From Benue to Plateau: Exploring the Root Causes of Killings in Nigeria’s Middle Belt

Nigeria’s North Central, a region known as the Middle Belt, and comprising six states—Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau—and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has, for decades, been faced with insecurity that has been christened herder-farmers clash. The hotspot of these ‘clashes’, which leave trails of death and destruction of land and other property, has been Plateau and Benue, two states that border each other and are pivotal to the country’s food production.

The recent attack in Yelwata, a community in Guma Local Government Area, where reported herdsmen killed 200 people, according to some estimates, has reignited the conversation on what is truly the cause of these incessant killings that have outlived several government interventions and measures.

The same nature of attack is a recurrent scene in neighboring Plateau. In the last week of March, 52 people were killed during an attack in Bokkos Local Government in Plateau. On April 14, a midnight attack in Zike community, located in the Kwall district of Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State, left at least 50 people dead. Another attack, recorded on May 15, which was linked to farm destruction, cattle rustling, and attacks on livestock, left 10 people dead in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Back to Benue, earlier this month, before the Yelwata incident, attacks on Gwer West and Apa Local Government Areas left over 50 people dead.

Kabir Adamu, head of Beacon Security and Intelligence Limited, claimed that records from their database show that 1,043 people have been killed in Benue alone between May 2023 and May 2025.

But why are Benue and Plateau recording an accelerated number of deaths, mostly from herder-farmer clashes, despite not being the only states that have cattle rearers and farmers?

Before getting to the supposed reasons for these repeated attacks, records show that this crisis precedes Nigeria’s independence.

Understanding the History of Herders-Farmers Clashes in Nigeria

Although the conflict between herders, who are predominantly Fulani from Northern Nigeria, and non-Fulani farmers has witnessed a surge since the return to democracy in 1999, the clash had long existed even before Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960.

During colonial times and the early years of Nigeria’s self-rule, a system known as Burti was used to mitigate confrontations between farmers and herders. Burti is a system that established routes for Fulani pastoralists to migrate their cattle. This was particularly effective as herders, in search of green pastures for their cattle, moved along a predetermined route without having to pass through farmlands owned by others and trample on their crops.

But as a paper review prepared by DFID noted, the Burti system began to collapse around the 1970s as “farmers increasingly felt they owned the land across which the cattle passed.”

“Obviously, the high quantities of manure made it attractive for farms. So, cattle migrating southwards increasingly wandered into newly created farms, leading to disputes,” the paper wrote.

From there onwards, and more notably from 1999, farmer-herder violence increased and has led, according to some estimates, to the death of over 19,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands more.

However, some believe that these attacks witnessed an astronomical increase from 2015 when former President Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani man from Katsina State, came to power.

“Benue State is dominated by Idoma, Tiv, and Igede. For years, we have lived with Fulani people in peace up until 2015 when the attacks started,” Godwin Ochube, who hails from Ogbadido in Benue, told Neusroom.

His claim, which is echoed by many others, adds other layers beyond just the struggle for resources as to why the crisis has increased despite several interventions.

What is the Cause of the Violence in Benue and Plateau?

Various factors have been cited as the reason why this violence has continued over the years.

Religion:

Several conflicts in Nigeria often have a religious undertone and the herder-farmers clash is no different. For instance, Boko Haram insurgency, which began in 2009, has been regarded as a jihadist movement, with some of their victims Christians living in Northern Nigeria. Hence, since the Fulani herders are Muslims, and the farmers are mostly Christians—although attacks are also carried out on Muslim farmers—the violence has been described by some as religiously inspired.

In December 2023, as Christians were preparing for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, suspected Fulani herdsmen attacked several villages in Bokkos, Barkin Ladi and Magu of Plateau State, which resulted in the death of over 335 people, many of whom were Christians. Genocide Watch, since 2022, has classified these attacks, including those by Boko Haram, as genocide of Christians perpetrated by ethnic Fulani jihadists.

Pope Leo XIV, in his message after the attack, called it a “terrible massacre” as most of the victims were internally displaced persons (IDPs) sheltered by a Catholic mission in the area.

“I am thinking especially of the rural Christian communities of Benue State who have been relentless victims of violence,” the Pope said as he prayed for peace and security in Nigeria.

Climate Change:

Deforestation, caused by climate change, has also been linked to the conflict as both farmers and herders fight for arable land for cultivation and vegetation for grazing.

“Environmental degradation, notably climate change-induced desertification and irregular rainfall patterns in Nigeria’s northern regions, plays a critical role,” Adamu told the BBC.

“These pressures compel herders to migrate southward… including Benue State, where resources are already strained.”

Olaposi A. Olaseeni, PhD, in his research paper Climate Change and Farmers/Herders Clashes in Nigeria: Issues and Challenges for Legal Initiatives, concluded that “the primary cause of herders/farmers’ clashes in Nigeria can be properly situated within climate change and desertification.”

“Owing to intensified desertification, higher temperatures, severe heat waves, droughts, storms, limited grazing lands, and shrinking water levels in the northern region of Nigeria, the Fulani cattle herders within the Guinea and Sudan-Sahel savannah zones of northern Nigeria were prompted to rear their cattle further down to the North-Central geopolitical zone of Nigeria at first, and later to other regions,” he wrote.

Other Factors:

Other factors that have been cited for contributing to this violence include land grabbing, population growth, and industrialization.

“Your Excellency, it’s not herders-farmers clashes, it’s not communal clashes, it’s not reprisal attacks or skirmishes, it’s a calculated, well-planned, full-scale genocidal invasion and land-grabbing campaign that has lasted for decades,” James Ayatse, the traditional chief of the Tiv community, told President Bola Tinubu when he visited victims of the attack on Wednesday.

Additionally, as population increased and urbanisation encroached on local communities, land for grazing became more scarce. In fact, such things like the growth of the dairy industry in Nigeria might have contributed to the crisis, as milk was exchanged for cereal grains with farming communities in the past—trade by barter arrangements that deescalated any potential conflict.

Government Measures to Resolve the Conflict:

During his visit on Wednesday, President Bola Tinubu announced the formation of a committee that includes four former Benue governors and the two highest-ranking traditional chiefs in Benue to restore lasting peace.

But it would not be the first time the Federal Government has tried to bring about peace. In 2018, there was a federal joint force launched to restore peace. In May 2025, the Forest Guards were instituted for the same purpose of restoring peace.

In fact, after almost every attack, from past governments to the present one, a strongly worded statement would be issued by the President condemning the attacks and directing the security forces to bring the perpetrators to account. Yet, the clashes continue.

On the policy front, things like Grazing Reserve and the controversial Ruga policy have been tinkered with without success. The suspended Ruga Policy, which was conceived during the military rule of former General Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy, General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, and attempted implementation by former President Muhammadu Buhari, was a controversial policy that aimed to create communities in states across the federation where herders would live, grow, and tend their cattle, without having to move around in search of grazing land for their livestock.

That initiative sparked wide outrage, particularly from Christians who claimed it was an agenda to Islamize Nigeria and from landowners who believed their lands would be forcefully taken by the government and given to ‘Fulanis’ for their business.

Now, the solution, according to Adamu, lies in the intersection of ensuring these attacks do not occur by deploying special forces to the affected regions, and providing more lasting solutions of grazing land for the herders.

Impact of the Conflict:

While government and locals alike tinker with a solution, this crisis has had an immense impact on people. In the last seven years, more than 2.2 million people have been displaced, particularly in the Middle Belt region due to herders-farmers conflict, according to a report by SBM Intelligence.

A recent report by Amnesty International shows that at least 6,896 and 2,630 people have lost their lives due to the clash in the last two years.

Benue State, bordering Taraba, Nasarawa, and Kogi, is widely regarded as the food basket of the nation, having a landmass of about 34,000 square kilometers—an area ten times the size of Lagos. Before the attacks intensified, an act that has forced many to abandon their farmlands, more than 70 percent of Benue residents relied on agriculture for their livelihood. The arable land makes it suitable for growing some of Nigeria’s notable foods like yam, rice, beans, cassava, sweet potato, soybean, and cocoyam.

But now, as attacks increase, farmers are afraid to go to their farms.

“Who wants to go to the farm?” Ochube asked rhetorically after an attack in April 2023 in Umogidi and Igbobi communities, Otukpo and Apa LGA of Benue State left over 40 people dead.

“Before the attacks, you would see a lot of trailers coming from the village to other parts of the country. With this crisis, the village is mostly empty. The people that want to go to the farm are in IDP camps. Primary schools are being converted into IDP camps. It is the food basket of the nation, but there is not enough food,” Ochube said.

Another resident, Yoosu Soonen, who hails from Piza in Ukum LGA told Neusroom after the 2023 attack that “people are scared to go to the farm,” and that “commercial farming in the state has reduced drastically.”

The effect of these attacks in these major food-producing states cascades down to other parts of Nigeria and is blamed as one of the major reasons for food inflation.