Communal Violence and Socio-Economic Development in Benue State, Nigeria: An Exploratory Study of Odugbo Community in Apa Local Government Area

Abstract

Violence permeates all dimensions of human life and activity, including political, physiological, social, economic, racial, cultural, and religious spheres. Communal violence is however rooted in ethnic background of individuals and groups, tribe, race, religion, sect, and language. It arises from differing interests, desires, goals and aspirations of individuals in relation to their struggle for resources to meet their basic needs and defend their socio-physical environment. This paper adopted the relative-deprivation theory which is generated from the theory of frustration-aggression model. The survey research design, both the primary and secondary methods of data collection were used. This research used basic percentage for data analysis, whereas a content analytical model was utilised for secondary data analysis. The chi-square statistical method was used to evaluate the hypothesis. This paper argued that communal violence had significant negative effects on socio economic development in Odugbo community in Apa Local Government Area. It further proved that communal violence leads to disruption of socio economic activities, agricultural/farming activities, and destruction of communal harmony/unity. The paper concludes that socio economic development is essential for an improved standard of living of individuals in a society and can only take place in such communities devoid of violence. The paper recommends among others that there is need for proper resources allocation to the different units that make up the community. This will help to prevent or limit the scale of communal violence arising from the struggle for resource control in the community.