In contemporary Hausa society, many artists such as Garba Dan Anko and Maman Shata are known for their contribution to social integration and development through their songs which are not only for ornamental roles, but principally for didactic functions. According to Hausa cultural perspectives, they are used to promote values including peace-building (efforts aimed at creating peace where war or hostilities existed before), honesty, integration, development, honesty to cite but a few. Also, they can stand for reservoir of Hausa cultures and vehicles for solving social problems. However, the world is increasingly threatened by ethnic or tribal conflicts. Besides, armed groups are inducing fear, traumatizing societies and coercing governments to achieve their ideological, religious or political propaganda [1]. Songs, as important components of folklore for the West African groups, particularly in Hausa society, are used by relatively many singers including Mansour Sani (Niger Republic) and Asabe Madaki (Federal Republic of Nigeria) for various pedagogical purposes. The Hausa people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa, numbering approximately fifty million individuals, primarily residing in northwestern Nigeria and southern Niger within a region known as Hausaland. This group has rich cultural traditions and a history that dates back to around 500 CE, with origin tales linking them to a legendary founder named Bayajidda [2]. The Hausa people employ songs to teach, warn, sensitize, and punish anyone who misbehaves in their community. As a matter of evidence, the selected songs deal with peace promotion and conflict-resolution, that is efforts aimed at resolving conflicts and creating peace, and are subsequently used by the Hausa community to dissuade people from violence and wars that, in most cases, cause deaths, kidnappings, rapes, humiliations, inter-tribal conflicts and robberies amongst them. In this regard, [3] observes that, “every day in the world, thousands of people die from violence both in armed conflict and non-armed conflict situations. Everyday throughout the world, thousands of people die from hunger and other poverty related causes”. In this regard, economic and agricultural growths are decreasing and targeted people are forced to leave their homelands for neighboring safe environments.

Despite the foregoing, to achieve prosperous or developed societies, peace should be promoted via traditional means of education such as Hausa oral songs. In many Hausa societies, mostly nurtured in social conflicts, scholars from different disciplines are implicitly interested in producing scientific works that fight against or resolve conflicts in Africa as whole. For that matter, this article aims at examining how the selected songs promote peace and resolve conflicts. So, it addresses the issue of peace building and analyzes the Hausa oral songs as agents for promoting peace and resolving conflicts.

Songs, being one of the most useful components of oral literature in Hausa communities, are employed by Hausa singers as the one of the efficient tools for conveying diverse didactic messages in societies, especially those dominated by illiterate people. As such, the Hausa people generally rely on peace-promoting and conflicts-resolving songs to teach or punish without using lashes. Many researches dealing with Hausa oral literature including [3]-[9] have been conducted, but only few of them have dealt with Hausa songs that promote peace and resolve conflicts in Hausa societies.

In Africa, particularly in Hausaland, people need peace for national integration and development. In this regard, any Hausa song dealing with peace promotion and conflicts prevention is highly welcome. In Hausa communities, songs play important roles for the cultural, social and national integration and development. But what does an (oral) song stand for? According to [5], “a song is an oral performance, a sub-genre of verbal art uttered or chanted by a persona, male or female, motivated by one specific subject matter. Oral song or poetry in general has been an issue of interest in the academic field for centuries”. In contrast to [5][6] asserts that:

The term “oral” etymologically means to do with the mouth. Oral song is poetry that is composed and transmitted without the aid of writing. Oral song is sometimes considered to include any poetry which is performed live. Oral song exists most clearly within oral cultures, and much oral poetry, however, is memorized verbatim—through the precise wording, particularly of words which are not essential to sense or metre, do tend to change from one performance to another, and one performer to another.

He further adds that in Hausa, the term “verse”, “poetry” and song are regarded to be synonymous. So, in Hausa society, songs are perceived as vehicles for educational purposes and are among the most useful oral genres in literature. As a matter of evidence, [10] argue that, in Hausa society, poetry is one of the principal genres of literature if not the most crucial one. Poetry propels social direction. In another comparative study on environmental songs in Kenya and Tanzania, [11] assert that music, as a form of oral art, promotes environmental awareness and advocacy. Using case studies from Kenya and Tanzania, the authors argue that East African music infused with suitable environmental practices can help mainstream environmental education, arouse public interest towards nature, advocate for change in mind-sets, and call for proactive action on environmental conservation, while still offering entertainment. As home to society’s values, norms and customs, oral songs in the historiography are the data bank for epistemology and philosophy. Through songs people learn, laugh, mourn, educate, console each other, inspire one another and at times pass secret messages.

Basically, oral singers are expected to educate on what constitutes an obstacle for people’s development and stability. In this regard, Mansour Sani and Asabe Madaki, through their songs meant to discourage troublemakers and fight against social conflicts, decided to promote peace in Hausa societies where conflicts are predominating. For them, these songs can speak in the names of voiceless people, particularly in Niger Republic and Nigeria, two neighboring countries having the same religions, cultures and living modes. In fact, [12] argues that “an oral singer does not only entertain but also educates and informs the public about current events as well as the ancient historical accounts.” In Hausa communities, Hausa singers are expected to teach and they do not hesitate to criticize and condemn. Mansour Sani and Asabe Madaki explicitly composed their songs to denounce people’s atrocities by proposing solutions, denouncing armed or non-armed conflicts and promoting peace in Hausa communities.

However, peace is an important partner that is needed for any development. As a matter of evidence, [13] asserts that, “the survival of a society is a result of adequate conflict resolution and that unitive customs arise from the fear of social disintegration.” Consequently, peace is a valued, needed by all and its absence in a community leads to difficult or unusual situation. In this regard, [8] define peace as:

One of the highest values in every community. Its meaning is multilateral and multi-disciplinary, depending on which notion is central in the determination of “peace” as a concept. The most common use of peace is in the absence of dissention, violence or war. Peace is also seen as a state of mind in concourse with serenity: a state of harmony, tranquility, concord and balance of equilibrium of powers. Peace is the opposite of conflict; it abhors violence and war.

Similarly, [14] supports that:

Peace is a term commonly used to describe a state of being calm and quiet; a state of tranquility, free from argument, conflict, violence and disturbances. It is an avenue permeated with attitudes that allow people of all ages and all levels to co-habit in harmony. It is also considered as the development of behavior that can prevent the occurrence of conflict. Peace is a quality describing a society or a relationship that is operating harmoniously.

Many Hausa oral songs have significantly contributed to the conflicts’ resolution, maintenance and promotion of peace in the Hausa society. They are actively meant for this purpose. From this perspective, the article succinctly unravels their prominent functions which consist of ensuring peaceful coexistence and conflict resolution or prevention among Hausa people.

But in contrast to the previous arguments, [8] observe that, “instability is intimately linked to man; thus, they submit that: Conflicts are found at every stage of life; individuals, groups, associations, clubs, societies, local, national as well as international communities experience conflict in one way or the other. That, however, includes religious, ethnic, political and communal among others. Conflicts are features of life.” Beyond African views on the roles of songs, [15] argues that, “during the conflict in former Yugoslavia, music had an important role for raising national awareness. It was used as a tool for sending message to domestic populations on whom they are and who they are not, as an instrument of presenting the country to the world audience in the preferred way. On the other hand, it was even employed as a weapon during the conflict and in the war aftermath.” Based on Hausa people’s perceptions oral poetry, one is reminded that oral songs are used to convey teachings and fight against conflicts in Hausa community.

This study adopts a qualitative research design to examine the role of Hausa oral songs in promoting peace-building across different sociocultural contexts. Specifically, the research focuses on two songs that share the same title Zaman Lafiya but differ in content and contextual orientation, thereby providing a comparative basis for analysis. Despite these differences, both songs converge on a common thematic concern: the promotion of peace and social harmony. Songs titled or themed “Zaman Lafiya” (meaning “peaceful living” or “peaceful coexistence” in Hausa) represent a cornerstone of peacebuilding and cultural identity in Northern Nigeria. They circulate widely as sociopolitical anthems and therapeutic community tools, representing the ultimate philosophical goal of harmony within the Hausa worldview [16]. The data for this study consist of two purposively selected Hausa oral songs sourced from YouTube(https://youtu.be/GsZyLcxHkvA?si=A5fY0fw2o0Gc2apz). The selection was guided by its relevance to the theme of peace-building, cultural significance, and accessibility. Purposive sampling is deemed appropriate for this study because it allows for the intentional selection of texts that best illustrate the phenomenon under investigation.

The selected songs were retrieved in audiovisual format and subsequently subjected to manual transcription in the original Hausa language. Following transcription, the songs were translated into English by the first author, who possesses native speaker competence in Hausa, to ensure accessibility for non-Hausa speakers and to facilitate broader scholarly engagement. Special attention was paid to preserving cultural nuances, metaphorical expressions, and context-specific meanings during the translation process. The analysis was based on specific and general themes that address conflict-resolution, peace-building and peace promotion. The study is grounded in the functionalist theoretical framework, particularly as articulated by [6]. Functionalism views cultural forms, including oral literature, as social institutions that perform specific roles in maintaining societal equilibrium. In this regard, Hausa oral songs are analyzed not merely as artistic expressions but as mechanisms of social regulation, cohesion, and conflict resolution. The two songs bear the same title, but have different content in both countries. However, their overall message is peace-building. As far as the data collection is concerned, only two Hausa oral songs related to peace-building are selected fromYouTube (https://youtu.be/GsZyLcxHkvA?si=A5fY0fw2o0Gc2apz). So, both are transcribed, analyzed and translated into English language to make the Hausa non-native speakers grasp their full meanings and the messages they convey. As far as the analysis corpus is concerned, they are analyzed based on a functionalist theory where social institutions are analyzed in terms of their functions or roles in societies. Moreover, to understand the component of the society one needs to know the functions of the selected Hausa oral songs and their contribution to social stability. Because of this, the functionalist theory is adopted for this research as for [6] the functionalist perspective is used to explain social institutions as collective means to meet individual and social needs. Functionalist themes in both songs include: peace promotion strategies, peace as a factor for national integration and unity, peace as culture and religious reservoir, ethnicity and tribalism, structural violence and insecurity.

Asabe Madaki’s song “Zaman Lafiya” (See Appendix 1) focuses specifically on peace promotion and conflict resolution. It operates as a didactic peace anthem situated within the socio-political realities of Nigeria—a nation marked by ethno-religious tensions, regional divisions (North-South, East-West) and insecurity (kidnapping, banditry). Like that of Asabe, Mansour Sani’s song (See Appendix 2) is also used by the Hausas of Niger to promote peace and resolve conflicts. His song attempts to disassociate Hausa people with ethnicity, tribalism, and racism which are the major keys to social division in Niger. For Sani, all the Nigerien ethnic groups should unite for national, cultural and social development. Both singers assert that education and health are gradually impacted by insecurity in Nigeria and Niger.

However, both songs contain developmental ingredients for Hausa society and they could be used to promote peace as well as to prevent conflicts.

Despite the intensification of the conflicts, the two Hausa oral songs bearing the same title “Zaman Lafiya” have significantly contributed to the promotion of peace in Niger Republic and Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Hausa people generally use songs to convey various didactic dimensions including cautions, entertainments and teachings. The strategy of using music for edutainment allows educational messages to be ingrained in entertainment channels in order to positively change behaviours and attitudes. Music focuses on the socio-cultural values and aids in the executions of day-to-day procedures [17]. In deed, Hausa oral songs are sustainable tools for promoting peace, the basis of national integration and development in both countries, but they could also be more effective, especially when measures are put in place as the majority of Hausa people are more attached to and fond of listening to songs. In this study, we have examined the two songs from Hausa communities in Nigeria and Niger, with a view to exploring how the songs are used for peace-building and conflict resolution. Content analysis reveals that the theme of peace runs across cultures.

The results of this research clearly depict that all societies need peace for their own security. Moreover, commercial, agricultural, cultural and political activities cannot be truly carried out without “Zamanlafiya” (peaceful co-existence). In fact, these songs show that ethnic, tribal and religious differences should be shunned in Hausa communities. Notwithstanding, they are meant for denouncing the same.

Basically, these two songs recommend Hausa people to get rid of social conflicts. By so doing, the Hausa world will forever know peace, especially if people remain united and accept one another despite their ethnic, religious or cultural differences. One is also reminded that ethnicity and insecurity are vices that mostly impact people’s social cohesion and have always been the main factors of people’s division. As many Hausa songs, examined by different other scholars, have not succeeded in conveying the message of peace-building, this paper however communicates the message of peace-building in Hausaland as contained in the Zaman Lafiya songs. The results of this research justify that both Hausa oral songs are employed to solve social conflicts by promoting social integration and development.

Song No.1:Zaman Lafiyaby Asabe Madaki

Original audio, Copyright℗n.d., Asabe Madaki

Song No.2:Zaman Lafiyaby Mansour Sani

Original audio, Copyright℗n.d., Mansour Sani