Civil Society in the shadows of Nigeria’s Core Conflicts Background Civil Society in the Shadows of Nigeria’s Core Conflicts – Chidiebere Ugwu Over the last twenty years, the Niger Delta crisis in the south­south, the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast, the Farmer, and Herder Conflicts in the northwest and north central, and the intense Banditry in the Northwest have been the most pervasive conflicts that have threatened the socio-political and economic stability in Nigeria. Post-independence Nigerian governments have addressed these conflicts mainly through kinetic and non­kinetic approaches with various degrees of success and failures. Militancy, insurgency, armed banditry, and brazen criminality have rolled back developmental strides, increased insecurity and plunged a good number of the population into extreme poverty amidst wealth and plenty. Are these upward trends undermining or reaffirming the capabilities or inabilities of the Nigeria security forces to tackle or bring to a complete halt the rising tides of insecurity? The unending conflict in these regions begs the question of the veracity of the actors. The deaths, poverty, displacements, sickness and insecurity should have made actors to pause and think. In this situation of insecurity, social inequality and injustice, Civil Society often supported through the international community saw the need to support the vulnerable communities and the victims of the conflicts. Civil Society also got involved in the management and transformation of conflicts as well as in post Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Nigeria| 5