ISSN 2360-7998
Abstract
This study investigated the impact of ethno-religious conflicts on the economic development of youths in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of this study comprised an estimated 5000 Christian youths from Kaduna and Kogi States. The study's sample consisted of 500 Christian youths, using 10% of the population as the representative sample. Multistage sampling techniques were adopted in selecting these sampled youths. The instrument used for data collection is a researcher-structured questionnaire titled “Impact of Ethno-religious Conflict on Economic Development Questionnaire (IERCEDQ)”. The validity and reliability were ascertained using Cronbach's alpha statistics, and a reliability index of 0.73 was obtained, and that made the instrument reliable. The research questions were answered using simple descriptive statistics such as the mean and standard deviation, while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 levels of significance with appropriate degrees of freedom using ANOVA analysis. The findings showed that these conflicts have detrimental effects on economic developments, disrupting livelihoods and economic environments across affected communities. Respondents also identified viable strategies for abating the conflicts, including interfaith dialogue, justice sector reforms, and civic education. The study concludes that addressing ethno-religious conflicts in the region requires a multifaceted and inclusive approach involving government, religious leaders, civil society, and local communities. Based on these, some recommendations made include, among others, community platforms should be established for regular engagement among different groups to build mutual understanding, government at all levels must promote justice, fairness, and inclusive representation in the government, and the government in Nigeria should strengthen the institution of the Public Complaint Bureau, which already exists in each state of the Federation, through appropriate legislation. This will help the parties in dispute to be able to lay bare their grievances for onwards transmission to appropriate government agencies for necessary action.
Keywords: Ethnoreligious conflict, Economic development, national security, political integration