CONFLICT SENSITIVE REPORTING OF TRANSHUMANCE IN THE MEDIA IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES

Abstract

The quest for peace is a world-wide contemporary engagement as no community in the world is conflict-free. Each world community looks for ways of achieving peace in its territory with the ultimate goal of achieving world peace. The United Nations has instituted codes, protocols, conventions and sundry statutes geared towards sustaining peaceful coexistence among the people of the world in spite of ethnic, racial and religious differences. Yet, the quantum of conflicts pervading the globe in contemporary times, speak volume to the contrary. The Herdsmen/Farmers conflict in Nigeria has proven to be one conflict seemingly impervious to resolution because of its complicated nature and dynamics. Due to the nomadic nature of their trade, herdsmen are ubiquitous. They migrate to all areas where they find enough green for their cattle to graze. This unfortunately, does not discriminate on farmers’ plants and produce. The resultant conflict often has in its trail, deaths of both men and livestock, destruction of farmlands, disruption of economic activities and utter social disobedience. A cursory look at the real causes and aggravation of these conflicts reveal a pointer to unbridled media reportage on the activities of the herdsmen which has inadvertently pitched emotions against certain ethnic groups in Nigeria particularly the Fulani. However, research reveals that there are about fourteen groups of herdsmen in Nigeria. This paper therefore looks at the media and its traditional role as opinion-moulder of the society, its role in exacerbating the relationship between herdsmen and farmers conflict in Nigeria and proffers some peacebuilding solutions to the seemingly intractable problem.