Managing the Herdsmen-famers Crisis in Nigeria: The Public Relations Approach 1
Abstract
The incessant violent clashes between
herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria have less positive benefits for both parties
and Nigeria as a whole. It is a fact that sustainable development can never
occur in a rancorous atmosphere. This, to a large extent, if not nipped in the
bud will affect the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goal 2, which is
aimed at ending hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition and
promoting sustainable agriculture by 2030. In this view, this paper adopts
symmetric model of communication as the basis for understanding how public
relations can be applied in solving farmers/herders crisis. The paper finds out
that clashes between herders and farmers is an evidence of negligence by the
government to sensitize the citizenry towards achieving a common goal of
tolerating each other. It also identifies reduction in output and income of
crops as a result of the destruction of crops by cattle. This situation has
translated into low income on the part of the farmers who take farming as a
major occupation. As such, the paper recommends that public relations
approaches such as press releases, conferences, publicity, etc., should be
utilized appropriately in making farmers and herders accept modern methods of
cattle rearing and farming so that one’s business cannot interfere with another
thereby managing both the current and future crises. It also recommends that
messages from public relations events, with full participation of both parties,
can change the atmosphere of suspicion that currently characterizes the
relationship between herdsmen and farmers thereby creating room for peaceful
coexistence.