TRADITIONAL RULERS AND CONFLICT PREVENTION AND RESOLUTION IN KOGI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF KOGI STATE

Conflict can be a serious problem if it is allowed to escalate as it could create chaotic conditions that make it nearly impossible for people to relate or live together peacefully. This study seeks to examine the roles and challenges facing traditional rulers in conflict prevention and resolution in Kogi Local Government area of Kogi State. Data for this study were collected from various secondary sources such as textbooks, journals and other internet sources, while, content analysis was used to analyse the data collected. This study revealed that for traditional rulers to participate meaningfully on matters of security in villages in Kogi Local Government area, there is the need for them to be re-positioned so as not to just serve as agents of conflict resolution but also as security managers which they were before. One of the major challenges has to do with the restrictions imposed on traditional rulers in performing some key roles that will address the increasingly violent conflict emanating from land and other chieftaincy affairs. On the whole, this study recommends that the role of the traditional rulers in conflict prevention and resolution should be enshrined in the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This will among other things legalize most actions taken by the traditional rules as it relates to conflict prevention and resolution in their domain.