For generations, Fulani herders roamed freely across vast landscapes, while farmers settled to cultivate the land. But this once symbiotic relationship has turned tense, as competition for dwindling resources fuels conflict. We delve into the lives of those caught in the struggle uncovering how disputes over land have spiraled into banditry, kidnapping, and deepening insecurity.
00:08in personal I don't feel good because it's like they are denying my identity.
00:13People don't see us as normal citizens of the country either.
00:17They also see us as we are strangers.
00:20Sometimes if they bully us, we bully them back.
00:24If they beat our car, we hit them back.
00:27In Abuja, Nigeria's capital, nomadic Fulani herders navigate a city never designed for their way of life.
00:35Once free to roam ancient grazing routes, they now face disappearing paths and rising tensions.
00:41We spoke with Ibrahim Turku, a livestock farmer and conflict researcher, to understand why.
00:47There was a very huge drought in the Sahel.
00:50The weather became bad, you know, less rainfall.
00:53There was degradation and then people were moving more towards the southern parts of the continent.
01:00And then, you know, of course, if the areas are small and the demands are much,
01:04definitely the issues of conflict will arise.
01:07This conflict is not just for land.
01:10It is for recognition and the dignity of a way of life under pressure.
01:14When we bring the cows out, like, out to the streets, there are many challenges we face.
01:19You see the cows and some drivers, like, insulting us, bullying us.
01:24And some places, it's not totally good at all.
01:27I started farming Abu Jair in 2007.
01:32I can remember one certain time that I was away from my place here.
01:37The cattle has to penetrate into my farm here.
01:40And they destroy half of my corn that I've been planted here.
01:43It's too painful.
01:45I have to trace the owner of the cattle down to their house.
01:50I can say cattle mean life partners to me because I've grown up with them.
01:57I can't live, like, without them.
02:00Ibrahim Usman, a young nomad living in the city of Abuja,
02:04settled and grazed on this land with his family long before the city took shape.
02:09Today, open grazing fields have become stretches of concrete
02:13and Ibrahim now struggles to find balance in the modern life.
02:17Yeah, like, before we used to get more milk.
02:20There is enough food for them to chop, grasses everywhere,
02:23and there is no one to disturb us.
02:26You see what I'm saying now?
02:28You see those cows now?
02:30These cattle, I don't know whether they have caused a damage from my farm.
02:35How's this?
02:37What happened?
02:38You say what?
02:40You say what?
02:42You say what?
02:43We are just doing videos.
02:46You are not looking at your distance.
02:48Encounters like this can lead to violence.
02:51They happen because of the hostile relationship between herders and the communities.
02:55What this guy was saying is that, as he saw me coming,
02:59and he was saying that maybe I'm coming because of the cattle.
03:04And it's not because of the cattle that I'm coming.
03:06I'm just going to my farm.
03:08I don't know whether they have destroyed my crops for the farm until I reach my farm there.
03:14Before I will know.
03:16As you can see now, you see the corn.
03:19As it has been reached to harvest, that the cows, they are eating them up, breaking all this corn.
03:29You can see what we are passing through.
03:31My parents usually tell us, like before, the farmers used to invite them to their farm, to like reside in their farm area so that they can, the cows will feed there.
03:50I have a friend called Ishufu.
03:55He's one of the elder men.
03:57And I used to go there maybe during rainy season that I need manure.
04:03I would go there and I would fetch some of those manure inside my sack.
04:08And I would bring it home and make use of it.
04:11The relationship between them before is so peaceful and good.
04:17Farmers and herders once co-existed in harmony.
04:20Cooperation was not just for survival.
04:22It was a tradition.
04:23Today that tradition struggles to survive in the shadow of urban expansion and misunderstanding.
04:29From the local government reforms of 1976, the powers of traditional rulers actually have been removed and they have been moved to the local governments that we have now.
04:39Aspects like cattle roots, you know, reserve forest areas, farming areas and all this.
04:44These are all within the domain and knowledge of traditional rulers.
04:47And because they became emasculated, the creation of huge markets.
04:52And because those markets are unregulated, then you have more population areas.
04:57So people rust till cattle.
04:58If they can't rust till cattle, they will also kidnap the cattle owners.
05:01Then at a point, you know, even some of the cattle owners themselves felt, look, it is no longer profitable for us to even rear cows.
05:08We can also engage in banditry and conflict.
05:11For many years, weak local leadership and fast development have disrupted what used to be a well-organized system.
05:19As traditional leaders lost their influence, boundaries disappeared, forests became farmlands and farmlands turned into new settlements.
05:27This change brought confusion, cattle theft and growing insecurity.
05:31When I hear people talking about like blaming herders for insecurity or something else.
05:37Firstly, I used to like, I feel disappointed.
05:40And sometimes it feels like sometimes it's true.
05:45Faosat, a 41-year-old trader, lived through an experience she never imagined.
05:51What began as a normal trip to her home became a journey of terror.
05:55When she was kidnapped along the Abuja-Lokoja road, she was beaten and held for ransom.
06:00That very day, when we were close from work, we were about three of us, three staffs.
06:04We were going home.
06:05We took a vehicle that took us from there to where we were supposed to get the vehicle down to Gwangwalada.
06:11When we entered the vehicle, there was one guy at the back, one in the front and the driver.
06:16One at the front told us that we should cooperate.
06:19Now, if we don't cooperate, say we had the kid one copper like two weeks ago.
06:24After I finished withdrawing the money from me and the other lady that have ATM in her purse.
06:34And I said, now, we should call people that will give them two to two million each,
06:40before they will drop us from the car.
06:42I said that I have kids in Sato.
06:44You know what I said?
06:45You know what I said?
06:46So, it's like that was what touched them.
06:49And I said, now, they should come down from the car.
06:52It seems to me that the other woman refused to give them the pin or anything.
06:55They are taking her with them until they collect the money from the woman.
07:00What became of the woman they took?
07:02No one truly knows.
07:03Stories like Falsat's are often left unfinished, marked by fear, silence and unanswered questions.
07:11Falsat was one of the lucky few.
07:13Many are not.
07:14They vanish without trace.
07:15My opinion, like, why this kidnapping and banditry is spreading?
07:20Because there are, like, total number of unemployed people.
07:27As tensions rise and fingers point at the fulani, the elders come together to talk it out.
07:34They sit in the open, sharing their side and the struggles of nomadic life.
07:39They are not.
07:40All the things that is there, man, is in the hands of the government.
07:52They are the ones who put us right.
07:54Both the fulani and the settled communities agree that the government needs to step in.
08:00After years of tension, experts say real peace will only come when herding is seen as a modern business, not just an old way of life.
08:10One of the things which we have started seeing as a solution is the integration of the livestock economy into the mainstream sectors of the economy.
08:21These are livelihood failures.
08:22We expect more state governors to buy into the program.
08:25We expect more local governments to buy into the program.
08:28We expect also good and adequate funding from the federal government for the program.
08:33As a nomad, I hope for my children, like, to go to school and be well-educated.
08:40Then I don't, like, wish for them to live the kind of life I lived.
08:45I want, like, I wish looks real life for them.
08:49More herders are leaving the forest for the city, hoping for a better future.
08:54The forest feels like the past, the city a sign of what's next.
08:59Maybe one day, it will be a place where nomads and settled communities meet not as rivals, but as friends and neighbors.
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