds, and the latter are very attached to their land and water resources for economic and cultural reasons. However, the tendency is to blame the recurring problems of rural banditry and cattle rustling on nomadic herders who are alleged to have refused to adapt to changes while holding tenaciously to their traditions. While issues of perceptions are critical in explaining the spate of conflict and violence between the two occupational groups and the accompanying problems of rural banditry and cattle rustling, there are a number of underlying factors, which the study has identified. These include:

1. Agrarian Change and Environmental Decline

Protracted conflicts between grazers and farmers are driven by increasing land and water scarcity, occasioned by agrarian changes and environmental decline. In Nigeria, efforts to encourage agricultural production to diversify the economy that intensified with the imposition of structural adjustment policies, starting in the 1980s, have encouraged land grabbing and alienation, leading to land scarcity for both agricultural and grazing purposes. This is reinforced by the increased desertification in northern parts of the country and the drying up of Lake Chad, both of which have encouraged more southward migration of farmers and pastoralists. While these factors have intensified competition for land and water resources between farmers and grazers, the forced sedentarisation of herders among farming communities has further increased the prospect for internecine conflict and violence, of which different kinds of rural banditry and cattle rustling have become an integral part.

2. Declining Human Security Situation

The general decline in economic, food, health, environmental, personal and political security in Nigeria over the years; and the failure of the state to mitigate the issue has led to a situation in which individuals and groups have to provide for themselves through other means. For instance, despite the recent GDP rebasing of the Nigerian economy, which makes the country the largest economy in Africa, poverty and other forms of social exclusion have continued to define Nigeria’s socio-economic and political landscape. The failure of the State to provide security for individuals and their property has led to the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALWs) among non-state actors as people have to find other means for defending themselves. The fact that cattle rustling and other forms of rural banditry have inundated Nigeria’s large ungoverned territories suggests a strong correlation between the ‘absence’ of the State and the thriving of criminal networks and gangs, especially in rural areas.

3. The Failure of Grazing Reserve Policy

Half-hearted efforts by the Nigerian government, at all levels, to develop grazing reserves as a means of guaranteeing tenure to nomadic herders and to deal with other challenges that come with pastoralist transhumance has not only threatened the viability of Nigeria’s agriculture livestock sub-sector, but also increased the possibility of conflict between herders and farmers in many parts of Nigeria.

4. Lack of Voice and Representation for Nomadic Herders

The political exclusion and lack of voice on the part of the nomadic herders largely occasioned by the specific nature of their occupation creates a situation in which their involvement in fashioning pastoral policies becomes difficult. This situation is reinforced by the policymakers’ penchant for not eliciting the participation and involvement of the population that is affected by the very decisions and policies they make.

5. Lack of Appreciation of the Mutual Interests of Grazers and Farmers

Despite the evidence that complementarities exist between transhumant pastoralism and agricultural farming, and that both herders and farmers have mutual benefits to derive from collaboration and cooperation, there appears to be absolute lack of awareness on the subject.

Policy Recommendations

A policy framework that can comprehensively address the multifarious challenges found in the economy’s pastoralist sector is required. Such a framework includes the key following recommendations:

1. State officials who have failed to ensure the genuine involvement and participation of pastoralists should re-examine the dominance of the policy-making process that affects pastoralist communities. Given the low level of sedentarisation of Nigerian pastoralist communities which are only represented by urban-based elite groups, there is a need for government to foster genuine dialogue among the stakeholders in the livestock sector, considering first the interests of pastoralists and crop farmers. As complementary initiative, it is crucial to revive the traditional conflict resolution mechanisms which have broken down in many parts of the country, largely because of the loss of legitimacy and trust on the part of the traditional institutions.
2.  Government, at all levels, needs to vigorously pursue the establishment of grazing reserves to encourage the sedentarisation of nomadic pastoralists and offer them security of land tenure. Actually, the establishment of such functional reserves will encourage the sedentarisation of nomads and provide the necessary framework for addressing some of their core concerns, such as access to education and improved livestock productivity through medicine, etc.
3.  There is an urgent need for an integrated approach—rather than a sectoral one—that would address issues of land reform and water resources that are handled by different government agencies and bureaucracies. And, despite the differing occupational needs and the competition for resources that it engenders, such a demand cannot be overemphasized. The need for an integrated approach is reinforced by the consideration that in many communities there are agro-pastoralists who practice a combination of agriculture, livestock rearing and other activities
4.  Farmers and grazers need to recognize the complementarities between them, especially the need for the latter to be integrated in the broader social and economic environment and the concomitant need to foster mutual cooperation between the two occupational groups. This has become necessary because neither would herders abandon nomadic pastoralism because of the diverse meanings they attach to their animals, nor would farmers give up their land because of its broader social, political and cultural meanings.
5.  Recognizing the impact of climate change and environmental decline, deliberate government efforts aimed at mitigating climate change should be encouraged. In this regard, one important issue to address is to salvage the Lake Chad Basin resources and restore its support to livelihoods of millions of people who have for many years depended on them. The Lake Chad Basin Commission was set up to ensure rational use of water, land and other natural resources and to coordinate other issues of regional development for countries around the basin. The commission needs to be adequately funded to undertake research and related activities that can lead to the redevelopment of Lake Chad. In addition to the importance of a more careful approach to the construction of dams and increased consideration for environmental impact assessment reports, it may be useful to have a regional strategy, supported by willing development partners, to consider diverting water flowing from the River Congo into the Atlantic Ocean into Lake Chad, considering the importance of the lake in the livelihoods of millions of people in the Lake basin, within and outside Nigeria.
6.  There is a need to address the broader issues of human security and the proliferation of SALWs. Unemployment, rural poverty and the perversion of governance at all levels are issues that cannot be tackled with quick fix solutions. Therefore, they require long-terms solutions, in terms of strengthening governance institutions and building citizens’ capacity to hold their governments to account. It will also require building effective partnerships and synergy among the three pillars of governance—the State, private sector and civil society—as well as subjecting security agencies, especially the police, to democratic control within the broader framework of security sector reform in order to curb the level of impunity and egregious violations of human rights and abuses. A deliberate programme of policing SALWs proliferation and enforcing government policy with respect to the illegal access to such weapons by non-state actors should be pursued.
7.  Furthermore, there is an urgent need to respond to the special security needs of pastoralists while encouraging sedentarisation through the establishment of grazing reserves. Actually, rural banditry and cattle rustling are on the rise because of the large economic and commercial motives that drive the actors. These are encouraged by the market availability for the flowering of this form of underground economy. So, there is need for improved control of both urban and rural areas through multi-level policing, and by working with local communities to bring about considerable improvement in the security environment. Such policies should be capable of coming to terms with the twin challenge of rural banditry and cattle rustling.

Conclusion

Rural banditry associated with cattle rustling has several dimensions. It is mainly linked to issues of declining human security and state capacity, pressures on land and water resources by the combined effects of land gabbing, climate change and environment decline, and the failure of government recent grazing reserves policy and the disappearance of designated cattle routes. These underlying issues need to be addressed in order to protect pastoralism as an economic activity that provides livelihood to millions of poor people, in very adverse and uncertain conditions, and an agriculture sub-sector that has huge a potential for increasing food security. The modernization of pastoralism therefore becomes an inevitable goal to be pursued through the creation of grazing reserves and the encouragement of an integrated approach to agriculture. However, addressing these issues would require framing public policies that responds to the needs and anxieties of both agricultural farmers and nomadic herdsmen. This should be done through a consultative framework that brings on board the important stakeholders in the agricultural sector, as well as making traditional institutions and religious bodies to become part of enduring structures for resolving conflicts and promoting peace.