Challenges and Limitations

There were numerous challenges faced during the data gathering process in addition to some of the challenges related to ethics mentioned in the previous paragraph. As a result of the conflicts in Jos, settlement patterns have changed and they continue to shift along religious, and in some instances ethnic lines. You find, for instance, large areas of the city dominated by Christians, making it quite difficult for someone of the opposite faith to move or drive in these areas due to fear of attacks. Similarly it is difficult for a Christian to move freely in the Muslim-dominated areas. Therefore, on several occasions I asked members of the Jos North Peace Ambassadors to accompany me in order to boost my sense of security. ⁵⁷Since the start of the conflicts many Muslim areas had become unfamiliar terrain to me, so often the peace ambassadors also provided me with directions to where I was going.

57 The Peace Ambassadors are both Christian and Muslim youths trained by IGSR in collaboration with the Plateau State Government and the Security agencies in Jos. These group of youths are empowered as whistle blowers and mediators in the event of any conflict.

The separation of the city added a burden of confidence and trust on me, because it was important for the people I visited in these areas to trust and have confidence in me, particularly when visiting members of ethnic and religious groups different from mine. I was able to overcome such difficulties at least partially by using contact persons for each of these settlements who were familiar to the people I was visiting. Important among those who helped me to contact members of different groups were the Jos North Peace Ambassadors, who are Christian and Muslim youths trained by the Institute of Governance and Social Research (IGSR) in collaboration with the Plateau State Government and the Security Sectors in Jos. Peace Ambassadors also assisted in securing and arranging some of my interview appointments. However, I had to conduct almost all my interviews myself, both because of the emotional content of many interviews and because I noticed with some of the respondents that they needed a little push during interviews before the whole story was told. The confidence required for this was not something I could ask or expect of research assistants. Therefore I was unable to delegate many interviews.

Another limitation was the fact that at the time of my fieldwork the conflicts had already created certain patterns of behaviour in relation to individuals who were not from a respondent’s group. This means that it was sometimes difficult for me to gain the trust of respondents who did not see me as a member of their in-group. Due to my own background it was somewhat easier to win the trust of Christians and Muslims who were members of indigenous groups. However, I was able to utilise some of the women whom I worked with during the Women for Peace Initiative (WPI) and the Peace Ambassadors to overcome this challenge. These women were able to relate freely, and granted interview because of the long established trust which was also important.

Another strategy for gaining trust was that during most of the interviews I conducted in the exclusively Muslim areas, I had to dress in such a way that is acceptable to the community and by so doing avoid drawing unnecessary attention to myself. Dressing otherwise would have looked disrespectful and insensitive to the community where I was conducting the research, and might have exposed me to abuse because of the sensitivity of the research and because the communities were still hurting and nurturing the wounds of the conflict.

A further problem was caused by the period of my fieldwork coinciding with religious and ethnic conflicts in the Riyom and Barkin Ladi areas in Plateau, the Asakio and Agyaragu areas in Nasarawa, the Manchok and Zangon Kataf areas in Kaduna and the Naka and Yogbo in Benue. In the period between May 2012 and February 2013, Plateau State lost two of its lawmakers: Honourable Gyang Fuani of the Plateau House of Assembly and Honourable Gyang Dantong, Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. When these politicians were attacked by unknown men during a mass burial of members from Riyom constituency the government imposed a curfew to restrict movement and normal activities in Jos did not return for nearly two weeks, so I had to suspend interviews because tensions were too high for me to move about.

Another problem, especially with prominent women and female politicians, was accessibility and keeping appointments. Getting politicians to keep appointments was a challenge as many interviews and meetings were re-scheduled repeatedly. For example, I tried to meet one of the female politicians in Nasarawa State capital for an agreed appointment but on reaching there she asked me to meet her in her village compound. Driving to her village, I gave her a call to ask for the exact location of the place, but she told me that she had been called out for a meeting, and was sorry but

we could not hold the interview. After several such experiences I gave up on this respondent. Arranging a meeting with a Nigerian politician, whether male or female, requires patience and persistence and some interviews had to be cancelled or were too short to be useful. Often I had to make several calls and visits to the women politicians and party leaders before interviews were granted. As illustrated above, some women remained inaccessible to me. In other cases I had to attend political party rallies to gain access to female party leaders which involved driving long distances to the venues of the rallies. Despite many disappointments, I did not give up on this area of research and ensured that I got across to as many female politicians as possible.

Some respondents suffered from research respondents’ fatigue: living in an area shaken by conflict, many had seen researchers come to interview them and then leave without much change. As a result, some began to question what researchers do with the responses they collect, and many of them pointed out to me that there has been no commensurate change in their living conditions despite the activities of a multiplicity of researchers. Such a challenge spurned me on to consider the need to link research to policy formulation in Nigeria and most importantly to instigate development that is people-centred.

Some of the respondents were illiterate and could not communicate in English. Here my ability to speak Hausa fluently and my ability to write in Hausa were valuable assets as I did not have to depend on interpreters. I noticed immediately that such an approach lightened the interview mood, as respondents immediately looked at ease and saw me as sympathetic rather than unsympathetic to them. However, the process was time consuming because I often had to take time to read through the consent form and interpret it for my respondents

Another issue was that most of the field research in and around Jos was carried out during the rainy season and most of the roads were quite muddy due to the poor drainage system. This can make it difficult for pedestrians to move around as well as making driving dangerous. As a result rain disrupted some of my fieldwork, especially when we had to cancel interview appointments due to the impassability of roads.

Often I would have preferred to meet my respondents in an NGO office or a government establishment. As the conflicts were ongoing at the time of my interview work this would have been safer for me. But many people insisted on doing the interview in their houses which meant that I had to traverse areas where I might be subject to abuse or even violence. About 90 percent of the interviews with the political group were conducted with women in their homes, with the remaining 10 percent speaking to me in their offices due to their busy schedules. ⁵⁸ In most of the homes the women talked to me alone in their sitting rooms while family members were directed to remain quiet to minimise noise interference and distraction. In the inter-faith marriage group, 50 percent of the interviews were conducted in the presence of the spouses.

When these spouses were present I often noticed uneasiness at the onset of the interview, which relaxed as we proceed.

The literature search, particularly of locally produced books and journals, was frustrating because there is no central institution such as a library or, for instance, an internet listing of books where such books could be identified and purchased. Local book stores rarely stocked up-to-date books and I had to rely on friends and work associates to identify relevant publications. While I was determined to conduct a

58 The 10 percent were actually the professional (teachers) groups employed in the public sector.

sufficiently broad survey of the relevant literature, I was limited both by the time allocated to the doctoral research and by my own financial constraints.

Finally I engaged the services of a secretary, mainly to assist with the transcription of longer interviews. The fact that she was very slow doing this work affected the speed of my own work and my ability to complete the field research within six months as I had originally intended to do.