Peace between farmers and pastoralists
can produce a gain of up to $13.7bn annually bringing economic progress
for Nigeria, a study has said.
Patrick Okigbo, a conflict resolution
expert, said this on Thursday in Abuja at a dialogue with herders and
farmers at Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution.
Okigbo, who is also the Principal
Partner, Nextier Advisory quoted a study by Mercy Corps, which claims an
average of 47 per cent loss in taxes in the Middle Belt region of
Nigeria.
He said, “On the other hand, peace
between farmers and pastoralists, can produce a gain of up to $13.7bn
annually in total macroeconomic progress.’’
He said conflicts are typically over scarce economic resources.
He said, “There is a risk that they will
be comingled with the volatile political under-currents across various
regions in Nigeria to trigger a different type of conflict.
“These conflicts have direct costs on
market development and economic growth by eroding trust among market
actors, destroying productive assets, preventing trade, and deterring
investment.
“We look at it from the economic point of view and these conflicts have a direct cost on market development and economic.”
Okigbo said that failure to conclusively
address these security and terrorism challenges will mean that more
resources will be spent on defence and security, and less resources on
other economic sectors.
The expert expressed concern on the
losses incurred by the nation due to conflicts between farmers and
herdsmen, saying that there was need for stakeholders to engage in peace
talk constantly.
Okigbo said if there were traditionally
conflicts between the farmers and the herders, the nation always suffers
major economic losses than political.
He said conflicts which resulted into
avoidable loss of lives and destruction of property worth million of
naira also impacted negatively on the economic stability of the country.
The General Secretary of the Miyetti
Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Baba Ngelzarma,
said necessary mechanisms should put in place to address the root causes
of the conflicts.
Ngelzarma stressed the need for the
stakeholders to meet and have reconciliation committee comprising
religious heads, community heads, farmers, cattle breeder and security
officers.
He called for harmonisation of several resolutions made at different fora on conflicts resolution.
He called, “A lot of resolutions have
been made but implementation is lacking, the only thing remaining is to
harmonise those resolutions and implement them.
“Let’s have peace and conflict
resolution committee that could be meeting all the time that will try to
solve the problem as they come.”
A representative of farmers at the
occasion, Mr. Salisu Naibi, also toed the line of Ngelzarma in
addressing conflict between the farmers and herdsmen.
Naibi stressed the need to involve leaders of community in addressing conflicts between herders and farmers.
(NAN)
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