Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 07/2011

Nigeria's Pernicious Drivers of Ethno-Religious Conflict

Chris Kwaja

July 2011

Africa Center for Strategic Studies

Abstract

Nigeria’s long-running “indigene-settler” conflict in and around Jos, Plateau State has escalated in recent years and may spread to other ethnically mixed regions of the country, heightening instability. Navigating such inter-communal fault lines is a common challenge for many African societies that requires looking past symptoms to address systemic drivers. In Nigeria, this will entail measures that directly mitigate violence as well as realize constitutional reform