ETHNO RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS AND DIALOGUE PROCESSES IN JOS METROPOLIS PLATEAUSTATE NIGERIA

Abstract

This study was conducted on Ethno religious conflict and dialogue processes in Jos metropolis plateau state
Nigeria. The researcher posed two research questions with four items each, the study adopted social conflict
theory. Survey research design was used in the study, the researcher adopted split-half method to established the
reliability of the instrument. The instrument used for the study was a self-design questionnaire which has the
reliability of .75, the population of the study comprised of 200 respondents who were affected by the conflict, out
of which 130 were sampled out using simple random sampling technic. The data collected for the study were
analyzed using descriptive statistic mean and standard deviation. The results of the study revealed that
citizenship and indigene struggle, land disputes, religious intolerance, and harder farmer dispute as the major
causes of the conflicts. While peace summits, civil society efforts, inter religious dialogue and community
initiatives as the proper dialogue processes. The study recommended among other thing that: There is a serious
need by community leaders to establish a peace agreement among various Ethnic groups in the area: Committee
of peace and harmony should be set up to comprise a representative from across various ethnic and religious
groups in the area: Hatred and mistrust between the various ethnic tribes and religion during and after the
conflicts should be discouraged.