PEACE STUDIES AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION.

The world over, statistically, peace is elusive and various governments have been deploying all manner of resources into the promotion of peace. This study, in a bid to contribute to efforts aimed at finding lasting peace in the contemporary world, studied the peace building and conflict resolution mechanism of traditional African societies. This study is with particular reference to Akureland. It is noted in this paper that peace building and conflict resolution in traditional African societies provides opportunity to interact with the parties concerned, promotes consensus-building, social bridge reconstructions and enactment of order in the society. This paper further submitted that unlike the western world where emphasis is placed more on the elaborate judicial system, traditional peace building mechanism is based on techniques such as mediation, adjudication, reconciliation, negotiation and cross-examination. African societies have been observed to possess homegrown traditions for peace building which are revealing for curative and unifying the people these identified techniques are observed to have been deployable not just in a well structured judiciary setting as obtained in western culture but also at almost all strata of the society.

The United Nations Charter of 1945 provided the initial enabling environment and instrument for the subsequent development and codification of the International Human Rights Law (IHRL) component of Public International Law relevant to the conduct of periodic elections in Nigeria since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in1999.  This paper adopted the content analytical method to examine the contemporary relevance of these instruments in the promotion of knowledge and practice of sound democratic election processes as provided by the Nigerian electoral law. Using the Democratic theory, and Human Rights theory in conjunction with our electoral rights conceptual framework, the paper qualitatively analysed key international instruments that impact the conduct of national elections in Nigeria. Findings from the study established that the Nigerian institutional and legal framework for democratic electoral process derived from the international human rights’ best standards and obligations for free and fair elections, representative democracy, and stable governance. The study concluded that the identified IHRL instruments are universal, inalienable, indivisible, interdependent, and justiciable, and recommended among others that further thematic studies be undertaken to evaluate the direct impact of each of them on the conduct of elections in Africa’s largest electoral democracy.
Keywords: democracy, elections, framework, governance, rights.

There is a growing interest among scholars and practitioners of alternative dispute resolution(ADR) mechanisms in their application to a wide range of social conflict situations and settings including intra-party. There is presently no legal framework in existence either by the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as
amended) or the Electoral Act 2022(as amended) obligating political parties to use any of the ADR processes to address their myriad of internal crises which invariably has left the court system as the chief arbiter and adjudicator of electoral and political disputes peaking with the conduct of party primaries for the nomination of candidates.Practically all the major political parties have witnessed one form of dysfunctional internal crisis or other since 1999 and there is no proven method for successfully resolving
such disputes without leaving bitter outcomes among the disputants as supported by our literature.This qualitative exploratory paper aims to contribute to peacebuilding efforts of political parties as aggregators
of interests using homegrown Electoral Alternative Dispute Resolution(EADR) approach known as mediative-conciliation to manage intra party disputes and conflicts in Nigeria. Primary data for the study was collected from information-rich participants’ responses to unstructured questionnaire while secondary data was from documents and triangulated from other sources using the Electoral Justice System (EJS) as our theoretical framework. Our findings reveal an urgent need to main stream EADR into the electoral
law, the constitutions, and operations of the political parties. A key recommendation is for a reform of the electoral legal framework mandating EADR in the Electoral Act and combined with the current MultiDoor Courthouse mechanisms into the structure, organisation, and operations of political parties going forward.
Key words: courthouse, disputes, mediative-conciliation, parties, resolution.

This qualitative study examines the rationale for the establishment of a separate statutory body known as the National Electoral Offences Commission (NEOC) to undertake the investigation, arrest, arraignment, and prosecution of offences listed in the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended and further so proposed). This development is sequel to findings by the Electoral Reform Committee (ERC) set up by President Yar’Adua in 2007 that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had no power to investigate cases of alleged electoral crimes, lacked skilled manpower, time, and resources to effectively undertake the responsibility, and further conflicted where its staff were the offenders. NEOC has received formal legislative action with the passage of the establishment bill in 2021 awaiting assent. The problem is that NEOC’s prosecutorial powers are subject to the overriding constitutional powers of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) in that regard. This study used the qualitative case methodology approach to examine the key issues involved, with primary data collected from information-rich participants, while secondary data came from documents. Using the Electoral Justice System (EJS) as our conceptual framework, the work found that NEOC faces some key challenges to its effectiveness of which executive interference in the appointment of its members and in the discharge of its functions are prominent.
KEYWORDS: Commission; Electoral; Offences, Prosecution, Fraud, Corruption.

This study assessed the extent of participation by party members in candidate selection for national elections from 2011 when primaries became obligatory. Political parties are essential tools for citizen participation in democracy and the only channels through which eligible citizens can be nominated and sponsored for public elective office in Nigeria, as guaranteed by the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended). The paper assessed participation of party members using any of the three obligatory primaries procedures as part of the selection process for internal candidates. The study used Pateman's Theory of Political Participation as its framework and relied on primary and secondary data. The study discovered that since 2011, there has been a significant increase in the number of political parties nominating their presidential candidates through direct primaries. The direct primaries procedure upheld equality for all aspirants in the selection process, which in turn encouraged democratic participation, as evidenced by participants and literature. The study further found that member participation through direct primaries provides a viable tool for improving electoral accountability in Nigeria. It is recommended that this procedure for conduct of the internal primary process should be made obligatory in the selection of candidates for positions in all the country's legislative assemblies positions.

The state of Nigeria has been battling with its image in the international arena since the wake of ethnic crisis, Niger Delta crisis, bomb blast and recently the Boko Haram in the country. In the bid to find for itself an arena to showcase its influence in the world politics, the government of Nigeria has introduce several method and programs which perhaps include its change of foreign policy thrust from African centre to citizen centre in fact another foreign policy thrust is in the pipe line. This project presents cultural diplomacy as a tool of achieving any foreign policy objective, particularly for Nigeria, with its divergent cultural heritage. Cultural diplomacy is a relatively new concept in the international system it makes a country uses Art and culture in the forefront of its promotional efforts. These countries recognize that showing their cultural heritage provides them with an opportunity of showing who they are, creating a positive image, thus helping to achieve their political aims. Nigeria is indeed not completely left out in this act but has fail to realize its potential in this field thus less priority on it. This work of appraisal has reechoed the fact that this divergent cultural heritage of Nigeria most be use as a tool in achieving all policy objective particularly foreign policy objectives. This is because cultural diplomacy has proven to be effective beyond image management to achieving developmental needs.

fighting corruption is just a governmental task but also an individual/collective task. Africa as continent needs to collective look into this case and find a safest and more assured way of tackling this virus that is eating up the good image that Africa once had. This project is comprehensively worked upon towards the achievement of a "corrupt-free" Nigeria and Africa at large

Several factors have been identified as causes on internal party conflicts in a democratic system. These includes: internal composition of the political party, nomination process, paucity of ideology, absence of internal democracy, incumbency factor, goal incompatibility, godfatherism, politics of self-interest, etc. (Akindele, 2011; Aleyomi. 2013; Alli, 2015; Chukwuma and Ali, 2014; Chukwumerije, 2009; Jinadu, 2015; Momodu and Matudi, 2013; Okoosi-Simbine, 2005; Olaniyan, 2009; Shale and Matlosa, 2008). All these factors can be subsumed under two themes: These are; the internal composition of the political party and the nomination process.

This research delves into the effects of banditry on security in the northern region of Nigeria, with a particular focus on Nasarawa State. The study methodology is survey-based, with a random sampling technique used to select the population. Both primary and secondary sources of data
were utilized. The Queer Ladder Theory (QLT) and Anomie Theory were employed as theoretical frameworks for analysis to guide the study's discussions. Furthermore, the descriptive statistical technique was utilized as a quantitative measure to evaluate the data collected in the field. Respondent replies were assessed using the Likert scale. Findings from the study revealed that the nature of banditry activities in Nasarawa State between 2015 and 2023 included highway armed robbery, kidnapping, cattle rustling and village raids. These have posed negative effects on the state and the citizens, including loss of human lives and properties; food insecurity and increment in the level of poverty; loss of means of livelihood by victims; reduction in economic activities of the state; and psychological harm to victims of the conflict as well as their relations. To tackle the menace of banditry in Nasarawa State, it is recommended, among other things, that the government address structural causes of conflicts such as poverty and unemployment by initiating deliberate policies that create employment opportunities and promote entrepreneurship. Besides, there is a need for community policing, improved security intelligence, and technology deployment, among others.

The concept of Reformation and Rehabilitation in the Nigerian Correction Service, from inception have not change in line with the recent development with the approval and signing of the new correctional act 2019, the system broad to two where there is NonCustodial and Custodial Service play a vital role in ensuring those incarcerated in the custodial centre are adiquately reform in a way they are intergrated properly in the society in accordance with the mandela international rules of corrections of offenders dynamic treatement of inmate. However, Nigerian Correction Services as an agent of Reformation had contributed meaningful to the society today. Nigerian Correction Service comprises the policies of reformation through the industries where the agency emback on skills aqusition and enrolment of there inmate, in schools and institution of higher learning depend on the level of their education that they had gone, before there earlier day of release the come out with certificate in the area in which they are qualify in specific career and discipline. However, the Nigerian Correction Service in Plateau state command had contribute to the reformation of inmate across the state and the counrty at large, according to this research work had extracted from reseach question, hypothesis finding dwell in three major factors cause effect and solution, chapter one is the introduction of the topic, background of study, statement of problem , research question/hypothesis, purpose, signicant, scope of studies defination of term and reference , chapter two is made up literature review and chapter three describes the research methodology and design. Chapter four data anaalysis and presentation, while the last chapter summary , conclusion , recommendation, and suggesstion for further studeis of findings.

Document Examination is an established field of scientific study which seeks to identify forgery and establish the authenticity of documents in dispute. It became germain for the court to be able to correctly evaluate document evidence and make sound judgement.

Development projects in conflict areas are carried out with the expectation that they will help reduce or mitigate conflict. However, studies have shown that development projects may exacerbate existing conflict or trigger new ones. Most studies on development interventions in the Niger Delta region have extensively focused on underperformance due to top-bottom approach, underfunding, corruption and environmental issues but have scanty data on peacebuilding outcomes using peace and conflict impact assessment (PCIA) framework. This paper, therefore, applied PCIA lens in examining the positive impact of development projects executed in Gbaramatu Kingdom by Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC). Utilizing the theory of change and positive threshold determinant in peace and conflict impact assessment, the paper distinguishes between conventional development activity and development as peacebuilding initiative through the identification of appropriate indicat...