By Faridat Salifu
Communities in Ayilamo, Logo LGA of Benue State, are warning of growing environmental pressure as droves of herders and livestock migrate from neighbouring Nasarawa State, encroaching on farmlands and fragile ecosystems.
Residents of Anyimbe and Awashuwa settlements say the sudden surge in cattle movement across state lines is not only raising fears of conflict but also accelerating land degradation in an already stressed agricultural zone.
“The problem is beyond just farms being trampled,” said Shim Akur, a local farmer in Awashuwa. “This area can’t carry this level of grazing pressure — our soils are thin, and recovery is slow.”
Farmers report that large herds are entering cultivated plots and fallow lands without restraint, compacting soil, stripping vegetation, and disrupting crop cycles just as the planting season peaks.
According to locals, years of subsistence farming, seasonal flooding, and deforestation have already made the land vulnerable — the additional grazing pressure from hundreds of cattle could collapse its productivity.
Community leaders are urging government and environmental agencies to see the influx not just as a security issue but as an ecological crisis in the making, requiring urgent intervention and land-use planning.
“Our land cannot keep absorbing this kind of shock every dry season and rainy season,” Akur said. “We are seeing gullies form where cows have passed, and the topsoil is just disappearing.”
Residents also expressed concern over the absence of buffer zones, designated grazing corridors, or environmental impact assessments to regulate cross-border pastoral movement.
They say that without these measures, rural Benue communities are forced to absorb environmental costs that are neither acknowledged nor mitigated by relevant authorities.
Environmental advocates have long warned that persistent land-use conflict in Nigeria’s Middle Belt is not just about resource competition but about chronic ecological mismanagement under rising population and climate pressure.
As herders continue arriving in large numbers, farmers fear that both land and community relations will be pushed beyond recovery unless urgent steps are taken to balance grazing activity with environmental sustainability. END
Niger boat tragedy highlights worsening inland water transport crisis in Nigeria
By Faridat Salifu
The last weekend boat mishap in Niger State where no fewer than 25 people, including 10 members of one family, were feared dead has once again raised questions about Nigeria’s inland water transport safety framework.
The victims were traveling to the Zumba weekly market on Saturday afternoon when their overloaded wooden boat struck a submerged log mid-river and capsized, according to local reports.
Officials from the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) said search and recovery operations were still ongoing by Sunday evening, with dozens unaccounted for.
But beyond the tragedy itself, experts say the real crisis lies in the federal and state governments’ continued failure to regulate and modernize river transport, which remains the only accessible mode of travel for millions in Nigeria’s riverine and rural communities.
“This is not an isolated accident. It’s a pattern,” said Mr. Danjuma Garba, a water transport safety analyst based in Minna. “We’ve had similar incidents in Sokoto, Taraba, Anambra, and Kebbi this year alone. People die in dozens, and nothing changes.”
Garba blamed poor enforcement of maritime safety rules, lack of proper surveillance of waterways, and near-zero investment in safe boat infrastructure.
In most cases, including the latest one, there were no life jackets, no passenger manifest, and no trained crew.
Community leaders from Munya and Shiroro LGAs—where the boat originated and was headed—said they have repeatedly appealed to the government to dredge and clear the waterways of submerged logs, but nothing has been done.
“The boats are made of wood, the engines are unreliable, and there is no rescue service. It’s a gamble every time,” said Abdullahi Musa, a resident of Guni.
Niger State’s emergency response agency confirmed that the boat driver could not provide a manifest, making it difficult to determine how many passengers were onboard at the time of the accident.
Transport advocates are now calling for urgent federal intervention to fund modern inland ferry services, enforce safety protocols, and install warning markers across known hazard zones.
With the rainy season in full swing, river transport is expected to spike across the country in the coming weeks, further increasing the risk of more avoidable deaths unless concrete steps are taken.
