Age-long Land Conflicts in Nigeria: A Case for Traditional Peacemaking Mechanisms

Abstract

This article pinpoints land space and the resources available as one of the causes of civil conflicts in Nigeria. Farmers and pastoralists, fishermen and pond owners, and foresters and timber loggers seek to achieve sustainable livelihoods and, in the current economic order, are competing for material and physical resources.The growth in population has led to increased demand for land, exploitation of land and water resources.It is against this background that this article examines land conflicts that started before independence and are still going on, with serious socio-economic and political implications for Nigeria.Notable among the civil conflicts are the Mbaduku-Udam, and Ife-Modakeke.These conflicts seem to have defied solutions.Moreover, government’s efforts to constructively transform or manage them have not yielded any positive results.The article proposes the utilisation of typical traditional peacemaking processes as a solution to this dilemma.