POLITICAL WILL AND THE HERDSMEN THREATS TO NIGERIA NATIONAL SECURITY: A STUDY OF BENUE STATE

Abstract

The violent attack and indiscriminate killing of human beings by Fulani herdsmen have underscored the imperative of political will as a central element in curtailing the acts of violent extremism thereby leveraging national security in Nigeria. In other words, political will is germane and necessary in addressing the issue of herdsmen threats in Benue State. The indices of political will include ethnic bias, religious or cultural sentiments. It is therefore expected that political will may enhance national security while achieving the goal of checking and controlling the threats by herdsmen in Benue State. However, security challenges occasioned by herdsmen threats in Benue State have whittled down the efforts of the Nigerian government in checking and controlling violent attacks by herdsmen in that State. This study examined how federal government failed to effectively combat the herders' attacks. It also established the factors responsible for herdsmen attacks on Nigerian communities especially in Benue State and
suggested measures to effectively combat the herders' attacks. The study adopted governance theory as a framework for analysis and descriptive method of data analysis. It also adopted secondary sources of data as its method of data collection. The secondary sources of data included textbooks, newspapers, journal articles, etc. The study found out that ethnic bias and
religious sentiments were impediments to the political leadership to muster political will to deal decisively with herdsmen threats among others. The study recommended effective intelligence gathering and sharing mechanism among the security agencies both within and outside the country. Also, political leadership of the country should muster enough political will to deal decisively with herdsmen threats without ethnic, cultural and religious sentiments.