| Abstract: |
The study examined public relations strategies for crisis management of farmers-herders clashes in Cross River Northern Senatorial District. It anchored on situational crisis communication theory, and two-way symmetric communication model. The objective was to examined the role of public relations in crisis management of farmers-herders clashes in Cross River North. To achieve this, the study adopted mixed-method using questionnaire and in-depth interview as instruments for data collection. The population of this study was 1,339,329 comprising residents of the ?ve LGAs in the senatorial district, from which the sample size of 400 respondents was drawn, using Taro Yamane formula. The purposive sampling technique was used to administer questionnaire to the respondents. The frequency tables and weighted mean was employed for data analysis. It was found that public relations strategies such as mediation, dialogue, and face-to-face reconciliation are used in crisis management. It reveals that the PR strategies deployed has helped in restoring some level of peace in the farmers-herders clashes. The study concluded that despite all the efforts by the stakeholders to put an end to the incessant farmers-herders clashes in Cross River Northern Senatorial District, the crisis still persists because there are no existing crises management committee in place to have a regular peace meeting with them. Therefore, the study recommended that the government, traditional institutions and community members should introduce more public relations strategies in managing farmers-herders crisis in Cross River Northern Senatorial District, as well as leveraging on the existing ones that are working for better results. |
