Bridging the Divide: How Two Borno Communities Ended a 70 Year Conflict

Built From Within Series Volume 2

For seven decades, a bitter and often violent boundary dispute defined the relationship between the Kubuku and Wawa Wards in Borno State. Rooted deep in the mountainous terrain of the Kwaya Kusar Local Government Area, the feud began over contested farmlands and the revoked occupancy of nomadic pastoralists. The animosity was inherited by generations of local leaders until recently in September 2025.

The cultural rift was intense. The older village head of Kubuku (late 60s) is the exact same age as the late village head of Wawa. The current village head of Kubuku routinely skipped local council meetings simply to avoid making eye contact with his Wawa counterpart, a move that signified a deep breach of generational respect. This tension bled deeply into the daily social fabric. Any personal interactions between residents of the two wards were severely frowned upon, creating an invisible but rigid wall between neighbours.

The residents of both communities are predominantly farmers, cattle rearers, and miners, making land access a critical matter of daily survival. Both communities are situated high up the mountains, but Kubuku controls the topographical gateway. They are located closest to the decent part of the mountain that leads down to the commercial hubs.

Because of the feud, Wawa residents were effectively blocked from this vital route. To reach the bustling Sunday Peta Market for essential trade, Wawa residents were forced to abandon the direct 30 minute route through Kubuku. Instead, they endured a treacherous two hour detour around the border lines, facing massive delays and dangerous conditions during the rainy season.

The Nigerian Police Force, the Emir of Kwaya Kusar, and the State Government had all attempted to intervene. Every traditional approach to peacebuilding had failed.

The Bridge: Joint Community Development Planning

Through the Social Cohesion Project, jointly funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), an innovative approach was introduced. Implemented by Oxfam alongside our national partners Christian Rural and Urban Development Association of Nigeria, Community Development and Reproductive Health Initiative, Yaharakari Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation, the project team mapped both wards for Community Development Planning sessions. Recognizing that both communities shared the exact same struggles with difficult terrain and infrastructure neglect, the team proposed something radical: a joint planning session.

Initially, the proposal faced heavy resistance from both village heads. However, through careful dialogue, a breakthrough was achieved. The leaders agreed to shift the hosting rights, with each community hosting the joint session for two days. That single logistical compromise became the foundation for historic social cohesion.

By bringing both groups into the same room to map their shared needs, the communities realized their mutual survival was far more important than historical grievances. The sessions spurred the residents to mount pressure on their own leaders to let the past go.

Today, peace has completely returned. The younger Wawa village head and the older Kubuku head share a profound mutual respect. The physical and societal borders have dissolved. A community where casual interactions were once severely frowned upon now sees residents crossing over to each other wards for shared meals and community gatherings. New intermarriages are creating permanent bonds of trust. The transformation was so significant that the Emir of Kwaya Kusar officially invited the project team to his palace to commend them for instituting peace where all others had failed.

The Peace Dividend: A Massive Infrastructure Boom

With the conflict resolved, an incredible surge of local agency was unlocked. The newly formed Ward Development Support Committees in both communities shifted their energy from guarding borders to building infrastructure.

To finance this recovery, the committees utilized a strategic two tiered approach. Combined, the two wards mobilized over NGN 200,000 through broad community wide fundraising events to tackle heavy capital projects, while simultaneously relying on the personal pooled funds of the WDSC members themselves to establish a sustainable financial baseline for rapid response initiatives. This dual stream model marks the highest community led fundraising drive recorded across all three project local government areas.

In Kubuku Ward, under the leadership of Chairperson Babagana Ulsen, the committee identified their treacherous access roads as their primary barrier to growth. The valley roads were so degraded they were only accessible by specialized off road vehicles or the motorcycles residents relied on to transport fuel and farm products. The residents pooled NGN 51,000 to sand fill the deep valley road using rocks and cement. Ward councillors, committee members, and residents provided the hands on manual labour. Recognizing a severe neglect in their local education facilities, they also pooled NGN 10,000 to purchase four cartons of chalk for three different schools and repaired the broken blackboards. Teachers, motivated by this profound community support, are now volunteering extra hours to ensure learning takes place.

In Wawa Ward, under the leadership of Chairperson Musa Malum, the focus turned to water and climate resilience. The residents raised NGN 29,500 to fix a broken communal well. This massive local initiative inspired the outgone chairman of Kwaya Kusar LGA to personally donate two bags of cement to support the repair. They followed this by raising NGN 14,000 and securing another gifted bag of cement to repair a major five tap water point, with committee members executing all the plumbing and labour. Furthermore, utilizing the climate change training provided by the project, Wawa reached a unanimous, strictly enforced decision to completely ban bush burning and tree felling.

A Blueprint for the Future

The resolution in Kwaya Kusar is a powerful demonstration of shifting the power directly to local actors. When communities are given the framework to co-create their own development plans, peace becomes a natural byproduct of shared progress.

Aishatu Saliu, an older and highly respected community resident, praised the new synergy. There is now a collective duty of care, specifically directed toward the most vulnerable. This is evident in the health sector, where the Wawa committee is actively sensitizing women on the importance of antenatal care, leading to a significant increase in clinic visits.

The work is far from over. Looking ahead, both committees have scheduled a joint operation to repair a major communal road before the next rainy season, while Kubuku plans to reroof their local pharmacy. Furthermore, community members who possess professional health backgrounds are now stepping up to volunteer their time and skills to support the daily operations of the Primary Health Centre.

They are no longer fighting over where the lines are drawn; they are building the roads that connect them.