Abstract:

This study sought to assess the economic and wellbeing effects of Herdsmen attacks among Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Benue State, Nigeria. Six hundred and twenty-nine (male=305; female 324) internally displaced persons were used as sample. Their age range was between 18 and 65 years respectively with a mean age of 37.5. Instruments used for data collection were a 16-item questionnaire to assess the economic effects of herdsmen attacks on IDPs developed by the author and the Impact of Event Scale – Revised adopted to measure the effects of the herdsmen attacks on the wellbeing of IDPs in Benue State, Nigeria. The IES-R is a short set of 15 questions that can measure the amount of distress that you associate with a specific event with an internal consistency of alpha = .96. Data analysis involved the use of multiple regressions and Chi-square. The study revealed that victims of herdsmen attacks had lost livelihood sources, suffered economic hardship and become poorer due to the effect of these attacks on trading activities, farmlands and farm produce; they also suffered from anger, irritability, insomnia and constant reminders of the event. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the Government should provide seedlings and financial support to victims to restart livelihood activities as well as counseling services.

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