Cyclical Trauma and Interrupted Futures: The Gendered Impact of Persistent Farmer-Herder Violence on Widows and Adolescent Girls in IDP Camps of Takum LGA, Taraba State, Nigeria

Abstract

The farmer-herder crisis in Nigeria's North East especially southern Taraba state which shares its borders with the middle belt states of Benue, Plateau and Nassarawa has precipitated a complex humanitarian emergency, marked by mass displacement and profound gendered consequences. This study investigates the cyclical and interlocking traumas experienced by two critically vulnerable yet distinct groups—widows and adolescent girls—displaced by recurrent violence in Takum Local Government Area (LGA) of Taraba State. Utilizing a qualitative case study methodology, the research focuses on IDP camps within Takum LG hosting survivors from villages like, Peva, Gatatti, Torlijam, Januan niyife, Januan gaba, Gbise and Tortser, devastated in the 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 attacks. Findings reveal a devastating trajectory where initial violence triggers secondary traumas within the camp environment. For widows, spousal bereavement catalyzes a cascade of psychological distress (Complex-PTSD), economic precarity through land dispossession, and heightened vulnerability to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Concurrently, adolescent girls face an environment where SGBV and exploitative transactional sex are normalized, leading to a “weekly experience” of teenage pregnancy that irrevocably terminates their education. This paper argues that the IDP camp, rather than a sanctuary, functions as a site of continued gendered insecurity, perpetuating a cycle of trauma that threatens to spill intergenerationally. The study concludes that without integrated, trauma-informed interventions targeting the specific vulnerabilities of these groups, the conflict will leave a legacy of entrenched poverty and psychological scarring that undermines long-term peace building and sustainable development in the region.