Communal Conflict in Tiv Land: Strategy for Resolution
ABSTRACT
In the last few decades Nigeria has experienced violent conflicts and antagonism rooted in religion, ethnicity, and economics. communal conflicts in Tiv land area of the Middle Belt region of Nigeria are not an exception. This paper (1) examines the causes of communal conflict in Tivland (2),challenges,as well as the(3) strategies of resolving and managing conflicts in Tivland and society in general.
Introduction
The African continent has been, and continues to be engulfed in one conflict after another. Over the last 40 years, nearly 20 African countries, or about 40% of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), have experienced at least one period of civil war (Elbadawi & Sambanis, 2000). They further estimate that 20% of SSA's population now lives in communities which are constantly at war. As the most populated African nation with over 140 million people, Nigeria has not been spared its share of violent conflicts, particularly communal conflicts. Some of these conflicts have been characterized as crises of identity (Isa, 2001), or competition for control of the political space whatever its form and nature, Egwu (1998), reveal that communal conflict pose a fundamental threat and challenge to the state, and erode current attempts at institutionalizing virile and durable democracies in Africa, particularly in Nigeria. Since conflict prevention has not taken sufficient root in Nigeria, communal conflicts have now become pervasive. As Isa (2001), aptly notes thus: “communal conflicts in Nigeria have attained a situation of pervasive phenomenon; it has turned Nigeria's rural communities into battlefields and killing grounds”.
The sheer number and challenges as well as the attendant socio-economic challenges of communal clashes, have attracted a number of study into the phenomenon with the aim of identifying the causes and ways of preventing them. Alubo (2005), thus provide us with some examples of communal conflicts. The Ife-Modakeke communal conflicts of
In the last few decades Nigeria has experienced violent conflicts and antagonism rooted in religion, ethnicity, and economics. communal conflicts in Tiv land area of the Middle Belt region of Nigeria are not an exception. This paper (1) examines the causes of communal conflict in Tivland (2),challenges,as well as the(3) strategies of resolving and managing conflicts in Tivland and society in general.
Introduction
The African continent has been, and continues to be engulfed in one conflict after another. Over the last 40 years, nearly 20 African countries, or about 40% of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), have experienced at least one period of civil war (Elbadawi & Sambanis, 2000). They further estimate that 20% of SSA's population now lives in communities which are constantly at war. As the most populated African nation with over 140 million people, Nigeria has not been spared its share of violent conflicts, particularly communal conflicts. Some of these conflicts have been characterized as crises of identity (Isa, 2001), or competition for control of the political space whatever its form and nature, Egwu (1998), reveal that communal conflict pose a fundamental threat and challenge to the state, and erode current attempts at institutionalizing virile and durable democracies in Africa, particularly in Nigeria. Since conflict prevention has not taken sufficient root in Nigeria, communal conflicts have now become pervasive. As Isa (2001), aptly notes thus: “communal conflicts in Nigeria have attained a situation of pervasive phenomenon; it has turned Nigeria's rural communities into battlefields and killing grounds”.
The sheer number and challenges as well as the attendant socio-economic challenges of communal clashes, have attracted a number of study into the phenomenon with the aim of identifying the causes and ways of preventing them. Alubo (2005), thus provide us with some examples of communal conflicts. The Ife-Modakeke communal conflicts of
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