Radical Islam and Insurgency in Northern Nigeria: Tensions and Challenges

Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Located within a broad appraisal of Nigeria’s nascent democracy, this paper examined the roots and triggers of radical Islam and religious extremism in Northern Nigeria. It also investigated its implication in the region through the lenses of religion and politics. Since 1804, a tradition of jihadist Islam in the north, introduced by Sheikh Uthman dan Fodio, has shaped not only the politics of the region but has festered into modern-day insurgency. This radicalism enthroned an intolerant, anti-Western and violent Islamic ideology used against minorities within and against other religions, ethno-regional groups, and political blocs in Nigeria. What exactly are the triggers of religious violence in today’s Northern Nigeria? Furthermore, if any, what are the implications for this region? Drawing on archival materials and secondary sources, findings reveal deep-seated, anti-southern sentiments in the north, complicated by religious, cultural, and economic suspicions, whipped up at political intersections. Evidence also indicates significant leadership failures. This internal complexity holds back Northern Nigeria’s overall economic and social modernisation pace. This paper recommends state-sponsored awareness campaigns that emphasise diversity, integration and unity. To overcome insurgency, politics must deliver dividends of democracy to all. Governance must become a means to economic ends and not an end in itself

Evaluating the effects of grass management technologies on the physical, environmental, and financial performance of Irish pasture-based dairy farms

ABSTRACT: Grass management technologies (grass measuring devices and grassland management decision support tools) have been identified as important tools to improve the performance of pasture-based dairy farms. They have the potential to significantly improve the efficiency and sustainability of dairy systems by increasing milk production through enhanced pasture growth and utilization, which would reduce the need for supplementary feeds, along with increased output, therefore increasing farm profitability and environmental sustainability. Despite the several potential benefits of grass management technologies, there is a lack of empirical research around the effects of these technologies on the performance of pasture-based dairy systems. The current study aimed to fill this knowledge gap by using a 2018 nationally representative survey of Irish dairy farms and a propensity score matching approach to determine the effects of adopting grass management technologies on the physical, environmental, and financial performance of Irish pasture-based dairy farms. The findings showed that dairy farms utilizing grass management technologies had, on average, higher farm physical, environmental, and financial performance (in terms of grazed pasture use, total pasture use, length of the grazing season, milk yield, milk solids, greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of fat- and protein-corrected milk, gross output, and gross margin) compared with dairy farms not utilizing these technologies. However, when controlling for selection bias, we can only attribute a positive causal effect of grass management technology adoption on the use of grazed pasture per cow, grazing season length, milk yield per cow, and milk solids per cow. This might be due to dairy farmers not yet using the technologies to their full potential, 2018 being an unusual year in terms of weather (and therefore not being able to capture the full range of farm performance benefits), or because grass management technologies need to be adopted in association with other technologies and practices to achieve their expected performance outcomes. Future research should include updated farm-level data to capture the weather and learning effects and so be able to determine the impact of grass management technologies on a wider range of performance indicators