Roles of Rivers State Community Affairs Department in Conflict Resolution between Host Communities and Oil-Companies

The study analyzed the roles performed by the Rivers State community affairs department in conflict resolution between host communities and oil-companies in Rivers State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling, involving the consensus, random sampling and snowball techniques were used in selecting the sample size of 139 respondents which was used for the study. The questionnaire and interview schedule were used in the elicitation of data. Data were analyzed with percentage, mean and analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Result shows that the major roles performed by the Department were mediating (3.85), facilitating (3.42) and organization of workshops (3.08). Further result indicated that while the Department (3.08) itself and oil companies (3.49) accepted the roles performed by the Department as being satisfactory, the community (2.74) respondents were not satisfied. The major constraints to the roles performed by the Department were inaccessibility into community of conflicts, lack of funds and limited resources to work with. Good access into community of conflict, sufficient funding and resources to work with was recommended for enhanced roles of the Department in Rivers State.