COMMUNAL VIOLENCE AND THE EXTREMITY OF POVERTY AMONG RURAL FARMERS IN THE NORTH – CENTRAL REGION OF NIGERIA

The increasing spate of communal violence in North – Central region of Nigeria has taken a very high toll on lives and livelihoods and had displaced several people. These resultantly had exacerbated the level of vulnerability, food/economic insecurity, destitution, extreme deprivation and misery in the region especially among the rural farmers thereby exposing them to extreme poverty. This paper focuses therefore on examining the effects of communal violence on rural poverty, the extent to which communal violence has extremely impoverished the rural populace in the North – Central region of Nigeria and ways of minimising its spate. Data for the study was sourced from 405 respondents across the region using questionnaire method. Findings of the study identified the effects of communal violence to include: wanton destruction of human lives, property and other sources of livelihood, psychological trauma, food and health insecurity as well as displacement of small – holder rural farmers, making their living standards miserable and deplorable thereby increasing very extremely the rate of poverty in the area by 85 per cent. The paper therefore recommends immediate trial of perpetrators of violence, conflict management and peace studies and poverty alleviation as actionable solutions. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0774/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>