From ejecting the herds to hidden dangers: farmer-herder conflict and criminality in ungoverned forests along the Benue-Nasarawa-Taraba border

The conflict between farmers and pastoralists in Benue State has been an ongoing issue but has become more serious since 2011. In 2017, the Government of Benue State decided to intervene by enacting an anti-open grazing law to confine livestock grazing to ranches. Rather than reduce the conflict, it escalated it, leading to increased fatalities and displacement of both herders who were fleeing being arrested and the farmers who were attacked by the herders as a rejoinder. This article delves into the issue of forests in these contexts of violence and displacement associated with the farmer-herder conflict in the Benue-Nasarawa-Taraba borderland of Nigeria. This article is based on interviews and field observations; uses political ecology and new institutionalism theories to bring together literature on warfare ecology (specifically conflict impacts on forests) and the ungoverned spaces to understand the impact of farmer-herder conflict on forests. The conflict has led to land abandonment since 2017 triggering forest regrowth. However, the reforested area now serves as safe haven for criminals and kidnappers who kidnap their victims for ransom, rob villagers of their money and property. Thus, the anti-open grazing law which attempted to eject the herds inadvertently created hidden dangers of kidnapping for ransom, rape, and robbery as abandoned villages forested serving as safe haven for criminals. The paper underscores the usefulness of blending political ecology and new institutionalism theories to comprehend why spaces become ungoverned.