ABSTRACT:
This paper describes a case study of the peace-building activities of CIDJAP (a non- governmental organization) in Enugu State of Nigeria between 1991 and 2003. The study was conducted with the aim of finding out the extent to which the organization confronted the structural violence that was endemic in the state during this period. The findings showed that CIDJAP, in spite of its struggle, was yet to realize its vision of non-violent society in Enugu as at the period under review Through qualitative content analysis and the application of open and axial coding, it was discovered that a major obstacle to the realization of CIDJAP’s goal was the unwillingness of the Enugu State Government to assume responsibly its duty of building peaceful and just society. One implication of the study is that achieving positive peace requires that government takes initiatives which are supplemented by the activities of non- governmental organizations, but that this is a long-term, challenging task.
