Benue State University, Makurdi

ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF CONFLICT BETWEEN CROP-FARMERS AND PASTORALISTS ON PUPILS’ ENROLMENT AND ATTENDANCE IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN BENUE STATE, NIGERIA

Mahmud Pinga PhD and Musa Adamu Uthman

The study assessed the impact of conflicts between crop-farmers and pastoralists on pupils’ enrolment and attendance in primary schools in Benue State, Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study and two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 11,987 teachers from 2,114 primary schools in Benue State. A total of 1,119 (10%) respondents from 211 (10%) primary schools was selected using multi-stage procedure (purposive, proportionate stratified random sampling and simple random sampling techniques). A four point structured 5-item rating scale questionnaire titled Conflicts between Crop-farmers and Pastoralists on Pupils’ Enrolment and Attendance Questionnaire (CCPPEAQ) was constructed and used to collect data for the study. The data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while Chi-square (χ 2 ) test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that conflicts between crop-farmers and pastoralists have significant impact on school enrolment in primary schools in Benue State, Nigeria and that conflicts between crop-farmers and pastoralists have significant impact on school attendance in primary schools. It was concluded that the unending conflicts between crop-farmers and pastoralists in this part of the country have not only distorted peace and order in some rural parts of Benue State that led to dislodging the affected communities, but have also discouraged parents from enrolling their children into schools. It is also affecting the psychological wellbeing of the children to the extent that they are no longer willing to attend schools in the affected area. This carnage, if not arrested on time, has the tenacity of breaching the security of the state that will make people to embrace youth militancy. It was recommended among other things that school management should carryout sensitization campaign to encourage parents to enrol/ release their children/ wards to schools; and that school management should collaborate with the host communities to provide adequate security in schools to enable pupils attend their school and classes without any interruptions.

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