NIGERIA’S DRYLANDS AND RISE OF VIOLENT CONFLICT IN THE COUNTRY

Samuel Chijioke Okorie
Fellow, Global Land scape Forum Africa (GLFAfrica) 2021,
Climate/Environmental Activist,
Climate Tracker Fellow and Journalist

Land degradation in Nigeria:

The issue of land degradation which has had detrimental effects on food supply chain in Nigeria and Africa at large, needs close attention as it is also pertinent to countries across the globe. Land degradation is a process that happens as a result of intense and excessive land use, lack of regularization or application of rotational methods, especially with regard to agriculture and pastoral farming. Some other factors that influence land degradation include unsustainable wood extraction, population growth, chemical pollution from industries, oil spillage, and uninformed government policies and cultural practices.

There is a greater need to address the problems leading to land degradation in Africa and especially in Nigeria, in to order to resolve the issue of food supply prevalent in the region. The effects of land degradation in Nigeria include unemployment, emergence of pockets of conflicts over resources (also known as, the herdsmen crisis), food insecurity, desertification, drought, flood, and erosion (Nigeria LDN TSP Country Report 2018).

Major causes of land degradation in Nigeria include industrial oil spillage, commonly observed in the southern region of the country; over-grazing in the northern region, which has given rise to an unprecedented migration of pastoralists in search of food for their cattle; and logging, widely practiced in the western and southern region of the country. This practice has cleared about 60% of the country’s forest and natural habitation, including a rich biodiversity hotspot. Nigerian drylands have played a crucial role in the food production of the country and other African countries, contributing about 45% of the nation’s GDP from 2011 to 2015. Today, Nigeria’s GDP from the agricultural sector is less than 21% (NigeriaEconomic Chart Park) and may drop to 10% by 2030.

In a recent virtual interview with Hon. Samuel Onuigbo, a Member of Parliament and the immediate past chairman of “House Committee on Climate change” of Nigeria, it was gathered that Nigeria loses about 350 to 400 hectares of land which is about 3.500000 Square Kilometers (km²) to 4.000000 Square Kilometers (km²) to land degradationevery year. This is a result of deforestation, logging, overgrazing, and unsustainable agricultural practices and land use by community members, farmers, and companies. The lossof the nation’s dryland may extend to 1,000 or 1,500 hectares by 2030, if no restoration plan is put in place with immediate effect. Hon. Samuel Onuigbo noted, “Mangrove forest in Niger Delta is almost wiped out with little possibility of recovery because of the soil condition.” This has affected the livelihood of people, giving rise to land degradation, food scarcity, violent conflict, migration, and land pollution. A study from 2020 titled “Land Cover Dynamics and Mangrove Degradation in the Niger Delta Region”argues that, “More than220 oil spills and 17 billion cubic meters of gas flares per year, together with the impacts of the human population explosion, have led to the degradation of the Niger Delta ecosystem.”This is already evident in the cost of food in the country, influenced by food scarcity caused by land degradation. For instance, according to a personal market survey carried out in 2015, a bag of rice in Nigeria was sold at the cost of 8,000 to 10,000 naira and in 2021, the cost has increased to 26,000 to 34,000 naira. There has been about 250% increase in cost and this may rise up to 300% increase by 2022.

The western and southern regions of Nigeria have faced severe threats from the activities of loggers, leading to a loss of rich biodiversity hotspots in the region, erosion of farm crops, flood, low food production, and also loss of lives and properties.

In focus: The reality in Cross River State, Nigeria

The case of land degradation in Cross River State, Nigeria, could be seen as an intentional approach in the form of logging activities by individuals exposing the drylands to rapid degradation. This is especially evident in the northern region of Cross River State where the logging activity is carried out as a source of livelihood by a particular group of people with  “get-rich-quick” mentality, imposing a threat to life and insecurity to the local community.

During a personal interview with some of the residents in the area, the people lamented about how their lands had been forcefully taken from them by the loggers and also how the logging activity has affected their farmlands and food harvest. According to them, theagro-trees which are being hunted by loggers, protecttheir food and cash crops from heat waves, direct contact from the sun, strong winds, high temperature, flood, heavy downpour of rain, and erosion. They also supply the soil with good micro and biological nutrients to promote crop growth. A major stakeholder in the community during the interview said, “I know many of my boys that have lost their lives and some who sustained severe injury while trying to resist the loggers who often come with trucks, tree cutting tools and armed security officers to cut our trees.” Another respondent during the interview expressed his deep concern for the forest, which to him, is symbolic of the people’s historical existence, a cultural heritage from their ancestors, and a home for thousands of wild living species that may go into extinction soon.

It was observed that farmers no longer go to farm due to the intensive logging activity carried out by particular groups of people who pose as a threatand insecurity to the community. They are also unable to stand as an opposition against these groups for fear of dire consequences.Following this, a personal investigation revealed that security officers of the state are aware of these activities but take no responsive approach to put an end to them. During a discussion on this subject with Mr Owan Emmanuel,South Regional Principal officer from Nigerian Conservation Foundation, he said, “Even the security personnel are not showing any concern to this logging, I have reported this logging activity to some security personnel and their response has always been: I would need to get an official letter from the governor with his signature mandating them to persecute those who are engage in logging activity in the state and advice the community to desist from it. Until the governor issues a warrant to this effect, we cannot do anything from our own end to stop the loggers from carrying out their activities.”An undisclosed reporter from the local media noted, “In a day, about 49 trucks carry timber out of the forest of Obubura, Local Government Area of Cross River… it is carried out on a small scale compared to what is happening in Boki Local Government of Cross River State, Nigeria.”

Nigeria’s dryland, which makes up 80% of the country's forest with rich ecosystem that has been conserved for years, is currently under serious threat in the hands of loggers, who work with greed and means of enriching themselves without considering the present and future dangers this may cause. During a media forest tour in May 2021, the governor of Cross River State said, “60% of the state’s forest is still well reserved.”Yet, in same state, there is large-scale logging activities happening daily in major places like Boki, Akamkpa, Biase, Obubura, Obanliku, and Obudu LGAs of Cross River State, Nigeria.

In a deeper investigation into this ecocide, it was found that those who try to stop the loggers are often exposed to strong resistance and life threats where in many cases, lives are lost or they are beaten to the point of death. Furthermore, some security officers and community heads also play a paramount role to facilitate logging in their communities. When this issue was raised to the state governor, he was unaware of the intense logging activities going on in the state and promised to put an end to them.

There is an urgent need and call to carry out further investigation in these areas and also bring to light thehidden activities of loggers. Thisshould serve as a step in solving the menace of logging in these location and additionally, should facilitate restoration of degraded drylandsand conservation with 80% possibility of peace building, and high food productivity. 

Learnings from GLF Africa Digital Conference

At the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) two-day digital conference on “Restoring Africa’sDrylands”, facilitators pointed out the need for their restoration as the African drylands make up 40% of the world‘s drylands, containone-third of the world’s population and also generate about 50% of the world’s food production. Communities need to engage on the development process of restoring dry-lands by bringing together stakeholders, especially farmers who are affected and those that are not. Wanjira Mathai, during her session “GLF: Framing the UN Decade: An African perspective on ecosystem restoration” said, “African drylands are under attack, giving rise to the degeneration of the ecosystem which has a negative effect on our economy. To restore our drylands, young people and the whole community need to have access to information and strong public incentives, and access to more finance.”Agnes Kalibata added, “Support should be made available to local farmers because farmers use land intensively as a result of lack of access to land, land policy and type of land scape to be adopted, which oftentimes is new to them. Farmers should be introduced to better farm varieties to facilitate dryland restoration as drylands store and sink more carbon.”

According to Robert Nasi at the GLF Africa Conference, “Most diversity is in the soil and most soil has lost its nutrients due to land degradation and lack of proper sustainable farming system.To tackle this, farmers and communities need to be trained and educated.” Joao Campari noted,“Behavioral change of people will be important with regard to their interaction and activities with theenvironment and nature and increasing food print on food production.”During a session titled “The Roots of Restoration: Sustainability through community-based forest landscape restoration”, Charles Karangwa stated, “There is a need to include community indigenes who are custodians of the land, in the planning and implementation process of dryland restoration and providing them with financial and technical support they need for the implementation process.Ignoring them may impede the restoration process of the drylands, since they have full knowledge in the restoration process of degraded lands in their community believing that ‘Restoration of drylands is life’.”

In conclusion, in the words of Tony Rinaudo, "the forest maker" from Australia who spent 17 years on dryland restoration in Africa, “Empowering communities is one of the basic necessary tool needed to enhance dryland restoration, and empowerment is an antidote community’s negative involvement towards the dryland.” According to him, it is important to get sociological and anthropological insight about a community before sourcing any solution and solutions must be sourced with the community people, not without them. He noted that restoration of drylandsshould be community-driven and “with the right production method, Africa could easily feed the world, we need to re-green our mindscape.”

APPENDIX 

1) Interview with Hon. Samuel Onuigbo, a Member of Parliament and the immediate past chairman of “House Committee on Climate change” of Nigeria  

2) Interview with Tony Rinaudo, "the forest maker" from Australia 

3) Logging activities in Cross River State, Nigeria