In the face of unrelenting violence and insecurity across Nigeria’s rural regions, particularly in the North-West, communities are beginning to chart a new path to peace not through force or arms, but through dialogue, reconciliation, and community-led solutions. 

In places like Batsari in Katsina State, the town of Udawa in Kaduna, and the community of Birnin Gwari, decades of conflict between locals and herders known as bandits are being replaced with fragile but growing cooperation driven not by military might, but by mutual understanding. 

In states like Katsina, Niger, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Kaduna. killings and kidnappings for ransom have become rampant especially in remote rural communities. In 2024, around 1,380 violent events and 3,980 fatalities were recorded in the North-West region where the states are located. The conflicts are linked to banditry even though the origin is the herder-farmer crisis.

Despite the use of kinetic approaches, approaches involving physical force, by local authorities against attackers—who are mostly Fulani herders—the situation has persisted for years. But conditions are now changing following the use of local, non-kinetic solutions for a sustainable peace. 

Turning Away from Guns: The Batsari Example

Batsari, a farming community in Katsina State, was once plagued by constant clashes between locals and Fulani herders. What military interventions couldn’t solve, the people of Batsari have addressed through a peace process built on dialogue, trust-building, and shared community rules.

“For us, this truce is a blessing,” said Hassan Dogon Faci, a local leader and farmer. “Previously, the use of kinetic approaches did not help us from the loss of lives we suffered until we, the people of Batsari, decided that  adopting  a non-kinetic approach is the solution for us.”

Nine months since the truce was established, Batsari has not recorded a single violent incident. Fulani herders and Hausa farmers now share marketplaces and farmland once again.

Hassan recalls how divisive the conflict had become. “The herders, the Fulani themselves, could not come into the village market to trade, and we farmers could not go to our farms in the bush. If we went to the farm, they would drive us away or kidnap someone for ransom.”

Now, villages like Nahuta, once dangerous due to its location deep in the forest, are thriving. Fulani and Hausa youth work side by side, even in newly discovered mineral sites. Farmers are returning to lands long abandoned, and herders graze their animals without fear of reprisal.

“We made rules,” Dogon Faci explained, “that everyone should avoid any act that could cause disagreement between themselves and their neighbours.” He added, “Let them tend their animals without harming the farmers, and farmers should go into their farms in the bush peacefully.” 

Dogon Faci said the herders are now allowed to bring their animals into town markets without harassment to sell. The success in Batsari is now influencing neighboring communities like Funtua , Malumfashi, Safana and Dan Musa, where similar peace processes are being adopted.

“If all those suffering conflict in Katsina State would use this kind of non-kinetic approach, there would be relief,” he added.

Udawa: From Bloodshed to Dialogue

In Udawa Town, Kaduna State, Imam Hussaini Udawa, a community leader, remembers years of bloodshed that neither security forces nor armed reprisals could stop. “Force was used to resolve the crisis, but the killings continued from both parties until we, the community, on our own, decided to apply the non-kinetic approach, ” he said.

According to him, peace only began to return when both sides sat down to address the underlying causes of conflict, not just the symptoms. 

Today, Udawa residents can farm deep in the bush without fear of attack. The once-deadly Kaduna-Birnin Gwari highway, previously notorious for kidnappings and ambushes, is now safe to travel even at night.

He lauded the Peace Model accord applied by the Kaduna State Government with the non-state actors terrorizing local communities through use of non kinetic approaches to address the insecurity in rural areas.  “As for using kinetic approaches to conflicts, it usually leads to destruction,” he concluded, “hence the need to also consider using non-kinetic approaches in some instances.”

Birnin Gwari: Solutions Lie in Sustainable Peace Through Reconciliations 

Few places illustrate the limitations of military action more clearly than Birnin Gwari, a border community straddling Kaduna and Niger States. Years of kinetic interventions have failed to deliver sustainable peace, leading local leaders to adopt a more holistic, inclusive path.

Ishaq Usman Kasai, Chairman of the Birnin Gwari–Niger Inter-Border Community for Peace and Development, argues that while force may provide temporary relief, it cannot create lasting solutions. “Over the years, if you take Birnin Gwari for example, these conflicts between locals and herders have been addressed several times and every time after action is taken through a kinetic approach, the problem resurfaces.” 

But the community now focuses on reconciliation, economic reintegration, and youth engagement at the local and state levels. Kasai emphasizes the importance of restoring livelihoods for both herders and farmers. Many Fulani families have lost livestock during the conflict, while farmers have watched their crops rot in inaccessible fields. This economic strain only fuels criminal recruitment.

“People have suffered problems affecting their livestock activities. We know the Fulani [herders] are involved and there must be a way to help them revive those activities,” he said.

But there have also been setbacks to the non-kinetic approach. “Because of failure to follow the established system and the loss of respect for the agreements that had been made, things began to fall apart,” he said.

For the process to work, Kasai insists, governments must show genuine commitment for a lasting sustainable peace. He recommends establishing formal peace frameworks, cross-boundary cooperation, and investing in youth, women, and traditional leadership to sustain non-kinetic peacebuilding efforts.

Peace Advocates Call for a Paradigm Shift

Samson Auta, a peace advocate with the Interfaith Mediation Centre in Nigeria, views the turn toward non-kinetic solutions as not just beneficial, but essential.

“Kinetic action only deals with the symptoms of violence. Non-kinetic methods, conversely, target the underlying political, economic, and social grievances  like marginalization, injustice, and lack of resources that drive people to violence in the first place.”

Military deployments often result in collateral damage, he warns, and create long-term mistrust between security forces and the population. “Non-kinetic interventions like dialogue, mediation and development are generally more cost-effective and yield sustainable results.”

Auta also highlights the growing use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in rural communities, where elders and leaders form peace committees to mediate disputes and prevent escalation. “These small and simple efforts help to directly reduce the pool of vulnerable youth as easy tools for recruitment by various interest groups.”

Empowering communities through education, health services, and agricultural development, he adds, is key to building resilience against conflict. “An educated and economically viable population is less vulnerable to manipulation and the recruitment tactics of any sort of views that propagate instability in communities.”

He emphasizes that non-kinetic strategies do more than just stop conflict, they rebuild social fabrics and create a long-term foundation for peace.

Keywords: Nigeria, banditry, farmer herder conflict, peace, conflict, conflict resolution, Africa, kinetic, non-kinetic, rural, communities