Rikwense Yunana Muri, David Oladimeji Alao, Goodnews Osah

Keywords: Governance, identity politics, intercultural dialogue, peace building, sustainable peace

Abstract

This paper examines how the deliberate integration of identity politics management and intercultural dialogue can generate conditions for
sustainable peace in Taraba State, Nigeria, a region marked by recurrent
identity-based conflicts rooted in land disputes, farmer–herder tensions,
indigene–settler distinctions, and the politicization of ethnic and religious
identities. Drawing on qualitative data from 100 participants across the three senatorial districts of Taraba State, collected through key informant interviews (KIIs), focus group discussions (FGDs), participant
observation, and document analysis, the study investigates the mechanisms, limitations, and enabling conditions of government peacebuilding interventions and community-level intercultural dialogue. The study’s findings reveal that government peace committees operate predominantly in a reactive mode, intervening only after violence has escalated, while security deployments remain insufficient in the absence of community trust. Intercultural dialogue initiatives produce durable outcomes only when accompanied by concrete structural interventions that address land disputes, political exclusion and historical grievances. The study introduces the concept of a ‘credibility deficit’ to explain the cumulative erosion of community trust in peacebuilding processes caused by repeated cycles of unfulfilled institutional commitments. The study’s
findings also established that the meaningful inclusion of women and youth functions as a structural condition for, rather than a supplement to, sustainable peace outcomes. The study concludes that durable peace in deeply plural conflict contexts cannot be achieved through governance reform or intercultural dialogue in isolation. Instead, it requires their simultaneous, coordinated deployment across institutional and community levels, supported by inclusive participation, credibility restoration, and continuous monitoring. The study recommends the institutionalization of proactive, integrated peacebuilding mechanisms that combine governance reform with sustained intercultural dialogue to ensure long-term peace and
stability in Taraba State and comparable multicultural settings across post-colonial Africa.

Author Biography

Rikwense Yunana Muri, David Oladimeji Alao, Goodnews Osah

Department of Political Science, Babcock University, Nigeria

Email: [email protected].

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