A new report on Thursday by the International Crisis Group (ICG) revealed that violence involving armed herdsmen was six times more deadly than Boko Haram in the first half of this year.
The report then recommended urgent steps that the Nigerian government must take to stem further attacks.
The ICG estimated 1,300 deaths linked to the farmer-herder violence within the first half of this year, adding that the dimensions of the attack have aggravated in recent months.
“What were once spontaneous attacks have become premeditated scorched-earth campaigns in which marauders often take villages by surprise at night,” the non-profit think-tank said. “Now claiming about six times more civilian lives than the Boko Haram insurgency, the conflict poses a grave threat to the country’s stability and unity, and it could affect the 2019 general elections.”
The report recommended that President Muhammadu Buhari’s approach to solving the crisis is acceptable but largely insufficient.
The government’s “immediate priorities should be to deploy more security units to vulnerable areas; prosecute perpetrators of violence; disarm ethnic militias and local vigilantes; and begin executing long-term plans for comprehensive livestock sector reform,” it said.
The report also found that the anti-open grazing statutes recently enacted by state governments in Benue and Taraba States also contributed to the escalation in latest attacks.
“The Benue State government should freeze enforcement of its law banning open grazing, review that law’s provisions and encourage a phased transition to ranching,” the ICG said.