Land Conflict and Land Conflict Resolution and Management in Nigeria: A Critical Analysis

Despite its importance, land has posed many challenges and increasingly becoming a source of conflicts in Nigeria; and without well-founded conceptual and programmatic measures to land issues, structural causes of conflict will not be adequately understood and addressed. In this light, the study examines the underlying dynamics of land conflict in Nigeria vis-à-vis identifying the various forms of land conflicts and their core causes and effects, assessing the procedures and machineries of managing land conflicts, and examining the limiting factors hindering optimum adoption of these specified processes and mechanisms. With the adoption of secondary data and a pilot survey, disputes over land fall into four general categories, 35 different types and over 50 sub-types were identified while the study further revealed the ten major causes of land related conflicts in the country with diverse implications. Besides, various distinctive land conflicts and crises management strategies were ascertained with the limiting factors to effective and efficient application of these processes and mechanisms.