Territorial homogenisation through jurisdictional partitioning: Interaction between indigeneity crisis, farmer-pastoralist conflicts and Benue-Nasarawa border dispute

The paper explores the interaction between village-based border disputes resulting from territorial homogenisation through jurisdictional partitioning, indigeneity crisis and farmer-pastoralist conflicts (FPCs) in the Benue-Nasarawa border and how this leads to territorial politics between Benue and Nasarawa States in Nigeria. The primary study from which this paper is derived is ethnographic fieldwork to explore the FPCs in the Benue Valley region. Emerging from the study, among other issues, is how jurisdictional partitioning resulted in an informal boundary dispute between villagers on the Benue-Nasarawa border, which interacts with the indigeneity crisis and FPCs. There is a reciprocal interaction between the informal boundary dispute, indigeneity crisis and FPCs. Formalising informal border enforcement by villagers resulting from the interaction of partitioning and indigeneity tensions reinforces the indigeneity crises, escalating tensions between farmers and herders. The results are exclusion, counter-exclusion, and violent confrontations in neighbouring jurisdictions with similar social groups but unequal proportions, leading to a formal boundary dispute between Benue and Nasarawa States. This indicates how everyday geopolitical practices lead to formal geopolitics. Thus, the FPCs in the Benue Valley, including these other crises, are an interconnected web of crises reinforcing each other, creating a vicious circle of conflicts. The article contributes to the literature by showing how the FPCs are shaped by territorial partitioning in relation to identity and also shapes territorial politics between sub-national states. This perspective has not been investigated. It argues that while partitioning can reduce regional tensions that could threaten the stability of a state, it can breed further ground-level tensions in highly ethnic heterogeneous areas like the Benue-Nasarawa border, which can interact with other issues like the FPCs, further creating tensions between the sub-national states.