Public Law Dimensions of Herdsmen-Farmer Conflicts: Examining Legal Responses in Benue State, North Central Nigeria

Herdsmen-farmer conflicts in Benue State and across the North Central geopolitical zone represent one of the most serious internal security and public law challenges confronting the Nigerian state, producing mass displacement, loss of life, and threats to constitutional order. The legal responses to this crisis, encompassing federal security law, the Benue State Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law 2017, and related judicial actions, reveal important intersections of constitutional law, criminal law, and administrative governance. This study examines the public law dimensions of herdsmen-farmer conflicts in Benue State, analysing the legal adequacy and constitutional basis of the Open Grazing Prohibition Law and evaluating whether it conforms to the constitutional framework for property rights, freedom of movement, and internal security management. A doctrinal methodology is applied, reviewing the 1999 Constitution, the Benue State Open Grazing Law, the Land Use Act 1978, federal security deployment orders, judicial decisions arising from the conflict, and reports from the National Emergency Management Agency and Amnesty International Nigeria. Available conflict and public law literature from North Central Nigeria identifies the absence of a federal ranching policy framework as the primary structural legal gap facilitating recurring conflicts. The Constitutional Conflict Management Framework and Security Law Principles guide the analysis. Recommendations address federal-state legislative coordination on pastoralism and emergency governance improvements. Keywords: herdsmen-farmer conflict, open grazing law, Benue State, security law, North Central Nigeria.