The Menace of Fulani Herdsmen in South East Nigeria: A Threat to National Security

Abstract

This study focused on the menace of Fulani herdsmen in South East Nigeria: a threat to National security. The work was carried out to determine the extent Fulani herdsmen have hindered economic development. Three research objectives, three research questions and three research hypotheses guided the study. The population of this study is 1,335,500 and the sample size is 400. Survey research design was used and questionnaire was employed to collect data. This study adopted social conflict theory and frustration-aggression theory to analyze the study. But this work was anchored on social conflict theory. The data collected in this study were analyzed using simple percentage, mean statistics, and Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. The result indicated that there is significant effect of Fulani-herdsmen on destruction of farm crops in south east Nigeria, and  Fulani-herdsmen has significant impact on kidnapping in south east Nigeria. The study concludes that finding a lasting solution for this conflict will help develop destroying agricultural projects/farmers which breed scarcity and high cost of living in Nigerian. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the government should effectively prosecute people who engage in kidnapping so that others will learn and avoid such negative venture.