Over thirty people were killed at Nigeria when they broke out conflicts between farmers and breeders in villages of Plateau state, a state official said yesterday Tuesday.

In the conflicts between “herdsmen and farmers” the victims are “more than thirty” people, who “lost their lives”, summarized Dan Matjag, commissioner of information and communication of this state of the most populous country in Africa.

Parts of north-west and central Nigeria often turn into a theater of conflict and tension mainly over the exploitation of land and water resources.

The clashes that broke out yesterday were extensive, reported in several villages of the Magu district, the police clarified.

“About 11:56″ [σ.σ. τοπική ώρα· στις 13:56 ώρα Ελλάδας]”we received an emergency phone call” about gunmen “shooting sporadically,” a police spokesman explained in a press release.

Security forces were deployed to the scene and clashed with the rioters, police spokesman Alfred Alamo added.

The spate of killings and reprisals in the region is set against the backdrop of a wider crime wave: gangs launch targeted attacks on villages, engage in mass kidnappings and looting.

“As we speak, the perpetrators have fled and our officers are pursuing them to ensure their neutralization or, if possible, their arrest,” according to Mr. Alambo.

The governor of Magu imposed a 24-hour curfew to prevent the unrest from spreading.

Violence in the region is one of the many security challenges Nigeria’s president-elect, Bola Tinubu, will have to deal with when he takes office later this month.

Nigeria’s military is facing jihadist groups in northeastern sectors of the country and separatist groups in the southeast.