ABSTRACT:

It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of Nigerians have lost their lives and property in ethno-religious crisis that have bedeviled the country since the enthronement of democracy in 1979. Ethno-religious crises simply occur as a result of religious intolerance. The situation is such that the religious crises tend to reinforce ethnic cleavages and rancor in the country. At time it becomes difficult to categorize any crisis as ethnic or religious. Analysts attempt to overcome this difficult by referring to such crises as ethno-religious. This type of crises is the direct result of the pattern of spread of Christianity and Islam. By way of flash back Christianity was introduced from the coast before it began to spread northwards whereas Islam entered the Nigerian territory from the north across the Sahara desert and began to spread Southwards. The result of this scenario is that most of the ethnic groups in the south are Christians while most of them in the north are Muslims. The stark reality is that where particular ethnic groups are associated with a particular region, ethnic conflicts be it political or economic assume the status of religion. The focus of this paper is on ‘’impact of ethno-religious crises on socio-economic activities in Wukari Local Government Area with a view to proffering useful recommendations as a way forward. The findings are corroborative of the fact that ethno-religious crises have indeed impacted both positively and negatively on socio-economic activities in Wukari. Qualitative approach was adopted as method of data collection. It is recommended that elites at all tiers of government should consistently implement policies aimed at reducing the link between ethnicity and access to political, economic and social resources.