THE DECLINE OF INDIGENOUS CONFLICT RESOLUTION MECHANISMS IN KOKONA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, NASARAWA STATE, 1996–2019

This paper examines the historical decline of indigenous conflict resolution mechanisms in Kokona Local Government Area (LGA), Nasarawa State, between 1996 and 2019, with particular emphasis on their diminishing role in managing farmers–herders conflicts. Prior to the consolidation of modern local government administration in Nasarawa State in 1996, agrarian communities in Kokona—such as those in Garaku, Amba, Kofar-Gwari, and surrounding rural settlements—relied heavily on councils of elders, lineage heads, and village chiefs to regulate land use, seasonal grazing routes, and access to water points. These institutions employed culturally embedded practices such as negotiated compensation for crop damage, oath-taking, and communal reconciliation ceremonies, which historically prevented disputes from escalating into violence. However, the legacy of British colonial land tenure reforms, which introduced statutory ownership and weakened communal land control, fundamentally disrupted these indigenous systems. In the post-colonial period, state policies— including the Land Use Act of 1978 and subsequent local government reforms— further eroded the authority of traditional institutions by transferring land control and dispute adjudication to state bureaucracies and formal courts. In Kokona, this shift reduced the capacity of village heads and elders to enforce settlements, even in conflicts they once resolved effectively. Between the late 1990s and 2010s, recurrent clashes between farmers and migrating pastoralists—particularly during planting and harvest seasons—illustrated the growing inability of indigenous mechanisms to contain disputes. The introduction of modern governance responses, such as security deployments and proposed anti-open grazing measures, often bypassed local knowledge systems and deepened mistrust among communities. Drawing on historical records, local conflict patterns, and contemporary analyses, this study argues that the decline of customary conflict resolution mechanisms in Kokona contributed significantly to violent confrontations, population displacement, declining agricultural productivity, and food insecurity. The paper concludes by advocating for the reintegration of indigenous institutions into formal governance frameworks as a critical pathway toward sustainable conflict management and communal stability in Nasarawa State.