Between 2009 when Mohammed Yusuf was killed and now, the death toll of the Boko Haram insurgency is estimated to be 17,000, putting the annual average at 2,500. This is the very significant. But in 2015 so far, the death toll in another crisis in the Middle Belt of Nigeria stands at nearly 2,000, rivalling the annual Boko Haram average. Unfortunately, this crisis has been neglected and ignored.

This report highlights this crisis in the hope that it will shine a spotlight on it, and spur Nigeria’s government to act before our already stretched military will be required to face a third insurgency within our borders.

The initial information we received of this came from personal encounters with survivors on and offline and then sparse reports of the violence in the press. We at SBM Intelligence then undertook a comprehensive study of the situation, employing methodology that included our correspondents visiting three states Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau, and interviewing survivors, visiting IDP camps for the survivors, a review of as many reports as we could find, curating casualty figures, visiting the markets in Lagos where produce from the affected regions are sold and a review of economic data to assess economic impact of the violence.



[url=https://copy.com/P1pKdlyCO7IaI2gh/Terror%20in%20Nigeria%27s%20Food%20Basket.pdf?download=1]Download the complete report[/url]
[url=https://copy.com/tJqiggE0rAa1m8L9/Terror%20in%20the%20Food%20Basket_summary.pdf?download=1]Download the summary (with infographics)[/url]

Why should we care?

The area known as the Middle Belt in Nigeria, is largely rural. A drive from Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, to Enugu in the South-East geopolitical zone, takes you through large swathes of this area, through villages, which were once farming communities, and which unknown to so many Nigerians, are responsible, to a very large extent, for feeding the country.

However, because the most visible elite and middle class Nigerians are based in the urban conglomerations of Lagos-Ibadan, Abuja, Enugu-Onitsha, Port Harcourt-Aba and Kano-Kaduna, we do not see these rural poor, and as a result, hardly care about their problems.

We have to.

These problems are causing a large rural-urban drift, which is unsustainable in the short to medium term as seen in large parts of Jos, Plateau State, which are turning into huge refugee camps. In the long term, these security issues are causing a North-South drift, with the attendant conflict as various cultures clash.

Finally, there is the potential for escalation as the problem accelerates and more people, in their bid to get away from the problem crowd together, and compete more fiercely for ever dwindling resources.

This report serves as a start to a conversation over an issue that has been ignored for too long. It is not a final document, there is a lot more that needs to be done. A lot more.

It is our hope that this report will be studied and broadcast in order to highlight the plight of the people of the Middle Belt of Nigeria as well as that of the genuine herdsmen in addition to assisting and spurring the government to action to find long lasting solutions to the issues and restore the economy of both parties before it further escalates into a full blown insurgency. Nigeria must act now.

These killings have been going on for a very long time now, yet our leaders don't care. Still praying for God's mercy sha.

preshOnogwu1:
These killings have been going on for a very long time now, yet our leaders don't care. Still praying for God's mercy sha.

"Still praying for God's mercy sha."

This is the typical statement we all employ to wash our hands off any responsibility. As if God Himself has to descend and set everything right, without any input from us. God has got absolutely nothing to do with this.

It doesn't need divine guidance or intervention or intelligence to realize what this problem is, as well as the nomadic Fulani herdsmen and the powerful sponsors behind them.

Can we just finally admit that Nigeria belongs to them and other tribes are mere vassals at their disposal, that can be slaughtered at will, with no fear of repercussions?
Can anyone argue that if any other tribe in Nigeria has been responsible for so many deaths, there would have been total upheaval and extreme genocide of that offensive tribe? Only the Fulanis seem to have government covert support for wholesale slaughter of any other tribe in Nigeria.

I'm absolutely sick of a non existing government that officially still chose to refer to them as "suspected gunmen" Exactly how much lives will be wasted before a so called government will rise to its responsibility? That such whopping amount of death and destruction is being recorded in a region where there is no warfare is mind boggling. I implore everyone to download the reports up there. I just did, and I'm reading them. Each of the document is less than 2MB, and in PDF format.

Can the mods please take this post to the front page. This in-depth research needs as much exposure as it can get.
Lalasticlala, Seun, Mynd44, Afam4eva, OAM4J

The truth is bitter and this is a fact though a stale one, some people are more superior, some people are more important than many Nigerians. I don't like to view the meaning of minority by dictionary definition as the smaller number or part, especially a number or part representing less than half of the whole but in Nigeria context meaning POOR.

One super rich man is majority in a community with 10,000 poor men, naija for you. The government of our dear country Nigeria have repeatedly and constantly failed us in all aspect most especially in the area of security (lives, properties, food). The minority (poor) die daily while one man majority (families and friends of government) can afford all the securities in the world.

All the people in government should know that the blood of every single innocent Nigerian who has died because of government negligence is on their head and they will surely answer to that on the last day. All government officials embezzling public fund thinking it's their right, should have a rethink (Abacha with all the money in the world, died and was wrapped in the cheapest of cloth and dumped 6ft).

We the poor can only hope and look to GOD for safety. GOD bless Nigeria

Very good to draw attention to this under-reported and under-estimated massacre by murderous marauders!