Two communities in Khana Local Government Area, Rivers State, had not attended each other’s funerals, weddings, or celebrations in a decade. A disputed boundary between their farmlands had calcified into social and economic separation. Young men from each community made a point of avoiding the other. Inter-marriage, once common, had stopped.
ENPUAI was invited by the Khana LGA council in January 2024 after two incidents of farm destruction came close to triggering physical violence. Two facilitators spent three days doing individual pre-dialogue consultations with key voices — the landowners at the centre of the dispute, the youth associations, the women’s cooperative leaders, and the traditional rulers.
On the fourth day, they convened a structured single-day dialogue attended by forty-eight people. The format was deliberate: no opening speeches, no local government officials, no police. Just the community, a trained facilitator, and a commitment to speak truthfully.
By midday, an elderly farmer had disclosed that the original boundary marker — a specific tree — had been moved in 2014 by his own nephew without his knowledge. He apologised publicly. The room went silent. Then the elder from the other community reached across and held his hand.
A Joint Land Boundary Verification Committee — composed equally of both communities — was formed that afternoon. A surveyor was engaged within two weeks. The boundary was formally pegged and registered with the Rivers State Ministry of Lands in April 2024.
“Ten years of pain resolved in one honest day. That is what ENPUAI gave us — not a solution, but the courage to find our own.” — Chief Solomon Nwiyor, Khana LGA