Fulani Herdsmen and Farmers Conflicts in Nigeria

Abstract

This chapter explores the media coverage of violent conflicts and climate change issues in Nigeria from the perspective of human rights journalism. Nigeria has had a chequered history of violent conflicts, especially since it achieved self-rule from Britain in 1960. These conflicts have been wide-ranging and cross-cutting (political, ethnic, religious, communal, among others). The Nigerian media have equally had a long history of the coverage of these violent eruptions across the country. However, the mainstream media's approach to the coverage of these issues have tended to be on the physical coverage of the conflicts to, almost, neglect of some of the underlying causative factors, such as climate change. The phenomenon of climate change globally is significant, especially in developing countries, such as Nigeria. In recent times, the threats that are posed by climate change have been enormous. Some communities across the country have been sacked by its devastations, especially from the norther corridors of the country. This has therefore necessitated the forced migration of some of these communities, especially the Fulani herdsmen and their cattle to other parts of the country for greener pasture. This situation always resulted in conflict, which is often violent. This chapter argues that, although the federal government of Nigeria through its Ministry of Environment have come out with programs and policies/initiatives aimed at combating the menace of this phenomenon, and the media, apart from the fact that they have not fully keyed into these programs to step them down for the audience, there is the urgent need for them to review their approaches toward the coverage of these conflicts. This chapter advocates a human-rights-journalism-based approach to the coverage of these conflicts because of its diagnostic approach, which gives a critical reflection of the experiences of the victims of human rights violations in all its ramifications.