Water Imbalances as a Source of Migration and Violence in Nigeria

Frederic Noel Kogoui Kamta¹

Abstract

This paper examined the relationship between water availability, migration and conflicts in Nigeria. It examined the causes of the differences in water availability between northern, central and southern Nigeria and the human response to these differences. Data for this study were collected by interviewing local residents in northeast Nigeria but also experts in research centres and from governmental institutions in Abuja. The paper also relied on literature from various sources. The study revealed that the scarcity of water and fertile land often pushed northern farmers and Fulani herdsmen to migrate south towards the middle belt and southern parts of the country, thus mixing with people from different ethnic groups and religion. This mixture was proven to be one of the reasons behind violence, added to the fact that people are easily manipulated into conflict based on ethnicity and religion. This is often done by selfish politics who uses ethnicity and religion to create conflict which allows them to achieve their political ends. The paper recommended the industrialization of livestock production, which will reduce migration of Fulani herdsmen to the south and the relocation or creation of manufacturing industries to northern areas that will employ farmers and diversify their sources of income, hence reducing migratory trends towards South.

Keywords

• Water, Migration, Agriculture, Herdsmen, Conflict, Religion, Ethnicity

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Cite this Article as Follows

Frederic Noel Kogoui Kamta. Water Imbalances as a Source of Migration and Violence in Nigeria. International Conference on Global Peace (2020): 07. Print.