This paper examines the relationship between communal conflict and community development in Nigeria. It overhauls the stifling effects of communal conflicts on development especially in the rural areas. The treatise therefore relied on secondary documents to x-ray the meaning, origin, causes and consequences among other elements of communal conflicts and their effects on rural developments. This paper recommends among other things, that the communities, the arbiters of these conflicts and government should work together to ensure that the communities live in harmony with their neighbours in order to minimize the occurrence of these conflicts and enable development to take root in these areas.