Civil Society in the shadows of Nigeria’s Core Conflicts The Political Economy of Farmer-Herder Conflict in Nigeria – Gerald OKAFOR, PhD The symposium has dealt comprehensively with so many issues such as the reneged or botched social contract between the state and the people; attempts to contract peace in various theatres of conflict; the seeming neglect of dealing with issues of structural violence when attempting to construct peace; the character of the state; the moral economy of conflict; the interplay of the political structures and the economy of the conflict, how politics affects or structures resource use, the discussion around the eco-violence theory which posits that competition over scare ecological resources engenders violent conflict, among many others. Based on these rich contextual and conceptual discussions, therefore, I will go straight to my task of discussing the political economy of farmer-herder in Nigeria. • The fundamental issue is to underscore the obvious fact that this particular conflict is resource-based and is being sustained by issues of competition over land and land resources; environmental changes; population growth; migration; increasing demand for land for other essential needs in nation-building, and urbanization. • It is critical to also reiterate the obvious fact about the rentier mentality of the political elites in the Nigerian state, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Nigeria| 223