Herdsmen/Farmers’ Clashes: 7,000 Lives In Benue And Nasarawa, $65bn Lost In Five Years – Report

BY SEGUN ADEBAYO, ABUJA – No fewer than 7,000 lives were lost between 2015 and 2019 in the incessant killings involving herdsmen and farmers in the North-central states of Benue and Nasarawa, according to a report funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has said.
According to the report entitled, ‘Engaging Communities for Peace in Nigeria (ECPN),’ Nigeria lost a whopping sum of $65 billion over a period of five years from 2014 to 2019.
Mercy Corps, an international non-governmental organisation, presented at Bon Elvis Hotels On Thursday in Abuja.The report was presented before the paramount ruler of the Tiv, Tor Tiv James Ayatse; the Country Director, Mercy Corps, Darius Radcliffe; and USAID Mission Director, Stephen Haykin, represented by USAID country Democracy Officer, Beatrice Reaud, among other community leaders from Benue and Nasarawa states.
The report disclosed that efforts by Mercy Corps had led to a reduction of conflict in the affected area by 13 per cent, just as the report disclosed that trained participants in the programme succeeded in resolving 1,932 inter and the intra-community disputes.
“Over 600 disputes over grazing routes, seasonal access to water points, crop damage, cutting down of economic trees, water pollution by animals, and commerce were addressed peacefully in the communities where ECPN worked,” the report added.