No fewer than 60,000 Nigerians across Nigeria have so far lost their lives during the unabated farmers-herders clashes since 2001.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Tajudeen Abbas disclosed this during the flag-off of stakeholders’ interactive session held at the instance of Ad-hoc Committee on the ‘Recurring annual clashes between Farmers and Herders In Yamaltu/Deba Local Government Area of Gombe, and neighbouring Local Government Areas, including other regions of the country with similar incidents’.

While noting that the crises were hitherto seen as a regional or a confined conflict, he lamented that the menace has taken a new dimension as it has expanded and grown into a wider conflict beyond the borders of many West African countries.

The Speaker who was represented by his Deputy, Hon. Benjamin Kalu reiterated the House’s resolve to take critical look into the causes, nature, dimensions, actors, impact and possible solution to the nagging national challenge.

He said: “The clashes have resulted in avoidable losses of lives and property. It is estimated that over 60,000 people have been killed since 2001. It ought not to be so.

“The number of deaths, injuries, and kidnapped persons constitutes an alarming situation and poses a serious national security challenge for Nigeria’s quest to attain food security and alternative foreign earnings from the agricultural sector. This menace requires urgent action to be taken.

“These conflicts have escalated in recent years and it is quite consequential to our national security. What is even more concerning is the appropriation of these conflicts by terror groups, bandits and international criminal organizations.

“This has had severe consequences including the restriction of farmers from access to their farmlands, leading to food price inflation, a high cost of living, unemployment, and loss of foreign earnings that would have accrued through the agricultural sector”