Ending Benue/Nasarawa border dispute

That meeting followed the outbreak of another round of violence between the two communities early last month, claiming many lives on both sides.Governor Gabriel Suswam  of Benue State and Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State met in the Benue State capital Makurdi last week as part of a search for a lasting solution to a […]

That meeting followed the outbreak of another round of violence between the two communities early last month, claiming many lives on both sides.
Governor Gabriel Suswam  of Benue State and Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State met in the Benue State capital Makurdi last week as part of a search for a lasting solution to a problem that has brought anguish and sorrow to many communities in both states .
The problem is often caused when grazing cattle on the Nasarawa side stray into territories with greener pastures, which may be in fact be someone else’s economic lifeline on the other side of the boundary touching off the quarrel that draws others.
The problem has defied past attempts at finding an amicable settlement.
When the latest round of clashes erupted, members of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly canvassed for the permanent deployment of security forces to the flashpoints along the common boundary of both states in order to deter further violence.
At their meeting, the governors agreed to ‘tighten security’ in order to guard against the tendency to inter-communal war that such violent encounter sometimes lead to.
They also agreed to identify routes and hideouts used by criminal gangs and their collaborators, who often seize upon the herdsmen and farmers’ disagreements to cause mayhems of their own.
Suswam was bitter in his accusation that some community on the Nasarawa side of the border were privy to the activities of the herdsmen, and offered them sanctuary whenever the herdsmen returned from attacking communities inside Benue State.
‘Our people are being pushed to the wall, and that is the more reason we cannot allow this senseless killing and destruction of property to continue’, Suswan said at the meeting with A-Makura.
On his part, the Nasarawa governor expressed regret over previous incidents in which herdsmen attacked Benue communities and assured the government would continue to engage with its Benue counterpart to find a lasting solution to the crisis.
‘We will do our best to check this crisis because we owe our people a responsibility to ensure the safety of lives and property’, he said.
One of the immediate measures he announced was that henceforth, community chiefs would be held responsible if farther attacks took place in their areas.
Maintaining good relations among border communities is important in checking inter-communal conflicts.
That process would be enhanced in the case of Benue and Nasarawa if both Fulani herdsmen and Tiv farmers can be made to have a less adversarial relationship in their everyday interaction.
This can be achieved through enlightenment among all the communities.
The deployment of more police personnel to help maintain law and order and also deal with criminal aspects of the conflicts should also be considered.
The action of one herd of cattle should not be blamed on the entire community, which is often the case that triggers wider conflagration.
The utility of holding village or district heads and other community leaders responsible for the criminal conduct of a few is doubtful, however. But they can be asked to persuade members of their communities to report untoward conduct of others likely to cause a breach of the peace.
The authorities in Benue should not sit back and see what steps the government in Nasarawa would take; it should play its role by engaging communities on their side of the border to report any infraction to local chiefs or law enforcement agencies, not take the law into their hands.