Peace (Re)building Initiatives: Insights from Southern Kaduna, Nigeria

Abstract

Violent conflicts and crime have reached new heights in Nigeria, as cases of kidnapping, armed banditry, and communal unrests continue to tear at the core of the ethnoreligious divides in the country. Southern Kaduna has witnessed a virulent spree of communal unrest in northern Nigeria over the last decade due to its polarized politics and power differentials between the various groups in the area, particularly the Christians and Muslims, who are almost evenly split. In response to their experiences of violence, the people of that region have also shown incredible resilience and grit in transforming their stress and suffering. This policy note focuses on the transformative practices of the Fulani and other ethnic communities in southern Kaduna in terms of how they problem-solve deep-seated socio-political rivalries and violent relations by working through their shared identity, history, and cultures of peace. The note explores how peace practitioners and donor agencies could consolidate local practices of sustaining peace as complementary or alternative resources to the state’s liberal system.