Umuada and Peace Building in Emerging Youth Restiveness in Igboland, 2010-2020.

Abstract

The study examines the role of Umuada in peace building amid rising youth restiveness in Igbo land. The Umuada institution represents a traditional female social structure in Igbo society where married and unmarried daughters maintain significant cultural, spiritual and political authority within their natal communities. The paper examines the historical foundations of Umuada authority, their traditional roles in dispute settlement and their unique positioning as both insiders and outsiders within their natal communities a status that grant them moral authority and impartiality in mediating conflicts. The paper adopted historical qualitative research methodology which relied on primary and secondary sources. The finding reveals that Umuada groups employs various strategies like dialogue facilitation between aggrieved youth and traditional authorities, economic empowerment initiatives, cultural reorientation programs and their ritual power to enforce peace agreement. identifies both the strengths of this indigenous peace building approach inclining cultural legitimacy, gender sensitive perspectives and deep community knowledge and its limitations in addressing structural issues driving youth restiveness. Again, this discourse on indigenous conflict resolution mechanism, gender and peace building in African contexts, and the relevance of traditional institutions in contemporary governance will minimize youth restiveness. The paper concludes that the integrating Umuada structures into formal peace building frameworks in addressing the need for institutional strengthening and intergenerational knowledge transfer to ensure sustainability.