Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of a possible relationship between the activities of Boko Haram and those of armed Fulani herders in Nigeria.

James Duddridge

We are concerned by reports of recurrent clashes involving pastoralists and local farmers over land, farming rights, grazing routes and access to water in Nigeria, in particular in the centre of the country. We continue to call on all parties to find a peaceful solution to the underlying causes of these incidents.

Boko Haram is known to cooperate with criminal gangs and use illicit networks to facilitate the movement of weapons and persons in the region. However, we have no evidence that Boko Haram is involved in these violent clashes.

Together with international partners, we will continue supporting Nigeria, and its neighbours to tackle threats to regional stability.