Ifeanyi Onwuzuruigbo

I am Dr Ifeanyi Onwuzuruigbo, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. My research interest focuses on African development but particularly peace and conflicts issues. The topic of my research at MIASA is Anti-Grazing Laws, Agrarian Conflicts and Sustainable Rural Transformation in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. Essentially, the study seeks to interrogate the nexus of the laws, the management of herders and farmers conflicts and their implications for sustainable rural development in the Middle Belt of Nigeria. In doing so the study explores the ways in which the provisions of the laws relate with contested discourses of autochthony and indigeneity and land acquisition in rural communities. In addition to information and data gathered from secondary sources, there will be strong emphasis on other qualitative techniques of data gathering, such as interviews, in executing the research. While on the fellowship, I hope to achieve two objectives. The first is to complete a paper on citizenship, autochthony and the management of herders and farmers conflicts in Nigeria and Ghana. The second will involve collaborating with other fellows to edit a collection of articles on the theme of the fellowship which will be published in textbook form by a reputable publishing outfit or published as a special issue of a journal of African studies with high-impact factor.