ABSTRACT
The media are a major player during
periods of conflict by virtue of the influence they can exert on the public’s
understanding and perception of conflict situations. The agenda the media set
and how issues are framed can also impact on the direction or outcome of
conflict situations. The conflict between herders and farmers- the conflict-focus
of this study- is a leading resource-use conflict in Nigeria primarily caused
by the competition to have access to land and freshwater. The aim of this study
was to examine the extent and patterns of coverage of the herders-farmers
conflict by national newspapers in Nigeria. The agenda-setting theory, media
framing theory, and the social responsibility theory formed the theoretical
foundation to this study.
The research method adopted for this
study was content analysis. Three Nigerian national newspapers- The Punch, The Guardian, and Vanguard-
were purposively selected. Thetimeframe for this study spanned a period of 20
months: from January 1, 2015 to August 31, 2016. The purposive sampling
technique was used to select weekday editions and exclude weekend editions of
the selected newspapers. The census or complete enumeration technique was used
to study the entire weekday editions of the three newspapers published within
the 20-month period, resulting in a sample size of 1,305 editions from an
accessible population of 1,827 editions. A total of 687 contents on the
herders-farmers conflict were found, coded, and analysed using descriptive and
inferential statistics.
Findings revealed that the selected
newspapers were episodic in their coverage by presenting the herders-farmers
conflict overwhelmingly through news reports while, comparatively, doing little
in terms of interpretation and analysis. The newspapers largely accorded low
prominence to issues on the herders-farmers conflict with the placement of a
majority of stories on the inside pages and far less on the front page. It was
shown that the newspapers varied their coverage across the six geopolitical
zones of Nigeria. Results showed that the newspapers were reliant on government
officials, security personnel and victims/eyewitnesses as their major news
sources. It was found out that the newspapers dominantly adopted the
criminality frame, resolution frame and the political response frame.
Indicating herders as the principal perpetrators of violence, the newspapers
framed the conflict more as criminal attacks by herders rather than as clashes
between herders and farmers. Also, the newspapers were critical of the Nigerian
government in their editorial reactions to the government’s level of
intervention in the herders-farmers conflict.
The study concluded that, despite their
inclination towards war journalism, the selected newspapers played some parts
in the mitigation of the herders-farmers conflict, and performed their watchdog
role over the government effectively. The study recommended, among other
things, that the Nigeria press should be more interpretative and analytical in
their coverage of the herders-farmers conflict;that journalists should be
regularly trained in conflict-sensitive reporting and peace journalism; and
that the Nigerian government should develop and execute policies that would
address both the root and situational causes of the conflict.
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the
Study
Violent conflict is a
foremost global conundrum. There has been a major rise in intrastate conflicts
in the 21st century. Contemporary conflict trend shows that
intrastate conflict is the dominant form of violent conflict in the world,
while interstate conflict has declined considerably in recent years compared to
the 1900s (Cottey, 2013; Kegley & Raymond, 2010). No continent is spared as
both developed and developing nations are struggling with one form of internal
conflict or the other. Spates of terrorism, insurgency and civil strife,
leading to vicious destructions, displacements and deaths, are now persistent
across the world.
Alongside the Middle
East, Africa has attained quite a reputation for violent conflict. Since the
end of the Cold War between the Soviet Union (USSR) and the United States of
America (USA), most armed conflicts on the continent of Africa have been
internal in nature (Cilliers & Schunemann, 2013; Vogts, 1994). Scholars and
observers have identified a number of factors responsible for the growing
profile of internal violent conflicts in Africa. These causative factors
include poverty, poor governance, corruption, human rights violation, ethnic
and religious rivalry, and small arms proliferation (Annan, 2014; Aremu, 2010;
Cilliers & Schunemann, 2013; Vogts, 1994). Some observers, such as Anup
(2010), also maintain a retrospective perspective, placing conflicts in Africa
as a consequence of colonialism.
Internal conflict has
been a recurrent narrative in Nigeria since her independence in 1960. Conflicts
in the country are often incited under religious and ethnic pretexts. As
Anifowose (1982) observed, “a great deal of the post-independence troubles in
Nigeria arose because of the politicisation of ethnic loyalties by the
political elite” (p. 12). The Census Crisis of 1962/1963 and the Nigerian Civil
War between 1967 and 1970 are only two of many instances of ethnically-induced
violence in the country. The latter still stands as the single most devastating
violent conflict in post-independent Nigeria. Conflicts in Nigeria also take on
religious identity. Disagreements between adherents of the two predominant
religions in the country- Islam and Christianity- easily degenerate into
violence, whereby killings and destruction of property are perpetrated. Violent
disagreements between Christians and Muslims are usually rooted in their race
for ascendency (Muhammad, 2008). Religious conflicts may be provoked by
perceived ridicule of tenets or doctrines of a particular religion. Laws or
policies on religious practices may also incite conflicts. In the year 2000,
for instance, there were violent clashes between Christians and Muslims in some
Northern States due to the introduction of Sharia law in those states.
Furthermore, conflicts
with purely political or economic antecedence easily assume religious and
ethnic dimensions in Nigeria. Religion and ethnicity are manipulated to fuel
“neutral” political disagreements into violent conflicts. On the whole, it
could prove difficult to describe conflicts in the country in absolute terms
because “there is a very strong correlation or overlap between ethnic and
religious boundaries in Nigeria’s plural setting” (Ojo, 2006, p. 369). The
Northerners are mainly Muslims, the South-South and South-East regions are
dominated with Christians, while the South-West is populated with an almost
even mix of Muslims and Christians. It is for this reason that conflicts that
start as inter-religious disagreement often evolve into inter-ethnic violence
and vice-versa. There is, therefore, a delicate divide between the independent
cause of many conflicts in Nigeria and the ethno-religious identity that
undertones or overtones them.
According to
Homer-Dixon (1998), environmental scarcities contribute to violent conflict in
many developing nations. In Nigeria, the conflict between nomadic herders and
sedentary farmers is a leading resource-use conflict. The cause borders primarily
on the competition to have access to land and freshwater(for grazing and
farming), resources which have become acutely scarce (Audu, 2013). Massive
desertification of vegetative lands and drought in Northern Nigeria compel
herders to migrate toward the South in order to provide green pasture and water
for their livestock. In the course of their movement down South, the nomadic
herdsmen momentarily settle in farming communities where green vegetation and
water are available. Disputes arise between herders and farmers over
allegations from both parties. On the one hand, farmers accuse herders of
destroying their crops by the encroachment of herded livestock on their
farmlands and contaminating community water sources. On the other hand, herders
accuse farmers of poisoning, killing or stealing their cattle and denying them
access to grazing routes.
Pastoralism is a conventional
occupation among certain groups in Nigeria including the Kanembu, Kwoya, Manga,
Fulani and the Shuwa Arabs (Blench, 2010; Muhammed, Ismaila & Bibi, 2015).
However, the Fulani are the most prominent herding group, owning over 90
percent of the country’s livestock (Abass, 2012). The fact that no other
pastoral group is as numerous and expanded as the Fulani (Blench, 2003) could
be presumed a reason for the pervasive stereotypes about the occupation of the
Fulani pastoralists (Olayoku, 2014), and why they are the herding group mostly
involved in disputes with farming communities.
The conflict between
herders and farmers is a protracted issue in Nigeria. Violent clashes between
them have been frequent since the 1980s, but gained new momentum in intensity
and reoccurrence at the country’s return to civilian rule in 1999 (Blench,
2003). The progressive increase in the occurrence of clashes between herdsmen
and farmers has been confirmed by different research findings and reports. It
is reported that whereas only 18 incidences were recorded between 1997 and
2010, there was a surge of 371 attacks between 2011 and 2015 (SBM Intelligence,
2016). The conflict has been responsible for the death and displacement of many
people in various regions of Nigeria. Fatalities are not limited to the
conflicting herdsmen and farmers as innocent members of host communities are
also casualties of the conflict. According to the Human Rights Watch (2013),
the conflict between Fulani herdsmen and farmers significantly contributed to
inter-communal violence and death of about 3,000 people in North-Central region
of Nigeria between 2010 and 2013. On February 24, 2016, Fulani herders were
reported to have raided and killed over 300 people in Agatu communities in
Benue State, an epitome of the level of brutality that has become synonymous
with the conflict in recent times.
The herders-farmers
conflict has turned all the more fataldue to the proliferation of firearms
among herders. Although the argument may be advanced that they carry guns and
other sophisticated weapons around to protect themselves and their livestock
from bandits who steal their cattle, the possession of arms, most likely, makes
violence an instinctive reaction for the herders whenever there are
contestations between them and farmers. Fulani herders have often been linked
to rape and kidnap cases in farming communities. An example is the case of a
former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae, who was
abducted on September 21, 2015 from his farmland in Ilado, Ondo State and held
captive by some Fulani herdsmen(Lawal, Olumide & Akingboye, 2015). He was
later released on September 24, 2015.
Identifying the role of
the news media in the context of this conflict is critical. The news media are
a major player during periods of conflict. Through their surveillance function,
the media are responsible for surveying the society, gathering and
disseminating information that are of significance to the public. Conflict is
of particular consideration in the media for its news value. The public are
concerned about the safety and security of their environment and so when
violent conflicts arise, their attention readily turn to the media to keep them
abreast of unfolding events. The heightened emotions of the public from an
ongoing conflict situation could be approached from a business perspective by
the media. “Bad news is good news”, “if it bleeds, then it leads” are covert
operational policy in several newsrooms because conflict sells. Tumbler (2009)
argues that journalists place emphasis on violence and conflict in order to
produce and increase the value of “a commodity that is supposed to generate
profit” (p. 396). Nevertheless, it is expected that the media’s social
responsibility to the public should compel a foremost commitment to minimise
confusion and contribute to social order during conflict situations (Daramola,
2005).
The
news media wield a great influence on the audience in times of conflict. The
context, parties and shifting narratives of conflict are engaged and brought
closer to the public through the discursive forum the media create. Their
selection of what becomes reported as news and framing of issues related to a
conflict tend to shape public perception and opinion about the issues. Agenda
set through media reporting can directly or indirectly determine the course a
conflict situation would follow. The media, in essence, can play a role in
engendering the mitigation and resolution of conflict. Conversely, the media
can also incite or escalate a conflict.
The tendency for the international media
to complicate attempts to resolve conflict has stirred a growing recognition of
the importance of the local media in shaping the course of conflicts within
their immediate purview (Puddephatt, 2006).According to Gilboa (2009),
investigating the functions and dysfunctions of the local media should be a
research priority because the local media’s coverage of conflict directly
affects people engaged in conflict and conflict resolution. The coverage of conflict
by the Nigerian press is vital to what the perception and understanding of the
Nigerian public would be of such conflict. In view of this, it is important to
examine the conflict between herders and farmers in Nigeria through the
coverage of the issue by newspapers in the country.
1.2
Statement of the Problem
The conflict between
herders and farmers, often highlighted by violence, is a longstanding issue in
Nigeria. It has been evolving in frequency and intensity, hence assuming new
complexities in recent years. Fulani herdsmen are now classified as a terrorist
group. According to the 2015 Global Terrorism Index, Fulani pastoralists, regarded
as “Fulani militants”, were the fourth most deadly terrorist group in the
world, only behind the Taliban, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL)
and Boko Haram (Institute of Economics and Peace, 2015). Fulani herders are
geographically dispersed as far as their nomadic movements, and so are their
attacks. Although hostilities have concentrated more in the North-Central, there
is an extension to the South-East, South-South, North-West, North-East and the
South-West geopolitical zones of Nigeria (SBM Intelligence, 2016). These
regions have, in varying degrees, suffered the loss of lives and property as
well as displacements due to attacks by the pastoralists. The broad scope of
the conflict qualifies it as a national crisis. Despite this reality, the
herders-farmers conflict has been denied the same exigency accorded to the Boko
Haram insurgency (largely remote to the North-East) and the Niger-Delta crisis
(largely remote to the South-South).
The herders-farmers conflict comes with economic
implications for the country. Violent feuds between herders and farmers have
direct impact on food security: the availability of crops, meat and dairy
products would decline with the conflict at a sustained level, affecting crop
production and livestock production thereby. It is estimated that Nigeria loses
13.7 billion dollars in potential revenues annually to the clashes between
herdsmen and farmers (Mercy Corp, 2015). The level of violence and economic
cost from clashes between herdsmen and farmers pose a major national security
concern for Nigeria. Yet the government has not been able to devise strategies
that will effectively address the conflict. According to Blench (2003), the
Nigerian government’s disposition toward the conflict has been largely reactive
in that when and where the “situation is more serious, they send in the
military, set up road-blocks for a few days and hope the problem goes away” (p.
10). When the National Grazing Reserve Bill was proposed in the National
Assembly as a measure to resolve the conflict by establishing grazing reserves
for herders in any part of the country through the prerogative of the federal
government, it only further accentuated the faulty approach to the conflict.
While the bill, sponsored by Northern legislators, drew ample support in the
North, it was heavily criticised and rejected in Central, Southern and Western
Nigeria. It is then expedient to situate the watchdog role of the media in
influencing the policies and actions of the government in proffering lasting
solution to the conflict.
Disparity in the ethnic
and religious identities of the conflicting parties moves the conflict from
just being resource-based to an ethnic-and-religious-motivated crisis. More
than a few of the clashes have been represented as religious conflict since the
Fulani herders are mainly Muslims and many farming communities, especially in
the Middle-Belt, South-East and South-South, are dominantly populated with
Christians. Attacks by Fulani herdsmen have also been viewed as deliberate
ethnic cleansing in some quarters (SBM Intelligence, 2016). It is instructive
to note that some Nigerian media outletsdo engage in the unethical practices of
religious and ethnic advocacy, thus projecting sectional interests (Oboh,
2008). This raises concern over the media’s ability to report certain conflicts
in the country objectively and accurately.
The significance the
public attach to conflict situations is greatly hinged on the extent of media
coverage. While some conflicts have gained widespread attention through media
exposure, others have been relegated to the background due to neglect by the
media (Puddephatt, 2006). This presupposes that non-reportage or
under-reportage of certain conflicts by the media could be inimical to the
mitigation and resolution of such conflicts. It is therefore imperative to
examine the extent and patterns of coverage by the Nigerian press of the
conflict between herders and farmers in Nigeria and the coverage’s possible
implications on the conflict.
1.3 Objective of the Study
The main objective of
this study is to examine selected national newspapers’ coverage of the conflict
between herders and farmers in Nigeria. The specific objectives are to:
1. examine
the major formats of coverage used in presenting the conflict between herders
and farmers in the selected newspapers;
2. determine
the level of prominence given to the conflict between herders and farmers in
the selected newspapers;
3. find
out the extent of geographic variation in the selected newspapers’ coverage of
the conflict between herders and farmers;
4. ascertain
the dominant news frames adopted by the selected newspapers in reporting the
conflict between herders and farmers;
5. identify
the major sources of news reports on the conflict between herders and farmers
published in the selected newspapers;
6. identify
the principal perpetrators of violence in the conflict between herders and
farmers as indicated in news reports published in the selected newspapers; and
7. evaluate
the direction of the selected newspapers’ editorial reaction towards the
interventionist policies and actions of the Nigerian government on the conflict
between herders and farmers.
1.4 Research Questions
1. What
are the major formats of coverage used in presenting the conflict between
herders and farmers in the selected newspapers?
2. What
is the level of prominence given to the conflict between herders and farmers in
the selected newspapers?
3. To
what extent did the selected newspapers’ coverage of the conflict between
herders and farmers vary geographically?
4. What
are the dominant news frames adopted by the selected newspapers in reporting
the conflict between herders and farmers?
5. What
are the major sources of news reports on the conflict between herders and
farmers published in the selected newspapers?
6. Which
of the conflicting parties- herders and farmers- are indicated in news reports
published in the selected newspapers as the principal perpetrators of violence?
7. What
is the direction of the selected newspapers’ editorial reaction towards the
interventionist policies and actions of the Nigerian government on the conflict
between herders and farmers?
1.5
Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses were
tested with 0.05 level of significance:
H01: There is no significant difference in
the formats of coverage of the conflict between herders and farmers among the
selected newspapers.
H02: There is no significant
difference in the level of prominence given to the conflict between herders and
farmers among the selected newspapers.
H03: There is no significant difference in
the geographic variation of coverage of the conflict between herders and
farmers among the selected newspapers.
H04: There is no significant difference in
the dominant news frames adopted in reporting the conflict between herders and
farmers among the selected newspapers.
H05: There is no significant difference in
the major sources of news reports about the conflict between herders and
farmers among the selected newspapers.
H06: There is no significant difference in
the attribution of theprincipal perpetrators of violence in the conflict
between herders and farmers among the selected newspapers.
H07: There is no significant difference in
the direction of the selected newspapers’ editorial reactions towards the
Nigerian government’s interventionist policies and actions on the conflict
between herders and farmers.
1.6
Significance of the Study
The
present state of insecurity in Nigeria makes this study a timely one. The
findings of this study could prove useful in further understanding the
complexities associated with the issue of insecurity in the country. The
Nigerian government and security agencies may thereby come to appreciate the urgency
required to tackle the herders-farmers conflict through a proactive approach.
This study would help
establish the influence of the Nigerian press in a conflict situation. The
press would be apprised of its shortcomings, if any, and sensitised on how to
promote the mitigation and resolution of conflict. It would also build a case
for journalists to be well trained in the aspect of conflict reporting.
Scholars and
researchers have studied the causes and repercussions of the conflict between
herders and farmers in Nigeria mainly from agrarian, environmental,
socio-economic and ethno-religious perspectives. There appear to be a dearth of
scholarly discourse on the role of the mass media in this conflict as no
empirical study dedicated to the subject matter was found in the perusal of
extant literature. This study would, thus, contribute to filling this gap in
the body of knowledge. For researchers in the field of mass communication this
would serve as a reference material in conducting similar studies.
1.7 Scope of the Study
This study sought to
investigate national newspapers’ coverage of the conflict between herders and
farmers in Nigeria. Mindful of the fact that clashes between herders and
farmers also occur in some other African countries, incidents relevant to this
study were entirely those that had happened in Nigeria. This study covered a
period of twenty (20) months- from January 2015 to August 2016. The period was
selected based on the premise that the conflict increased in occurrence and
magnitude during the timeline. The necessity to clarify the latest complexities
of the conflict also encouraged the selection of the period. This study was
delimited to content-analysing three Nigerian national newspapers, namely: The Punch, The Guardian and Vanguard.
Only weekday editions of these newspapers spanning the study period were
examined and analysed.
1.8
Operational Definition of Terms
For the purpose of clarity, variables
and concepts as used in the context of this study are defined below:
Press:
although
often a synonym for the news media, this term is employed in this study to
particularly refer to newspapers.
National
Newspapers:refers to newspapers with wide coverage
and circulation reach across Nigeria. The
Punch, The Guardian and Vanguard are used to represent national
newspapers in Nigeria.
Newspaper
Coverage: this encompasses the process ofsourcing, reporting
and analysing information by a particular newspaper. It refers to reports and
analyses of the conflict between herders and farmers as presented in the
selected national newspapers. This was measured through the news reports,
features, news analyses, columns and editorials contained in The Punch, The Guardian and Vanguard
within the period of study.
Conflict:
refers
to differences in interests and goals made manifest through violent clashes
between a minimum of two groups at a given point in time. This study is
primarily concerned about the conflict between herders and farmers in Nigeria
resultant from resource scarcity and other factors; as well as its ranging
effects on farming communities.
Herders:
are
prevalently Fulani nomads who rear and move their cattle from Northern Nigeria
down South. They are hosted in farming communities and come in contact with farmers
in various parts of Nigeria. The usage of the word “herders” in this study is
alternated with “herdsmen” and “pastoralists”.
Farmers:
refers
to those who are involved in planting and growing of arable crops.
Specifically, these are sedentary cultivators in various regions of Nigeria who
have direct interactions- and disputes resultant therefrom- with herders.
Framing:
this
refers to how news reports and issues related to the conflict between herders
and farmers are slanted in the selected newspapers.
Frame:
this
refers to the specific narrative construct adopted in the presentation of news
reports about the herders-farmers conflict by the selected newspapers. The
frames applicable to this study include conflict frame, criminality frame,
human interest frame, religious frame, ethnic frame, political response frame,
economic consequence frame, and resolution frame.
Editorial
Reaction: refers to the stance or position of the selected
newspapers on the policies and actions of the Nigerian government in intervening
in the conflict between herders and farmers as expressed in their editorial
pieces. Three criteria of critical, supportive, and passive were used to
measure the direction of the selected newspapers’ editorials.
Source Actors:
are individuals and institutions that are quoted or attributed as the primary
news makers or key informants in reported news stories in the selected
newspapers. These include: victims/eyewitnesses, government officials, security
operatives, herders/herders association, farmers/farmers association, religious
leaders/organisations, community leaders, socio-cultural groups, civil rights
groups, non-governmental relief agencies, etc.
Sourcing
of Story: This refers to the means through which information
for news stories are obtained by the selected newspapers. These include: field
coverage/investigation, telephone interview, press release, press conference,
news agency/media, and social media.
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