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 amp; Sambanis, 2000). They further estimate that 20% of SSAs†¦show more content†¦The Tiv people The name Tiv according to Makar, (1994) has a dual meaning. Tiv is a cultural group of a people,who by 1963 census numbered one and half million. Tiv is also a name of the father of all Tiv people. The Tiv people are said to have migrated from central Africa to where they are now found in what is generally described as the Middle Belt of Nigeria, but specifically some 150 miles east of the confluence of River Benue with River Niger. They settled on both sides of the River Benue, also known as the Upper and the Lower Benue River Valley. Other accounts trace Tiv origin to the Bantu tribe (Bohannan amp; Bohannan, 1953). The Tiv are mainly subsistence farmers, dispersed in seven states of Federal Republic of Nigeria-Benue, Taraba, Nassarawa, Plateau, Niger, Kogi, and Kaduna States. The Tiv can also be found in the Republic of Cameroon, Nigeria’s neighbor to the east. The population of the Tiv people, according to census figure 2006, is 3,687,000and continues to grow. (Ethnologu e 2010). Thoerical Framework Marxist Theory The Marxist theory has its roots from the works of Karl Mark and his friend Frederick Engels. The starting point for their analysis of the society is determined mainly by social production. i.e what is produced, how it is produced and how the product is shared. The theory therefore insists that society is composed of contradictions and