BENUE STATE AND CATTLE: FROM CONFLICT TO SHARED PROSPERITY

Benue can lead Nigeria’s livestock transformation by championing planned ranches, feedlots and permit -based open grazing, contends JUNAIDU MAINA

“When brothers fight to the death, a stranger inherits their father’s estate.” This African proverb warns of the peril facing farmers and pastoralists in Benue State.

There was a time when the relationship between the Tiv and Fulani was remembered as much through humour as through conflict. Among the older generation in the North, the Tiv–Fulani jokes were legendary, rivalled only by the famous Katsinawa–Nupawa and Kanuri-Fulani banters. The jokes reflected familiarity, shared history and centuries of peaceful coexistence.

The 1983 re-election campaign of late President Shehu Shagari, famously known as “Gboko ’83,” became a defining political moment in Benue, bringing national politics, local leadership, and the cattle question together on one memorable stage. At the rally the charismatic Joseph Tarka reportedly led a herd of cows into the stadium and presented it to President Shagari, declaring: “We are tired of this Munchi issue; here are your cows for the last time leave us alone.” President Shagari, a witty Fulani himself, smiled and, to the amusement of the crowd replied: “These cows cannot even pay the interest.” For those not familiar with the story, a Fulani herder returned from transhumance to reclaim the cows he had left with the Tiv, only to be told, “munchi”—“we ate them.”

Whether remembered with perfect accuracy or polished by history, the anecdote captures an important truth: cattle were once a subject of political theatre and friendliness—not a justification for endless bloodshed in Benue.

Today, sadly, farming communities and pastoralists find themselves trapped in a war of attrition with no real winners. Villages are destroyed, livestock lost, and both herders and farmers killed—a pyrrhic victory in which both communities emerge poorer while the state remains in perpetual unrest. The tragedy is that this conflict is avoidable and even resolved through science, justice and practical policy.

Benue State is, in fact, uniquely positioned to become the flagship of Nigeria’s livestock transformation.

Benue is rightly called Nigeria’s food basket, given its remarkable agricultural potential. But its importance goes beyond crops: geographically, ecologically and economically, Benue is also one of Nigeria’s most strategic livestock states.

For centuries, the fertile Benue valley served as the principal dry-season destination for cattle moving south from the Sahel. Long before colonial boundaries, pastoralists from present-day Niger, Chad and northern Nigeria followed established transhumance corridors in search of pasture and water. These seasonal movements sustained peaceful regional trade and commerce, while the animals’ manure naturally enriched farmlands, replenished soil fertility and supported healthier agro-ecosystems.

This historical relationship produced both cooperation and occasional disputes. Anthropologists may better explain the cultural interactions between Tiv and Fulani communities, but history leaves little doubt that the two peoples have travelled a long road together.

Today, Benue still occupies the crossroads of ECOWAS livestock commerce.  Home to ten designed grazing reserves and two major international transhumance stock-routes that converge towards the state—one originating from the Kano–Katsina axis in the northwest and another from Yobe and Borno in the northeast. These routes connect ECOWAS livestock markets with southern Nigeria, the largest consumer market in the region.

Equally significant is Benue’s veterinary importance. Three of Nigeria’s eight gazetted interstate animal disease control posts and quarantine stations are located within Benue’s livestock corridors, making the state central to surveillance against transboundary animal diseases. Any serious national animal diseases control strategy must therefore succeed in Benue.

This is where animal science should have played a greater role. The Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi, one of Nigeria’s leading agricultural universities, exists primarily to solve local agricultural problems through research and innovation. A broader consultation with experts from this university ab initio would have explained that open grazing exists in both ranching and pastoral production system. And this clear understanding might have produced a more workable Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law, 2017.

The sad lesson now is that the law is inherently difficult to implement, and the enforcement approach has also produced unintended consequences that have heightened tensions and contributed to conflict rather than resolving it. Without questioning the legitimacy of an enacted law, there is a strong case for evidence-based review and refinement of its implementation, guided by  lessons learned, modern livestock-management practices and fairness that protect the interests, security and livelihoods of both farming and pastoral communities.

The Netherlands excluding inland water has a land area of about 33,500 km², while Benue State has 34,059 km², yet Netherlands supports approximately four million cattle and has become a global leader in dairy products, livestock genetics and agricultural technology. Its success rests not on abundant land, but on science and technology of intensive production systems, farmer cooperatives, efficient feed industries. well-integrated value chains and rule of law.

Benue has universities with strong faculties of Agriculture, Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, supported by a large pool of livestock professionals, veterinary infrastructure, abundant water, fertile soils, crop residues, and access to some of Nigeria’s largest meat markets. With the right investments, it could become West Africa’s leading hub for beef finishing and livestock processing.

The comparison is not a call for Nigeria to copy Europe blindly. Nigeria needs its own model—one rooted in local breeds, ranches, agropastoral systems, appropriate technology and private investment. Benue has an added advantage: its claim to the distinct, trypanotolerant Muturu cattle, popularly known as the “Tiv cow,” which hold an important place in local cultural and ceremonial life. The time has come to let science and technology, entrepreneurial skills and community interests—not politics of ethnicity—to shape the future of livestock in Benue.

If Benue seeks rapid transformation, beef feedlot operations deserve priority. Weaners and trade cattle can be purchased from pastoral producers  and markets and finished intensively for 90–120 days using maize stover, sorghum residues, cassava and yam peels, rice bran with urea and molasses, brewers’ grains and other agro-industrial by-products already abundant in the state.

The benefits are compelling: pastoral breeders gain reliable markets and better incomes; crop farmers gain a ready market for residues and feed ingredients; state and LGAs get revenue from markets and Loading and Off-loading permits; southern cities get a faster and more predictable supply of beef; pressure on natural grazing lands is reduced; and new jobs are created in transport, feed milling, veterinary services, animal handling and meat processing.

Feedlot operations, as a ranching model, offer one of the fastest routes to increased beef production and a reliable supply of affordable animal protein. Benue has a natural advantage: abundant crops, feed resources, livestock, and proximity to largest market ECOWAS-Lagos. With the right investment, it can transform its crop–livestock economy into a bankable livestock model and a powerful engine for job creation, women and youth inclusion, food security and shared prosperity.

When Dangote acquired Benue Cement Company, the proposal initially encountered intense resistance. Many feared losing indigenous ownership and economic identity. Emotions ran high. Yet, with time, commercial reality prevailed. The company became stronger, investment increased and the wider economy benefited through jobs, industrial activity and improved shareholder value. The livestock sector deserves similar opportunity.

Neither farmers nor pastoralists will achieve prosperity by defeating one another. Farmers need secure access to land, protection of crops and justice when damage occurs. Pastoralists need legal grazing arrangements, livestock services, markets and security for their families. Investors need policy certainty and peace. Consumers and industry need affordable animals and animal-by products. These interests are not contradictory—they are complementary.

Benue can lead Nigeria’s livestock transformation by championing a compact built on these principles: planned ranches, feedlots and agropastoral hubs; permit based open grazing; zero tolerance for violence with impartial law enforcement; protection and fair compensation for crop and livestock losses; private sector-led veterinary systems; and inclusive dialogue among all stakeholders. The aim is coexistence, shared prosperity, and rule of law to attract private investment.

The Benue State Government should take the rare chance offered by Federal Ministry of Livestock Development to build a livestock sector that will be envious to all. What is needed now is courage: replacing anger with evidence, confrontation with dialogue, and frustration with practical solutions.

The old Munchi–Fulani jokes remind us that these two communities have lived together for long. The next generation deserves better: a Benue where farmers and pastoralists prosper side by side, where science and technology, justice and good neighbourliness turn old conflict into shared prosperity. Haba, please let’s end this insanity—there is enough for everyone. Let Swange play once more.

 Dr Maina is CEO at JM Global Associate Ltd