The Fear of Ethnic Domination: Explaining the Persistence of Natural Resource Conflicts in Nigeria

ABSTRACT Peasant-pastoralist conflicts are prevalent in postcolonial Africa—especially in the Sahel. Typically confined to rural areas, these conflicts have taken on ethnic, religious, and regional dimensions, engendering food and human insecurity as well as paralysing economic development in weak African states with fragile democratic experiments. Whilst volumes explaining the causes and consequences of the conflicts through environmental security and political ecology theoretical frameworks are not uncommon, the reasons for the conflicts’ intractability are largely underexplored. This article draws on the ontological security theoretical framework and Nigerian experiences to contend that peasant-pastoralist conflicts’ persistence owes not so much to environmental security or political ecology but to ethnic fears and historically accumulated prejudices which portend ethnic groups as existential threats. With the case of the Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) policy which—despite its intention to ensure food security, enhance employment opportunities, and integrate the belligerent parties—was abruptly suspended, I contend that the policy failure was due in large measure to the ontological insecurity amongst ethnic groups that derives from the warring parties’ complex historical interactions. For ethnic groups in the Middle Belt and southern geopolitical zones comprehend pastoralists’ mobility as a hidden strategy to dominate the territories, and change the identities, of other ethno-religious groups. The consequence of these suspicions is the rejection of governmental policy initiatives geared toward resolving the conflicts. Ultimately, I argue that negotiations which break down inflexible attachments to demonising narratives and support mutual security-seeking amongst various groups are requisite for bridging ontological insecurities between pastoralists and peasants in Nigeria.