Explainer: The Peace-building agency bill before Benue house of assembly

Benue State, located in the North Central region of Nigeria and with a total population of 4.2 million, is the ninth most populous state in Nigeria.

The state borders Nasarawa State to the North; Taraba State to the East; Kogi State to the West; Enugu State to the South-West; Ebonyi and Cross-Rivers States to the South; and has an international border with Cameroon to the South-East.

Most importantly, Benue state is rich in agriculture. An agro-based economy, and known as the food basket of the nation, it engages over 75 percent of the farming population. Its agricultural produce include, Yam, Rice, Beans, Cassava, Sweet-potato, Maize, Soybean, Sorghum, Millet, Sesame, cocoyam and others.

Benue state accounts for over 70 percent of Nigeria’s Soybean production. But the state is now a shadow of itself due to the surge of insecurity occasioned by farmer-herder clashes.

Although spread across Nigeria, farmer-herder conflicts are predominant in the North-Central region; resulting in indiscriminate and avoidable loss of lives and properties.

Driven partly by climate change, illiteracy, and socio-economic factors evidenced in the lack of jobs, rising population which puts pressure on basic services, the clashes between farmers and herders have impaired development in the region.

BusinessDay learnt that before now, farmers and herders lived in peace, however, pastoralists who migrate from neighbouring countries like Niger and Cameroun in the middle belt do not only encroach on farmlands, but also intend to occupy communities as against leaving after grazing during the rainy season.

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According to data from Nextier SPD, between 2001 and 2018, about 300,000 people were displaced across four states: Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa and Taraba. These states, which form Nigeria’s food production belt, risk economic collapse and growing food insecurity.

The situation affects not only the food security of the state but that of the whole country since the majority of the food consumed in Nigeria is produced in the region. Nigeria has recorded a 20.7 percent food price inflation, according Nextier SPD.

Farmers say they have suffered “immeasurable and massive” losses of crops. Some farmlands are also completely deserted, BusinessDay learnt. For instance, a farmland of about 120, 000 hectares at the border area where production occurs has been totally deserted.

“Food security is threatened,” said Magdalyne Dura, special adviser to the governor on Development Cooperation, SDGs and NEPAD. “Poverty is being created because our economy is agro-based.”

She added that the crisis is fuelling the creation of a new generation of illiterates as hundreds of children are displaced and do not attend school. More so, child marriage is also growing as parents give out their children in exchange for food.

There is also heightened tension in affected local governments and distrust between both parties involved in the conflict.

To address the spate of deadly clashes, the state enacted an Anti-Open Grazing Law which stakeholders say has helped marginally in cutting down clashes and brought an appreciable level of sanity in the activities of herders, but the state is yet to see nirvana.

The anti-open grazing law makes provision for grazing in ranches. Anthony Ogbole, public relations officer, All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Benue State Chapter, said herders who do not want to obey the law by establishing ranches have moved to other states, but the resistance from herders who have occupied lands and displaced residents is having a devastating effect.

“Some herders have invaded some local governments in Benue and chased out their inhabitants and are grazing freely on their farmlands while the farmers are in IDP camps, afraid to go back to their farmlands because they will be killed,” he said.

Ogbole said the anti-open grazing is being heavily resisted and while the security has been informed about herders’ activities in the villages, they have done nothing to arrest the situation. Rather, they only increase the number of road blocks.

Data from Nigeria Security Tracker shows that herder-related killings have been on the rise since 2012 in Benue state. In 2012, 15 people were killed by herdsmen. The number rose to 96 in 2013 and 2014 and further declined to 26 in 2015. 2016 and 2018 marked the peak of the violence with 450 and 468 deaths respectively.

While the death count dropped to 66 in 2019, there has been a steady increase from 70 deaths in 2020, to 218 in 2021 which is lower than the death recorded in 2018 but still high.

With killings persisting, Benue state is on the verge of passing a law that will establish a Peace Building Agency in the state with technical support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The technical team from (UNDP) presented the draft of the bill called Peace Building Agency Bill to Titus Uba, speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, who promised a speedy hearing.

The Peace Building Agency will serve as an early warning and early response mechanism to take proactive measures for prevention, identification, mitigation and resolution of conflicts with a view to promoting peaceful relations and harmonious co-existence and removing mutual suspicions and distrusts among the various ethnic, cultural and religious groups for orderly development of the State.

It will promote mutual understanding and respect between communities involved in communal clashes and other disputes through sensitization and regular joint interactive meetings with community leaders to settle disputes and resolve common problems.

The agency will assist the government in the formulation of policies and measures that promote general security, social stability and compliance with the rule of law, and develop strategies that will check negative social values and vices capable of causing a crisis in the state.

It was also learnt that the bill, which took about a year of drafting by UNDP, will also extend to the local levels where women will be involved as peace ambassadors to create a system of effective communication targeted at preventing destructive conflict.

In a nutshell, think of the agency as any other government-run institution established by law with a budget liner, but with a focus on peace-building in the state and creating a structure for conflict redress.

If passed into law, Benue State will join other states like Nasarawa, Kaduna, and Plateau where peace-building agencies already exist.

“We believe that the peace agency, if it comes in, will be one of the most commendable structures that will help us in engaging and doing what we need to do to ensure we have peace in the state,” Dura adds.

Another reason stakeholders are confident that the agency will be passed into law is that they believe peace-building is only sustainable when the solutions are local, noting that the agency bill was not externally programmed but locally demanded.

Put more specifically, it was Benue State that decided that it needed the bill and approached UNDP for technical support, which it will provide in diverse areas including capacity building and induction of commissioners.

UNDP said they identified the peace-building agency as a potential structural asset and if institutionalised, will encourage the state to take ownership of and invest in dispute management.

Ashraf Usman, conflict and political economy specialist, UNDP, noted that security is the state’s responsibility at all levels and it makes sense to lobby the government to take up peace-building processes themselves and do it in a sustainable way rather than rely on international NGOs.

“You rarely hear that government is investing in early warning systems,” said Usman. “We’re just trying to get the state government to do the things that we believe work, because for the longest time, the state government hasn’t seen it as its responsibility and they felt someone else will cover for it.”

Although the exact time the bill will be passed into law could not be stated, based on the speaker’s assurances of a speedy hearing, they are certain that it would not take long.