Emerging issues around transhumance migration from the Sahel region and Nigeria’s national security

Abstract

Nigeria has recorded in the annals of its historical development monumental internal security challenges occasioned by the activities of non- state actors such as Boko Haram, and in recent past, bandits associated with transhumance and irregular migration into the country. The main discourse is on transhumance migration which revolves around the debates in the public domain that link almost entirely the Nigeria‟s security situation to the activities of herdsmen that migrate through the corridors of the Sahel region. The paper relied on qualitative data collected from secondary sources. Findings in the paper revealed that despite the high-level of violence being perpetrated by non-state actors in Nigeria, pastoralists-perpetrated violence accounts for only 16 %. Pastoralist violence is only one part of the different overlapping conflicts in the country. The paper recommended for review the domestication and full operationalization of the ECOWAS protocol on the regulation of transhumance 1998 by member states.