Poverty, unemployment, injustice cause conflict in Nigeria – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said poverty, injustice and lack of job opportunities are mainly responsible for inter-communal and intra- communal conflicts in the country.
A statement issued by the senior special assistant to the President on media and publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said Buhari spoke while receiving a delegation from the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, an organisation actively involved in the promotion of peace in Nigeria.
Buhari said to achieve enduring peace in the country, greater efforts must be made to eradicate poverty and injustice. The President described ethnic and religious conflicts in parts of the country as outward manifestations of underlying problems of joblessness, injustice and poverty.
On conflicts between farmers and herdsmen,Buhari said a plan to map out grazing areas would soon be presented to the Nigerian Governors’ Forum as a temporary solution to the frequent conflicts until cattle owners are persuaded to adopt other means of rearing their cattle.
The President commended the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue for the relative peace that has returned to Plateau State as well as its ongoing activity in Southern Kaduna. He agreed with the centre that dialogue is always preferred to the use of law and force in the resolution of conflicts.
Executive director of the centre, David Harland, told the President that following its success in facilitating the settlement of the inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts in Plateau State, the group has moved to Kaduna State.
He said the techniques used in bringing peace to Plateau State would soon be deployed to deal with the Boko Haram insurgency and other conflicts in Nigeria