Peace Education as an Initiative for Preventing Resource Conflict in Nigeria’s Niger Delta Region: A Case Study of Akwa-Ibom and Cross River States

Abstract

Natural resource conflict is one of the numerous conflicts which has plunged the Niger Delta region of Nigeria into its undeveloped situation. Whenever there is an escalation in a situation of resource conflict in the region, Nigeria’s economy tends to plummet, mortality rises, and diseases spread. It is a problem of the contemporary region due to the fact that, even during the post-conflict peace-building stage, costs of the conflict continue to accrue long after the fighting has stopped. Akwa-Ibom and Cross River are two oil-producing states in the Niger Delta region that have been involved in conflict over natural resources in recent years. The paper thus examined the causes of this conflict and how peace education can be adopted as an initiative for preventing the escalation of the conflict. The paper made use of secondary sources for data collection. Qualitative and content analyses were adopted in analysing the data generated and this provided the basis for the results and conclusions reached. Findings revealed that the major causes of the conflict between the two states were border and security, amongst others. More so, the skills derivable for peace education include empathy and compassion, mediation, negotiation and critical thinking and problem solving. And peace initiatives for preventing resource conflict include amongst others, conflict financing, fiscal transparency and sensitive business. In conclusion, alternative conflict management offers an innovative, multidisciplinary approach to understanding, analysing, and managing conflicts both before and after they occur. Thus, these initiatives should be integrated into the peace processes in preventing not only natural resources’ conflict in the region, but every other type of conflict.