Monarch Encourages Nigerians to Emulate Past Farmer-Herder Relationships to Mitigate Conflicts.
By Christiana Babayo, Jalingo
The District head of Gyawana Local Government Area in Adamawa State, Dr. Agoso Bamaiyi, has asked Nigerians to recall the past relationships between farmers and herders and emulate them to foster peace and mitigate conflicts in local communities.
Agoso made this recommendation during the first day of the Media Retreat organized by Search for Common Ground for journalists, media fellows, media managers, and key stakeholders from Adamawa and Taraba states, hosted in Abuja.
He said there has always been a symbiotic relationship between farmers and herders in the communities, where both have lived together as brothers and even settled their issues amicably.
He noted that farmer-herder issues have also occurred in the past; however, their resolution mechanisms have always been through dialogue, which led to peaceful resolutions every time. According to him, this was possible because they had an understanding that both farmers and herders are humans.
“Before farmers and herders became what they are, they were both human beings, agriculturalists, and both needed each other in their different endeavors. So, in the past, when there was a farm invasion, the farmer would report to the village head, who would call the herder, and they would settle amicably. Whatever the settlement was, both parties would agree and settle,” he said.
The monarch also decried the contribution of conflict merchants who fuel conflicts because they benefit from them, stating that the existence of such people has added fuel to the crisis.
He also pointed out that the specter of illiteracy is one of the pillars upon which conflicts hang, because when people are not informed, it increases the chances of engaging in or escalating already existing conflicts.
Dr. Agoso concluded his keynote address by proffering some recommendations that will help mitigate conflicts. In his words: “We have to build the capacity of youth, who are the leaders of tomorrow, monitor transhumance activities, schedule farming activities so that there will be fewer crises, build livelihoods for the people because when the people are buoyant, there will be less conflict. We must also modernize agriculture and herding, build strong community-based mediations and mechanisms, institutionalize peacebuilding structures, like the peace commission.”
He added that the COMITAS (Contributing to the Mitigation of Conflicts over Natural Resources Between Farmers and Herders in Adamawa and Taraba states) has shown the people that working together can help achieve impossible things and strengthen collective efforts, hence the need to go back to the drawing board and revive the good old symbiotic relationship between farmers and herders.
