British councel
Farmers and Herders in Bole Community of Yola South LGA, Adamawa State sign a Peace Accord
introduction
The conflict between herders and farmers in Nigeria isn’t new, but the recent situation in Numan LGA has become especially alarming. The violence led to the loss of many lives and properties, and its scale has been compared to the Boko Haram crisis in Adamawa State.
There’s a real risk that similar clashes could erupt in other parts of the state due to ongoing tensions between the two groups. To help prevent this, Murmushi People’s Development Foundation is launching a dialogue initiative, starting in Bole community (Bole 1, 2, and 3), where farmers recently suffered major damages caused by livestock. Many farmers are even considering abandoning farming next season if the situation doesn’t change.
This dialogue aims to bring both herders and farmers together to talk, understand each other, and work out lasting solutions peacefully.
activities
- Advocacy Visits: Visits to the District Head of Yola, Bole village, Yola South Council Chairman, and Shagari police post to gain their support.
- Stakeholder Mapping & Sensitization: Identified leaders of both groups (farmers and herders) and sensitized them separately. With their help, selected 30 members from each group for consent meetings and grievance listing.
- Dialogue Preparation: Murmushi invited the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) to witness the dialogue facilitated by Babagari Baraya (trained by DRC).
- Peace Dialogue Session: Groups humanized their grievances to propose and agree on solutions.
- Mediation Committee Formed: 18 members elected (9 farmers, 9 herders – 3 each from 3 villages).
Village head became chairman; his secretary became the committee secretary
- Implementation of Agreements: Committee began enforcing agreements within days. Farmers resumed farming safely, leaving harvest in fields without fear.
- Beyond Farmer-Herder Conflict: Committee also mediated 5 court-withdrawn cases before 2018 ended.
- Grand Peace Agreement Signing: Public signing ceremony by farmers and herders witnessed by the Bole community and neighbors.
challenges
- To reconcile herdsmen and farmers in Bole community.
- To disabuse the minds of farmers and herdsmen from interpreting the disputes along tribal line.
- To set up mechanism that will checkmate future occurrences.
impact of bole dialogue 3 years after
Its over 3 years now since Murmushi People’s Development Foundation (MPDF) facilitated peace dialogue between farmers and herders of Bole Community, in Yola South Local Government Area of Adamawa State, in Nigeria.
The intervention started in September 2018 when the relationship between the 2 groups become tensed with an average of 3 attack on the farmers daily, some resulting into deaths. Such had been the situation for the past 5 harvest seasons.
The situation in 2018 was about to escalate as a result of the farmer /herder war that took place in Numan area, less than 100 km away from Bole which resulted in hundreds of people being killed.
The fear of escalation also increased as a result of some of the people displaced from Numan area came to settle in Bole area. The tension was so high that one mid night people from Bole started running into Yola town which is less than 3 km from Bole. This got Murmushi to develop a concept note for the intervention which British Council approved to finance.
