Unveiling the salient issues in the protracted Jos crises, Central Nigeria

Main Article Content

Peter Nungshak Wika

Abstract

This paper has critically examined the causes and contexts of the protracted crises in Jos Plateau State, Nigeria since 1994. The paper traces the emergence and perpetuation of the conflict to the imposition of an exploitative and competitive colonial system sustained by mass labour migration, ethnic-politics and religious contestations. At the centre of these violent eruptions are the groups’ dynamics that the conflict has created: The Indigene versus Settler problematic as well as the Christian versus Muslims militias. The crises in Jos are resource and identity-based in a contest over the native, political and economic soul of the ancient Tin-city. The various attempts made by the State and other non-State actors at finding lasting solutions to these ensuing huge human and material loss in this circle of violence have largely been insincere as they are also politicized. The Conflict perspectives as well as the Ethnic and Resource Mobilization paradigm were adopted in an attempt to understanding the Jos crises.

Article Details

How to Cite
Wika, P. N. (2014). Unveiling the salient issues in the protracted Jos crises, Central Nigeria. Modern Africa: Politics, History and Society, 2(1), 53–74. Retrieved from https://journals.uhk.cz/modernafrica/article/view/65
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Articles
Author Biography

Peter Nungshak Wika, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences University of Jos, Nigeria

Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences University of Jos, Nigeria. He specializes in political sociology and African development studies.