The conflict context in Nigeria is complex, with extremist violence affecting the northeastern party of the country and increasingly the Middle Belt as well. Across Nigeria, Inter-communal conflicts are fueled by access to resources and complicated by issues of ethnic or religious identity. In the Niger Delta, conflict dynamics are complicated by economic interests and community demands related to oil extraction. In addition, criminality is resulting in significant loss of life and destabilizing communities. Public confidence in the Nigerian security sector is low; with some believing security groups are involved or complicit in some conflicts. Vigilante groups, which are self-formed community patrols, have been established in many communities.

SUMMARY

• Numerous local and international groups currently track violence and implement early response to conflict in Nigeria. However, a number of logistical, technical and strategic challenges limit the impact of these efforts.
• The conflict early warning and early response (EWER) landscape in Nigeria is characterized by strong hierarchical information collection but weak horizontal information collection for early warning, and weaker hierarchical early response actions but stronger horizontal early response actions.
• Most actors working in Plateau State use very simple technology to collect and process information on conflict. Phone calls and individual SMS directly to a dedicated phone are the most common ways of receiving reports. These reports are typically relayed directly to early responders on the ground via phone call.
• Many actors in Plateau State identify a particular challenge in reaching people in rural areas. By leaving out people in rural areas, EWER actors in Plateau State are paying less attention to pastoralist – farmer conflicts.
• Better links need to be built between early warning information and early response actions in Plateau State. Most actors in the state agree that a full integration of data systems is unlikely to work, but working together on specific data issues (such as verification) is sorely needed.
• Weak analysis capacity among EWER actors in the state and a focus on incidents data over perceptions data limits the possible depth of longer-term analysis that can help identify activities to prevent conflict.