…Benue, Plateau Kaduna top States with most attacks
Nigeria has lost no fewer than 8, 343 persons to the farmers-herders conflict since 2005, according to findings by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, (ACLED).
ACLED, which commenced data collection and analyses in Nigeria in 1997 noted that the casualties were a result of 1,350 attacks spread across 16 states of the federation.
This was disclosed at a zoom workshop on Monday, organised by Chikezie Omeje, a data and science journalist, as part of his Davis Projects for Peace.
According to the ACLED report, Benue topped the states with most violent attacks, closely followed by Plateau, Kaduna, Taraba and Nasarawa in that order.
The report, which covered 2005 to date, put the number of killings in Benue at 2, 539 from 303 attacks, while Plateau, Kaduna, Taraba and Nasarawa lost 2,138, 1,188, 755, 521 lives in 279, 160, 111 and 93 attacks respectively.
Others States captured in the report include Adamawa, Katsina, Zamfara, Niger, Kogi and Ogun States.
Although various communities in Benue have been epicentres of violent conflicts in recent years, the report commended the Otukpo model, which has seen farmers co-exist peacefully with herders with little or no report of attacks.
