A tale of two communities: Who owns the land? community safety, peace process and land ownership in tiv/jukun communities of Taraba State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study focuses on community crimes and insecurity challenges in Tiv and Jukun communities of Taraba State, Nigeria. The history of the two communities and the land-owner groups is laced with aggressions and grievances, which have resulted in crimes at various times. The last one, from January to July 2019, witnessed massive deaths, destruction of lives and property and led to forced displacement of persons. Quite a number of works have emerged on the causes and consequences of community land ownership-related crimes. However, the aftermath of community peace agreements, particularly in respect of tensed relations, community protection and safety in the area is yet to be sufficiently interrogated. This study investigates the state of relations between the Tiv and Jukun as well as the community peace processes in the area after the last inter-communal clashes. Also, it identifies a number of factors causing inter-communal-clashes between the two. Furthermore, the study also reveals complex community protection, safety, and peace processes involving the state, community, land owners, community leaders and land ownership gangs. Specifically, at the moment, the peace in the communities is sustained by the leaders of the gangs. This study answers the following questions: How sustainable is this arrangement? What is the state of relations in the communities? What roles do the actors play? The study made use of both primary and secondary data. Fieldwork for the study was carried out between August and September 2019 in Tiv and Jukun communities of Taraba State. The main method of data collection was unstructured interview, which was conducted with 150 people, made up of all traditional rulers, local, political, religious and youth leaders. Secondary data was sourced from texts, newspapers, magazines, official gazettes, archival materials and the Internet.