Authors
Cletus C.N. Nwadiogbu, PhD
Commissioner of Police/Deputy Commandant,
The Nigeria Police Academy, Wudil Kano
cletusnwadiogbu@gmail.com +2348036014140
Abstract
The Wukari Local Government Area Tiv-Jukun conflict
is one of the longest and deadliest cases of ethnocommunal violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region. The
cycle recurs with deadly regularity, and it has repeatedly
drawn in State and Federal interventions for more than
sixty years. The case presented in this paper identifies
injustice in its distributive, procedural, historical and
restorative dimensions as both the cause of violence and
the main vehicle enabling and perpetuating cycles of
conflict. Using a conceptual and secondary-analysis
framework based on relative deprivation theory,
horizontal inequalities theory, procedural justice theory
and transitional justice scholarship to explore how labour
rights achievement (in terms of the existence of informal
or formal foundations for collective bargaining; fair
wages; conditions; hours etc.) are linked to getting these
into most appropriate disputes bottom-up both formally
through industrial/labour right reforms as well topdowns via less recognised legal channels (judicial
reviews on regional/state laws) at both system levels.
The analysis demonstrates that none of the peace interventions in the time since independence have
substantially delivered on addressing the justice deficit at
the heart of their conflict. The final section of the paper
provides recommendations on how to establish a Wukari
Conflict Justice Commission and reform land
adjudication, as well as suggesting ways in which
transitional justice mechanisms can be integrated into
future peace processes.
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