Communal Conflicts and Food Security in Nigeria: A Case Study of Ezza-Ezillo Conflict

Abstract

This paper undertook a holistic study of the series of issues involved in the character of the Ezillo-Ezza Communal conflict. An underlined point in this paper is the chain and systemic impact of this conflict on food security and the general wellbeing of the people. In the literature review I made a deliberate effort to put the conflict in proper viewpoint, through conceptual review of conflict, communal conflict, and food security. A critical review of the causes like need for land and territory, political, socio-cultural and indigene-settler notions was undertaken. Existing literatures are of the view that communal conflict are caused by a variety of factors. Similarly, the destruction of farms, killing of farmers, disruption in transportation of food, increase in food prices in the face of these conflicts are the major triggers of food insecurity in many Nigeria communities including Ezza-Ezillo. The relational and Structural Functionalist theories forms the theoretical framework for the paper. The main thrust being that conflicts only arise when communities or individuals are engaged in some kind of relationship with another and such hostilities have negative spillover effects in other structures of such society including food supply and access. Following from my review of extant literature and analysis, it was discovered that issues such as competition for scarce resources, land ownership, identity crisis, poor government policies were responsible for the conflict and that food availability and accessibility grossly declined within the conflict period. In light of these unresolved issues the paper offered valuable recommendations.

Keywords: Conflict, Communal Conflict, Food Security.

Keywords: Conflict, Communal Conflict, Food Security.