Established in the fall of 2018, the Nigeria Middle Belt Brain Trust (MBBT) brings together leading local specialists in areas such as inter-religious dialogue, mediation, community development, and justice reform. Using a customised conflict prevention framework, the group focuses on key medium-term structural and institutional challenges that have an outsized impact on the region’s violence and future prospects of peace and prosperity.
The MBBT brings together experts from the Middle Belt’s eastern half (the group’s initial focus area) including Nasarawa, Benue, Plateau, Taraba, and southern Kaduna states. Leveraging its deep understanding of the local context and access to international best practices, the MBBT aims to combine top-down and bottom-up approaches that simultaneously address the region’s challenges from multiple directions, including attention to strengthening inter-community grievance management systems, reducing polarization and boosting youth entrepreneurship.
The MBBT’s early focus has been on Nasarawa State. Using documentary evidence and on-the-ground interviews with community members affected by the state’s most important conflicts, the group has mapped the intricate forces affecting its stability and developed concrete proposals to address them.
MBBT Strategic Report
Ending Violence in Nigeria's Middle Belt: A Strategic Report on Nasarawa State (June 2022)
This report analyses the drivers of violence in Nigeria’s Nasarawa State in order to understand the broader dynamics of conflict across the country’s Middle Belt region. Based on an exploration of documentary evidence and interviews with community members affected by conflict, it highlights the complexity of reducing violence and the importance of action in multiple areas simultaneously, while recognising the geographic variations in conflict drivers, actors, and dynamics. The report concludes with practical recommendations for Nasarawa’s leaders to act upon.
Imam Dr. Mohammed Nurayn Ashafa addresses the persistent crises in Nigeria's Middle Belt, attributing much of the conflict to an over-reliance on kinetic approaches. He underscores the need for alternative, community-driven solutions to effectively resolve disputes. Highlighting the efforts of the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT) and its Middle Belt Brain Trust (MBBT), Imam Ashafa advocates for the development of Grievance Management Systems that engage diverse stakeholders, including traditional institutions, religious leaders, and youth groups. This inclusive approach promotes social cohesion and reduces incentives for violence. By empowering communities to design and implement solutions, and learning from past successes in conflict resolution, Imam Ashafa envisions a path to lasting peace and security in the Middle Belt.
As Kaduna State strives for lasting peace, Dr. Saleh B. Momale, member of IFIT’s Middle Belt Brain Trust, underscores the negative impact of identity exploitation on dispute resolution. Kaduna is the scenario of conflicts stemming from the lack of shared vision among its citizens. Identity manipulation in the southern region exacerbates divisions, with religious and ethnic lines becoming polarizing factors. Despite challenges, successive governments have implemented reforms, creating chiefdoms and fostering infrastructure development. Through engagement with diverse stakeholders, conflict sensitivity promotion, and traditional leaders' involvement, Kaduna can cultivate a vision for sustainable peace and economic development, fostering harmonious coexistence. Organisations like IFIT's Middle Belt Brain Trust (MBBT) and the Kaduna State Peace Commission play crucial roles in inclusive conflict prevention.
The wide array of conflicts affecting rural communities in Nigeria's Middle Belt highlights the need for a transformative strategy to address grievances around land delineation, mapping, and registration of rural lands. In this article General (rtd) Martin Luther Agwai, member of IFIT’s Middle Belt Brain Trust, underscores the pivotal connection between land disputes and broader conflicts. Advocating for the integration of GIS technology and online databases, the General calls on state governments to play a proactive role in regulating the land ownership ecosystem, emphasising accessibility and affordability of services at the community level. In this strategic initiative, inclusivity, trust-building, and broad stakeholder participation are paramount, paving the way for social cohesion, economic prosperity, and enduring peace in rural communities.
Amidst conflict in Benue State, women shine as crucial conflict preventers and pillars of humanitarian aid. Their diverse roles and unique influence enable them to shape narratives, defuse tensions and guide youth away from violence. In this op-ed Charity Angya, member of IFIT’s Middle Belt Brain Trust, affirms that empowering these women is vital for sustained peace. Their involvement in frontline response and humanitarian efforts is key to addressing gender-based violence and fostering resilience.
While women in Nasarawa suffer disproportionately from the ongoing violence in their state, they are typically left out of conflict resolution processes. In this opinion piece, Aisha Rufai’ Ibrahim, member of IFIT’s Middle Belt Brain Trust, argues that women should be systematically included in community security architecture and empowered to contribute to dispute resolution mechanisms. Building capacity; encouraging representation in social and economic groups; and harnessing women’s influence within the domestic, education and religious spheres, can all help realise women’s potential to mediate peace.
This op-ed argues that a new and coordinated approach is required if violence is to be reduced in Nigeria’s volatile Taraba state. Nzikachia Bami-Yuno, a member of IFIT’s Middle Belt Brain Trust, outlines the case for the harmonisation of federal and state policies combined with increased involvement of local citizens. Specifically, he calls for institutional strengthening, the introduction of an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, greater youth engagement, and enhanced community-level security architecture.
As violence in Nigeria's Middle Belt continues to increase, Joseph Atang, a member of IFIT's MBBT, argues that the region's governments should support traditional institutions to play a greater role in resolving civil conflicts. If assigned a constitutional role, made members of the State Security Council, and provided with support to monitor conflict and early crisis warning signs, traditional institutions could more effectively manage disputes at the community level, preventing escalation into deeper violence.
This op-ed argues that with the deepening social and economic crisis in Nigeria, there is a need to rethink strategies for addressing youth restiveness in the country. Mike Kwanashie, a member of IFIT's Middle Belt Brain Trust, suggests that this requires a paradigm shift that focuses on identifying, cultivating and empowering youth and community entrepreneurs.
This op-ed argues that a new security architecture is needed in Nigeria's Nasarawa State in response to rising levels of violence. Chom Bagu, a member of IFIT's Nigeria Middle Belt Brain Trust, posits that future approaches will only succeed if federal government, state, and community actors work in synergy and if all elements of the community are considered in the development and implementation of the mechanisms meant to protect them.
