Research on Humanities and Social Sciences www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-5766 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0484 (Online) DOI: 10.7176/RHSS Vol.9, No.1, 2019 48 Conflict Peace and Security: The Nigeria Experience Yisa Jonah 1 Yemisi Olawale 2 1.Department of History, Niger State College of Education, Niger State 2.History and International Studies, Osun State University, Oshogbo Abstract Conflict, peace and security issues today have become a matter of global concern. Every society on earth is riddled with conflict but there is no societies that will want conflict to degenerate into crisis talk less of violence or war. In Nigeria today, crisis of boko haram insurgency, Fulani herdsmen and farmers clashes, cattle rustling, militant group crisis, political crisis, corruption and a host of others have caused a lot of challenges that has threaten the cooperate existence of the country. Many have attributed this to environmental conditions which are mainly man made. What is the experience of Nigeria as a nation and how has the situation been managed? This paper, therefore reviews conflict, peace and security in Nigeria by examining the environmental conditions responsible, management of security issues, national security frame work put in place to address the issues and its effect. Keywords: Conflict, Peace, Security and Development DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/9-1-07 1. Introduction Scholars, Researchers, policy makers in Nigeria have become interested in matters of conflict, peace, and security in Nigeria. The reasons for this paradigm shift are their quest for national integration, nation building, development, and peaceful cooperation among various ethnic groupings in the country. Nigeria is a plural society, such a society, expectedly could be bedeviled with social conflict, as it is natural for people to hold fast to their prejudices and desires which explain why conflicts occur in most part of the country (Okpevra 2005). Conflict is an inevitable phenomenon in this universe. As long as human exists, there must be conflictual interest which is a substantial reason for human existence. Just as conflict is inevitable, it management and eventual conflicts resolution is imperative for the purpose of peace and security of lives and properties. If conflictual situations are not properly managed through conflict management, resolution and peace building, it degenerates into crisis and eventually violence situation which could be devastating and prevent development. Taking into consideration the inevitability of conflict, the whole world is in the danger of this all. On a global plane, every continent in the world, countries in different continent, communities in state, family in communities has its share in conflict. Certainly, social groupings crave for peace and security recognizing the importance to their livelihood and existence. In Africa, conflict has resulted into the death of millions, generated millions of refuges and internally displaced persons, uncountable number of physically wounded and people are psychologically traumatized., Africa (Nigeria) through the conflict, wars, riots of independence and liberation movement to civil wars, proxy wars during the cold war, military intervention in politics, inter-communal conflict, ethnic violence, religious conflict, environmental/resources conflict have all degenerated into violence. Unequivocally, most of this conflict have not been properly managed and resolves thereby leaving back bitter memories which still lead to disagreement such as the case Nigeria a Civil War, Rwanda Civil War, Somalia, Liberia, Libya, Central African Republic and Sudan are all experiencing one form of conflict or the other at present. The Nigeria history can be adequately grounded through a complacent study of the state experience in the sphere of conflict, peace, and security overtime. According to Best (2004), posited that hardly was any region spared from some of these conflicts, even though the conflict differs in prevalence and intensity, or their protracted or un-protracted nature. In the far North for instance, conflict of religious nature continued to break out at location like Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Zaria and Kaduna among other places. In the South West, there were violent and communal conflict at Sagamu, Lagos, Ife-Modakeke crisis etc. in the South East; the Umuleri-Agleri conflicts. The communal and oil-induced conflict of the Niger-Delta especially in Warri and neighboring communities also increased in scope and intensity. Not even the transition from the military to democratic governance in 1999, with the accompanying assumptions that democracy provides alternatives to violent methods of conflict transformation, could slow down the prevalence of such conflict (Shedrack 2004). In a general perspective of Nigeria experience in the aspect of conflict, one cannot ascertain the statics of inter-communal, ethno-religious, cultural-environmental conflicts in Nigeria. The Nigeria society can thus be described as a social system compounded by contested demands on access to scare resources in the political and economic field thus making the society vulnerable to the natural cleavages and man-made conflict (Otitie 2001). To corroborate Best (2004) assertion, the environment in Nigeria today has contributed in no small measure to the protraction of conflict. Going by the description of the European commission of environment, the