2023 Christmas Eve Attack in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State: Dynamics, Impact and Policy Suggestions

Abstract

The paper explored the dynamics surrounding the Christmas Eve attacks in the Bokkos Local 
Government Area of Plateau State. The study carefully unravelled the intricacies surrounding the 
age-old conflicts, with key attention on the silent triggers and drivers of predatory conflict that 
have bedevilled the flanks of Plateau State, with specific references to Bokkos Local Government 
Area. Unknown to previous studies, analyses, and reports, global warming and climate change 
induced intractable conflict, which inevitably led to mistrust, disdain, mutual suspicions, and 
conflict among the two land-user groups whose sources of livelihood are directly affected by 
climate change vulnerabilities such as shortage of rainfall, heat waves, drought, and 
desertification. These directly or indirectly threaten the livelihoods of both the agrarian 
communities and nomadic pastoralists in Plateau State and its fringes. The paper adopted multi
methods of data collection. Primarily, with the aid of a Kobo Collect data survey tool, the study 
used closed-ended questionnaires and explored related literature from published reports by 
government departments and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), etc., in eliciting relevant 
data. Because of the concentration of the target population in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) 
camps, a convenience sampling technique was utilised in accessing the respondents for this 
research. Thus, a unit of four hundred (400) IDPs, comprising men and women of adult age not 
below 18 years old, were identified as those who were in the right state of mind to attend to the 
researchers at the time of the study. Eighty (80) questionnaires were administered to this 
population. To this end, simple percentages, Chi-square, linear regression, and ANOVA were used 
in analysing the data. The study discovered that the severity of the attack was occasioned by the 
struggle for survival as a result of shifting climate patterns and that women and children suffered 
the most among other high casualties. Thus, the paper recommends that climate-resilient 
infrastructures, ranches for pastoralists, and strengthening local security networks should be the 
topmost priority of the government.