Government Crisis Communication Strategies for Communal Conflict Mediation in Select States of North Central Nigeria

Governments have often made attempt to mediate in conflict situations in order to prevent full-blown violent clashes. Communication strategies remain some of the appropriate measures to prevent escalation of conflict situations. Despite such efforts of government in different parts of Nigeria. There are still conflicts. Against this backdrop, this study sought to examine the effectiveness of government crisis communication strategies for communal conflict mediation in select states of North Central Nigeria. The researchers relied on the survey research design with the use questionnaire as instrument of data collection. The instruments were administered to 600 statistically determined respondents in three key states of the region namely Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau. Findings of the study demonstrated that communication strategies are adopted for conflict mediation in the region and that community relations happened to be the most prominent. The study also revealed that there are several other effective strategies which include traditional institution approach, public relations, and peace building among others. The strategies were found to be effective particularly in respect of de-escalation of tensions in the area. The researchers concluded that communication is an important tool in conflict mediation and recommended that stakeholder realise the importance of communication and ensure that communicative options are explored and exhausted before activation of other conflict resolution measures