Peacebuilding in a Conflict-Torn North–Eastern Nigerian Society: Going Beyond Reconstructive Peacebuilding

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue XI, November 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Peacebuilding in a Conflict-Torn North–Eastern Nigerian Society: Going Beyond Reconstructive Peacebuilding

Philip Onyinye Egbusie & Modupe Oluremi Albert
Department of Politics and International Relations, Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract: Members of the Boko Haram sect have a preference for the Arabic name Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad which means “People committed to the propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad”. This insurgent group is alleged to have been founded in Maiduguri, the capital city of Borno State, in the North East of Nigeria. It is however argued that the sect is one of the bloodiest militant groups in the world which has continuously targeted both civilian and non-civilian citizens and has constantly inflicted devastating mayhem on the people of the north-eastern Nigeria. With over a decade-long of conflict in that region and its devastating effects in terms of loss of human lives, destruction of properties and infrastructure as well as economic loss, one then begins to doubt the possibility, certainty, practicability, and efficiency of peacebuilding in that conflict-torn society. This paper thus proposes a more tactical and pragmatic approach towards peacebuilding in a conflict-torn society by going beyond reconstructive peacebuilding,

Keywords: Peacebuilding, Post-conflict Reconstruction, Reconstructive Peacebuilding.

I. INTRODUCTION

Houses have been razed by fire; schools, churches and mosques have been destroyed; some villages once occupied have now become ghost lands and families have been torn apart. Men, young and old have been killed; Christians and Muslims alike butchered. Women and girls have been raped, sexually violated and exploited, and many taken into captivity. Some, under duress have renounced their faith and those who refused to, have remained in captivity for years; others either sold into slavery or forced into marriages and thousands in precarity. With tens of thousands killed and over two million internally displaced, the pains of this agony are real, the ravages of the ongoing insurgency still bits deep into the flesh of not only the victims, but of the whole nation.
After more than a decade of conflict in Nigeria’s north eastern region, and its severe human, infrastructure, and economic loss, one begins to doubt the possibility, certainty, practicability, and efficiency of peacebuilding in that conflict-torn society. This paper is set to propose a more tactical and pragmatic approach to peacebuilding in a conflict-torn society, such as the situation in Nigeria’s North-Eastern region, by going beyond reconstructive peacebuilding which will be discussed under the following headings:

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