Beyond flooding: Exploring the implications of Fulani pastoralists/farmers conflict for sustainable development goal 2 in Nigeria

Abstract

The continuous prevalence of undernourishment, hunger and starvation in Nigeria has raised a serious question about the effectiveness of measures adopted by the government at all levels in tackling these challenges which will result to the realization of Sustainable Development Goal 2. The prevailing elucidation for these challenges around SDG 2 in Nigeria is drawn on “flooding” theory whose proponents suggest that the factors undermining various strategies adopted to achieve SDG 2 in the country are traceable to flooding and recommend for spatial planning as a suitable FRM method, to elicit more decisive actions by the government in order to mitigate the flooding threat. However, this article goes beyond this dominant view to interrogate the impact of Fulani pastoralists/ farmers conflict on SDG 2 in Nigeria. The article shifts away to a reasonable extent from the above common perspective and argues that the Fulani pastoralists/farmers conflict is a prominent security threat in Nigeria which has the most far reaching effect on Sustainable Development Goal 2. The flooding thesis proponents ignore the centrality of peaceful atmosphere in every society which is most critical to any agenda such as Sustainable Development Goals. To this end, this article contends that solving the problem of flooding alone in Nigeria would not result to the realization of SDG 2; that the conflict between Fulani pastoralists and farming communities is the topmost priority which requires urgent attention in order to achieve SDG 2 in Nigeria. As a panacea, the article recommends among others for decentralization of security governance by way of devolution.