Poverty, Communal Conflicts and Rural Community Development in Nigeria: The Ndiagu Amagu Erim-Ogwudu Ikwo of Ebonyi State in Perspective

Nigerian state has been plagued by escalating conflicts which several scholars have attributed their causes to various reasons that do not warrant people engaging in wanton killings and destruction of property. This study examines poverty, communal conflicts and its consequences on rural community development in Nigeria, with a focus on rural communities of Ndiagu Amagu Erim-Ogwudu Communities in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State Nigeria. The theory that anchored the study is the Frustration-Aggression theory while quantitative research design which made use of survey method was employed to accomplish the purpose of the study. The data for the study were collected through structured questionnaire items and focus group discussion. The respondents were purposively selected from the study area. The findings show that poverty is the major cause of communal conflict in Ndiagu Amagu Erim-Ogwudu communities with the use of the idle youths. It equally shows that communal conflicts occasioned by poverty has dare consequences for the development of the rural communities affected, as it has disenabled both the communities, local and state governments from delivering socio-economic and infrastructural facilities to these communities. The paper recommends among other things that governments at all levels should engage the youths in a productive and skills manpower development to eradicate poverty as a human security measure while the elites who take advantage of these poor youths to champion their selfish interest should be prosecuted whenever found culpable. There should equally be enlightenment programmes to educate the community dwellers about the consequences of communal conflicts among others.