State responses to herder–farmers conflict and peace-building in rural grazing areas of Nigeria

Purpose Conflicts between herders and farmers in Nigeria in the last five years have been destructive to the corporate existence of Nigerian society and the Nigerian State, especially in Northcentral, Northwestern and Southern Nigeria. This paper aims to investigate the relationships between state responses and peace-building in rural grazing communities in Nigeria using a National Survey on Peace-building in Nigeria conducted by this team using a cross-sectional survey of 1,711 farmers and herders. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted the political economy of the herder–farmers conflict in Africa to contextualise the problem. Data generated from the study were analysed using chi-square test and binary logistic regression model. Findings The results showed that protection of victims of herder–farmers conflict ( P = 0.024), blockage of sources of illicit weapons ( P = 0.000), arrest of leaders ( P = 0.043), provision of shelter ( P = 0.030), provision of food ( P = 0.037), protection of women from sexual exploitation and abuse ( P = 0.019) and use of the media were positively related to peace-building in the rural grazing areas. The study further found that when the Federal Government ( ß = 0.452, P = 0.018), State Government ( ß = 0.522, P = 0.018), private individuals ( ß = 0.855, P = 0.000) and cooperative societies ( ß = 0.744, P = 0.021) established ranches, peace was likely to be guaranteed as opposed to where herders ( ß = –0.355, P = 0.029) were allowed to establish ranches in the rural grazing communities in Nigeria implying that the Federal and State Government must be cautious in the implementation of the Livestock Transformation Plans not to create an impression that it is designed to favour the herders. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is original and the paper has not been submitted to any journal.