Name: Amobi Peter Chiamogu
Section: State and Local Politics
Professional Email: amobi.chiamogu@federalpolyoko.edu.ng
Professional Status: Graduate Student
Institution: Federal Polytechnic, Oko
Scheduling Preference: Friday Afternoon
Proposal Type: Paper
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Co-author info: Uchechukwu P. Chiamogu, Department of Public Administration, Federal Polytechnic, Oko, uchep.chiamogu@federalpolyoko.edu.ng
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Paper Title:  Ethnicity, Religion and Challenges of Governance in Africa: A Critical Analysis of the Nigerian Nation State
Abstract:
The mix in the politicization of ethnicity and religion with various communities especially among the minority ethnic groups across the country in response to skewed and arbitrary fragmentation and balkanization of the Nigerian state through the creation of regions, states, local government councils, jobs and disbursement of appointment positions largely shape and determine the 'how and what' of governance, character of politics and national integration in Nigeria. The central government became alien to the units where access to the government turned platform for religious and ethnic nationalism thereby occasioning the dawn of ethnicization and religionization of politics as a way of expressing the enticement of politicians and public officers to the ethnic or religious space. This paper thus seeks to trace the nexus between politicization of ethnicity and religion and the challenges to governance in Nigeria. It sees the duo as the major contending parameters for appraising Nigerian national questions. It through the use of secondary sources of data observed after an in-depth review of historical, unification and disintegrative forces literature for Nigeria, observed that the embers of kinship and religious ties have continually paved way for political support thereby forming the major desiderata for political/resources mobilization and allocation in Nigeria. While recommending significant devolution and decentralization of powers to be preceded by a nationwide programme of moral and ethical revival aimed at promoting virtues of honesty, transparency, accountability and justice, the paper makes case for good governance along lines of best practices at all levels of governance in Nigeria.

Name: Nsemba Edward Lenshie
Section: Identity Politics
Professional Email: edward.lenshie@tsuniversity.edu.ng
Professional Status: Assistant Professor
Institution: Taraba State University, Nigeria
Scheduling Preference: No Preference
Proposal Type: Paper
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Paper Title:  Land Tenure, Territoriality and Social Security: Interrogating Farmers-Herders Conflicts on Nigeria’s Mambilla Plateau
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This study examines the interface of land tenure, territoriality and social security, with specific consideration of the farmers and herders conflicts on Nigeria’s Mambilla Plateau. The Mambilla Plateau is ethnically multicultural with the various ethnic groups claiming territoriality and land use for social security. Ethnic groups on the Mambilla Plateau include the Mambilla, Kaka, Panso, Kambu and Fulani, who are into farming of crops and grazing of cattle. Using qualitative and descriptive methods based on phenomenology and interpretivism, it reveals the complex dynamics of ethnic group relations, particularly between the Mambilla farming and Fulani pastoral groups. It also explains how changing land tenure system, territoriality and the demand for social security have shaped and reshapes ethnic group relations among other factors such as demand of land for farming due to population increase and land grab that accounted for the destruction of lives and properties and population displacement.

Name: Augustine Ogbaji Ogoh
Section: State and Local Politics
Professional Email: aogoh@fudutsinma.edu.ng
Professional Status: Graduate Student
Institution: FEDERAL UNIVERSITY, DUTSINMA, KATSINA STATE, NIGERIA
Scheduling Preference: Friday Afternoon
Proposal Type: Paper
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Paper Title:  CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE DYNAMICS OF PERENNIAL FARMER-HERDER CONFLICTS IN PLATEAU STATE OF NORTH CENTRAL NIGERIA, 1999 – 2016
Abstract:
CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE DYNAMICS OF PERENNIAL FARMER-HERDER CONFLICTS IN PLATEAU STATE OF NORTH CENTRAL NIGERIA, 1999 – 2016 By Augustine Ogbaji OGOH Department of Political Science Federal University, Dutsinma Katsina State, Nigeria aogoh@fudutsinma.edu.ng ABSTRACT ______________________________________________________________________________ Climate change today represents the greatest global human development challenge and one of such challenges is the farmer-herder conflicts. Consequently, the main objective of the study is to explore the dynamics of the perennial farmer-herder conflicts in Plateau State of north central Nigeria resulting from climate change. Climate change and farmer-herder conflicts concept in this study comprise of various interrelated components that include among others month in which farming activities of the year normally starts; uncertainty in the rainfall pattern in the last 17 years; effects of uncertainty of rainfall on farming activities; level of migration of herders; month of the year that migration normally takes place for grazing of livestock; effects of desertification and causes of farmer-herder conflicts. Data for this study were obtained from 384 respondents sampled through a multi-stage sampling procedure. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Three (3) Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and interviews were conducted to enhance the reliability of the findings. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and frequency distribution. Findings show among others a significant relationship between climate change and farmer-herder conflicts in Plateau state of north central Nigeria. From these findings, the study inferred that farmer-herder conflicts have been exacerbated by the phenomenon of climate change, whose dynamics tend to have been aggravating natural resource conflicts across the world and submitted that these conflicts situation have far reaching implications. It recommends the creation of grazing corridors and ranches rather than creating grazing reserves in order to solve the issue of herders encroachment on farmlands and vice versa. Keywords: Climate change, Conflict, Farmer, Herder, Migration ______________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lisa Parshall
Section: State and Local Politics
Professional Email: lparshal@daemen.edu
Professional Status: Full Professor
Institution: Daemen College
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Paper Title:  The Use of Narrative Policy Framing in the Village Dissolution Debate: Social Media Messaging in the Brockport and Lyons Dissolution Efforts
Abstract:
Parshall (2018), explored the applicability of the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to the village dissolution debate. In that paper, I explored whether common narratives detected in the public debate over village dissolution could be understood through the lens of its narrative components (i.e., plot, characters, setting, and moral of the study), and whether a meso-level focus on village dissolution–how pro- and anti-dissolution coalitions seek to influence the outcome of a public vote on dissolution–aligns with the NFP assumptions as spelled out by Shanahan, Jones and McBeth (2017). The initial exploration of 3 cases studies drew primarily upon newspaper accounts and media coverage in identifying common policy narratives in the village dissolution debate. This paper moves a step-closer toward empirical verification by shifting focus to the webpages and Facebook accounts of the pro-dissolution and anti-dissolution coalitions in 2 cases to test theories that were developed (although not explicitly stated) in Parshall (2018).