similar bans on open grazing.

Following the enactment of the Benue and Taraba anti-grazing laws, particularly, violence between herders and farming communities intensified. These bans required herders to establish formal ranches, but plots and permits were scarce, adding to a sentiment that the laws targeted and hindered herders’ livelihood.<sup>15</sup> The laws were enforced sporadically, or not at all, in remote areas, where authorities’ reach was limited.<sup>16</sup> In these areas there were reports that unofficial civilian groups seized herders’ cattle under the guise of enforcing the grazing prohibition.<sup>17</sup> Violence quickly escalated. During the first week of January 2018, six villages in Benue were raided by alleged herder groups; the attacks killed more than 80 people.<sup>18</sup> These incidents were followed by several dozen more, killing between 200 and 300 people in the following months. In January alone, nearly 170 people were killed as Amnesty International warned that events were spiraling out of control.<sup>19</sup> Following the escalation, the Nigerian government deployed Army forces in Benue, Taraba, and Nasarawa; civilian militia groups were mobilized, notably in Benue.<sup>20</sup> Several local government areas (LGAs) instituted nighttime curfews, severely limiting mobility.<sup>21</sup> In response to rising violence levels and anti-grazing statutes, several herders fled into bordering states, including Nasarawa and Cross River states. Two evident consequences of these movements emerged: first, the migrating herders were met with resistance in these bordering states, resulting in attacks by civilian militias and herder-related groups, including protests, riots, and reprisals. Second, violent events occurred near state border areas. Several accounts alleged that herder-related groups would cross into grazing-prohibition states—where they would destroy property, burn fields, or attack individuals under nightfall—only to return across those borders by daylight.<sup>22</sup>

# **2.1 Informal Work in Nigeria**

As in many other low- or middle-income countries, informal work represents a large share of Nigeria’s economy (La Porta and Shleifer, 2014). In 2019, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that over 60 percent of Nigeria’s GDP belonged to the informal sector. Despite the relative share of the informal sector in terms of GDP, agriculture remains an important sector for employment. Figure 3 shows the sample mean of those working in farming and own-account/household enterprise work (which we define as informal work) over the four GHS rounds with two observations per round: post-planting and

> 15Washington Post. July 26, 2018. “This little-known conflict in Nigeria is now deadlier than Boko Haram”. Last accessed via Factiva: March 31, 2020.

> 16New York Times. September 22, 2018. “Nigerian Herders Face Threat from Farmers Competing for Land”. Last accessed via Factiva: March 31, 2020.

> 17International Crisis Group. July 26, 2018. “Stopping Nigeria’s Spiralling Farmer-Herder Violence,” available here. Last accessed: March 31, 2020.

> 18International Crisis Group. July 26, 2018. “Stopping Nigeria’s Spiralling Farmer-Herder Violence,” available here. Last accessed: March 31, 2020.

> 19Agence France Presse. January 31, 2018. “Herder-farmer violence kills 14 in Nigeria”. Last accessed via Factiva: March 31, 2020.

> 20Agence France Presse. January 11, 2018. “Nigeria: mass burial for farmers killed in herder clashes”. Last accessed via Factiva: March 31, 2020.

> 21Agence France Presse. February 7, 2018. “Nigeria grapples with mob justice in farmer-herder clashes”. Last accessed via Factiva: March 31, 2020.

> 22International Crisis Group. July 26, 2018. “Stopping Nigeria’s Spiralling Farmer-Herder Violence,” available here. Last accessed: March 31, 2020.

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