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When We Believe in State Power, It Tends to Fail Us

Insights Into the Management of Herder-Peasant Farmer Conflicts in Benue State, Nigeria

Bibliographic Data

ID2309419
AuthorsKingsley E Okoye (0000-0001-5658-746X, University of Nigeria), Emmanuel Onyebuchi Ezeani (University of Nigeria), Francisca N Onah (Public Administration, University of Nigeria, Nigeria), Ezinwanne Ekekwe (Social Science Unit, University of Nigeria, Nigeria), Emmanuel T Akov (0000-0001-9884-329X, University of Uyo), Paulinus Okechukwu Agbo (0000-0003-1382-5258, Department of Religion and Cultural Studies, University of Nigeria, Nigeria; Department of the Study of Religion, University of Religions and Denominations, Iran, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume60
Issue6
Pages4037-4053
Publication date2025-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Asian and African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-9096 • E-ISSN: 1745-2538
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00219096241243052
OpenAlexW4394854152
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited25

This paper examines management of herder-peasant farmer conflicts and internal security challenges in Benue state, Nigeria. It relied mainly on descriptive and cross-sectional survey designs. Four hundred and seven participants were collated and analyzed from 430 questionnaires distributed in 10 Local Government Areas with an age range of 20-79 years and mean age of 42.84 years. A structured questionnaire was adopted for measuring farmer-herder conflicts and analyzing the strategies deployed in tackling the conflict. The findings showed that certain laws and policies of the government significantly contributed to the onset and protraction of the herder-farmer conflict in Benue state, F (5, 406) = 186.51; p < 0.05. Further findings show that the inherent contradictions in the different policies and laws enacted by the government created obstructions to land access and utilization by the warring parties (herders and farmers). Pursuant to this, the paper linked the obduracy of the conflict to government's poor handling of land and land-based resources. To address the conflict, the article recommends that land management policies should be unbundled to limit the influence of federal and state governments in land distribution and control

Agriculture · Business · Descriptive statistics · Development economics · Distribution (mathematics · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Government (linguistics · Land tenure · Local government · Peasant · Political science · Power (physics · State (computer science · Law · Public Administration · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology · Religion, Society, and Development · Transboundary Water Resource Management

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Unique citing works3
Citations per year1
Citation span2023 - 2026 (4)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 3
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