Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed has traced the roots of recurring clashes between herders and farmers to the breakdown of long-standing traditional systems that once regulated land use and migration routes in northern Nigeria.
The former spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum made the remarks during an interview on PAPShow Podcast on Sunday, March 1, 2026. He said historical arrangements had provided structure and stability for agricultural and pastoral activities across the region.
“See, in the 30s and the 40s, in fact, long even before colonialism, northern Nigeria was a land of farming and cattle rearing. So their leaders, our leaders then designed a system that allowed the cattle rearing routes and places where he could push his cattle through, get them water and they move on. Because Fulani never needed land. They were nomads, that’s why they’re called nomads,” he stated.
According to him, encroachment on designated routes disrupted that balance and intensified tensions. “But when you build up, when you block these routes with buildings or somebody takes a farm and says this is my farm, he has nowhere to go. He goes into a farm, he causes a problem,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed emphasized the scale of the issue, noting that it involves large populations and livestock numbers. “We’re not talking about hundreds or thousands of people, we’re talking about millions, maybe more millions in cattle. So this problem became more and more pronounced,” he explained.
He attributed the escalation to weakening governance structures and the erosion of traditional authority. “And because of the weakening failure of governance and the institutions of state, the people who used to solve this problem were actually village heads or ward heads. But the entire hierarchy of traditional authority in this, in the north has collapsed,” he said.See_More…