ETHNICITY AND CONFLICT: THE NIGERIAN SITUATION (original) (raw)
Related papers
One major challenge post-colonial Nigeria, since the first republic till date faces is the question of ethnic rivalry in her socio-political landscape which have made the actualization of the " One Nigeria " project a tall order. Thus, the studyexplores the effect of ethnic politics and the subsequent rupturing of conflictsduring Nigeria " s first republic and what lessons the fourth democratic dispensation can draw from the past in order to avert similar issues that severely bedeviled the socioeconomic and political landscape of Nigeriaduring the period under survey through a critical evaluation of the crowded events that characterized that period. Data obtained via primary and secondary sources were employed to conduct a critical study with an analytical and narrative historical methodology. Consequently, findings from the research revealed that Nigerian elites during the era of the first republic paid more allegiance to their various ethnic enclaves rather than to the One Nigeria project, a situation that has best been described as prebendalism by Richard Joseph. Again, ethnic politics has remained a cancerous substance militating against Nigeria " s growth and development till date and it is regrettable that this sinister approach (ethnicity) to politics is still very much within the milieu of today " s Nigeria " s political landscape. In conclusion, the study, upon outlining certain essential lessons from the past, asserts strongly that if Nigeria must achieve the " unity in diversity " creed, ethnicity must be relegated to the background and the consciousness of absolute patriotism must be embrace by all and sundry, irrespective of religious, political or ethnic background as this will ensure that Nigerians avert a repetition of what transpired during the Nigeria " s first republic.
Dynamics of Ethnic Politics in Nigeria: An Impediment to its Political System
Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, 2019
Without any form of prejudice, it is a fact that Nigeria is a multi-ethnic state with differences in its socio-political and economic development all of which have resulted in conflicts and counter conflicts. Ethnic politics in Nigeria's political system have come to be a tragic and constant in Nigeria's political system; where one must belong to the mainstream of ethnic politics for political relevance. It depicts attachments to the subnational ethnic groups which threaten to undermine national integration and therefore divide the nation. Significantly, ethnicity in Nigeria was orchestrated by a long period of colonialism, a period which witnessed the ascendancy of the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria to the socio-political domination of other ethnic groups. It was a period when the three major ethnic groups were used by the colonialist as a pedestal for the distribution of socio-political and economic goods. Using a mixed method, this work argues that Nigeria's political problem hinges on the negative consequences of ethnic politics. The paper concludes that if Nigeria's political system must progress, it must be anchored on the need for the review of the constitutional and political structure of Nigeria to restore healthy political competition as opposed to the existing outdated political mechanism imposed on Nigeria by the military under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The History and Evolution of Nigeria
Pathways to Nigerian Peoples and Culture, 2012
This chapter traces the history, location, population of Nigeria, the birth rate among the Nigerian people, ethnic breakdown, languages, the Nigerian flag and national symbolism, description of the Nigerian flag, flag Laws of Nigeria, the Nigerian economy, the advent of the Europeans, the history of Nigerian colonization, Trans-Sahara trade and Slave Trade, the nationalistic movement, the Nigerian Civil War, Nigerian Politics, Nigeria's Military, Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges, the Niger Delta struggle, the problem of gas flaring, oil revenue derivation, the Niger Delta crisis, reason for conflicts in the Niger Delta, the case of Ogoniland (1992-1995), Ijaw-Itsekiri conflicts (1997), Ijaw unrest (1998-1999), the creation of the Niger Delta Development Commission (2000), the emergence of armed groups in the Delta Region (2003-2004), the Nigerian oil crisis: Government crackdown and offensive, granting of amnesty, and national holidays.
A Historical Survey of Ethnic Conflict in Nigeria
Asian Social Science, 2012
This article focused on the historical survey of ethnic conflict in the Nigerian society and its scope is vast in a way that it stresses the country's ethnic conflicts beginning from the Pre-colonialism state down the post-colonialism. The main objective of this article is to explore deeper analyses on politics, ethnic conflict and its causes in the multi-cultural society like that of the giant of Africa and the consequences therefore. The approach used in this study is consistent with the general research question on the educational meaning of politics in comparison to the modern politics as experiencing among the political leaders and parties; in responding to the question, a data from a published author is quoted as sample report in answer to the situation in the country. Finally, the article also elaborates on how to manage ethnic conflict amidst of differences and plural society like in the case of the said nation.
2018
One major challenge post-colonial Nigeria, since the first republic till date faces is the question of ethnic rivalry in her socio-political landscape which have made the actualization of the “One Nigeria” project a tall order. Thus, the studyexplores the effect of ethnic politics and the subsequent rupturing of conflictsduring Nigeria‟s first republic and what lessons the fourth democratic dispensation can draw from the past in order to avert similar issues that severely bedeviled the socio-economic and political landscape of Nigeriaduring the period under survey through a critical evaluation of the crowded events that characterized that period. Data obtained via primary and secondary sources were employed to conduct a critical study with an analytical and narrative historical methodology. Consequently, findings from the research revealed that Nigerian elites during the era of the first republic paid more allegiance to their various ethnic enclaves rather than to the One Nigeria pr...
POLITICS AND POWER STRUGGLES IN NIGERIA (1945-1999)
This historical survey examines the nature of politics and power struggles in Nigeria between 1945 and 1999. This period of over five decades is significant because it has lasting legacy on political culture and formation of political parties and associations, bloc building and orientation for Nigerian citizenship, the institutions of government and decision making process and mechanisms for participation in governance and Nigeria’s democratic process. Experience of power play and struggles in this period of Nigeria’s modern political history is interesting to study because it fuelled an emerging, diverse political interests enmeshed in ‘regional’ and ‘ethnic’ politics within the nation’s federal system. Nigeria contended during the period with various forms of intra-communal and inter-communal conflicts – from religious, ethnic, political conflicts to trade union, labour struggles and other forms of industrial and economic conflicts . No doubt, the dramatis personae that influenced group formation and peoples’ aspirations in the social strata towards manifesting a seemingly diverse cultural sensibility or sensitivity and identity in the historical process would be discussed with a view to understand and appreciate their position and approaches to an organized, modern state system that is built on platforms to struggle for and sustain Nigeria’s independence as a modern African State. The period of study invariably provide gainful insight into the total sum of citizens’ views and group aspirations in Nigeria’s federal system by reviewing the role of media and other platforms of public opinion (people) and opinion public (elites) which reinforced the recurrent decimal for agitations and struggles for access to power and equitable distribution of national resources. The period (1966-1979) and (1983-1999) also highlighted military’s intervention in politics and administration of Nigerian State, though an aberration, but regarded in some quarters as patriotic impetus or nationalistic aspiration to save the institution of the State and stabilize political culture from derailing. Military incursion in politics was also traced to the public opinions and yearnings at the initial stage by the Press, the academia and the political class who wanted sanity, fair-play and public discipline in governance and those who aspire to stabilize the policy arena in promoting national unity, survival and consciousness. No doubt, Military interventions and heated public arena had constantly resulted to ‘cultural profile of rampant militarism and praetorianism’ that influenced Nigeria’s political behaviour and culture for long. At the same time, Nigeria’s public service during the period of study with the various reforms introduced for the determination of public policy process, the arena and attitude of public institutions failed to achieve desirable stability and performances . A summation of the historical experience and trends of political development in the Nigerian State re-echoes thus: In the Nigerian or African sense of it, the situation is carried to an extreme, as getting what or authoritative allocation is done without deference to the rule of the game. Politics in Nigeria has turned out to be a means of mindlessly appropriating the resources of the state to serve one’s interest. This explains Nigerian leaders’ ferocious pursuit of political domination and their engrossment with survival as against development…Post-colonial politics in Nigeria was scripted in the calculus of power, and this script has being the political template for the First, Second, Third and Fourth Republics, let alone the ‘perennial’ interregnum of coup-ridden, power-drunk military regimes. Electoral contests were governed by intimidation, rigging and violence and not by the norms of free and fair rules…the do or die or rather win at all cost attitude to politics has been the result of the largesse and spoils of office available for distribution to their retinues’ The study is to help enhance the knowledge of history in the areas of examination and discussion of group activities and participation, and the individual political aspirations and interactions with its attendant implication for social and political development of the Nigerian State. The concentration of the study will be limited to the ingenuity of identifying issues of contests in the power play, access and struggle for powers owing to the aspirations and essence of the political groupings in Nigerian politics and the patronage that often determines the course of public policy making in the articulation of leadership ambitions and promotion of ideals of good governance. The broadness of the subject could hamper the study from concentrating on every political issue that affected or influenced large segments of Nigerian people and society. Hence, the study would concentrate on issues that affect the scope of party politics and electioneering issues, leadership aspirations in the political process and policy arena and the role of affiliations through ethnic and regional perspectives to intricacies of power struggle.
Ethnic-Politics, Class Identity and the Crisis of Nation-Building in Nigeria, 1914-1970
KIU Journal of Humanities, 2020
It is quite disturbing to note that in Africa today, there is no country that is not prone to chaos and anarchy due to the bogey of ethnicity, and Nigeria is no exception. By January 1 st 2014, Nigeria will roll out drums for a centennial celebration with little or nothing to show for this milestone in a life of a "nation." This near-absolute failure of the Nigerian State is due mostly to the perfidious ethic-politics often shrouded in class identity and flaunted by the political elite during their bitter struggle for political offices. As it will be demonstrated in this essay, ethnicity in Nigeria (like in many other African countries), with attendant difficulties, is not as a result of `ancient hatred" among the people. But rather became so dominant in the domestic politics due to the deliberate policy of the British colonialists and the most heinous adoption of this colonial legacy by various Nigerian leaders in the political arena right from the period of decolonization. This essay primarily intends to reexamine the intricacies of the amalgamation of 1914; expose some of the ways through which the colonialists actually entrenched fissiparous tendencies into the Nigerian polity; analyses how the early nationalists built on this atrocious colonial legacy in their quest for political independence and continue to spread the virus up till date in their quest for political power and influence; evaluate the role of ethnic-politics during the Nigerian Civil War. The essay concludes by suggesting some ways out of the quagmire.
A Political History Of Nigeria And The Crisis Of Ethnicity In Nation-Building
International Journal of Developing Societies, 2014
The virus of ethnicity has been one of the most definitive causes of social crisis, injustice, inequality and religiopolitical instability in Nigeria. Ethnicity has been perceived in general as a major obstacle to the overall politico-economic development of the country. Nigeria is marked by underlying ethnic cleavages and interethnic fears and tensions, hence a bellicose nation. These are revealed from time to time by conflicting lobbies at the moments of competition for shares of the national cake and political appointments to high offices, resource control, head of political parties and ministerial positions. Losers in competitions for high national offices often attribute their failures to ethnicity or ethnic marginalization, while winners hardly ever explained their success in terms of the influence of ethnicity, and are therefore not gallant losers or magnanimous in victory. The Nation's incessant appeals to ethnicity have obviously showcased the evils inherent in the politicization of ethnicity. Consequently, the ensuing complications of ethnicity have grossly impinged on the development of the country in all ramifications. The paper, a historio-political venture, argues that the path was colonially charted though; the Nigerian political elite have in complicity exacerbated ethnicity in the country. As Nigeria warms to its centennial amalgamation birthday, the Nigerian political history is summable as a squandered century of nationhood, a nation-building in close call, extremely in dire need of operational reappraisals.
Colonialism and ethnic crisis in Nigeria : Barrier to nation building and national development drive
2017
Article history: Received 13 October 2015 Received in revised form 23 May 2016 Accepted 6 September 2017 Available online 15 November 2017 This article has the interest to explore the influence of development on developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, which are largely constitute of the so-called the third world countries. It is found that since the colonial rule, these countries are still battling with the problem of elemental sentiment of ethnicity within the plan of prosperous development. Specifically taking Nigeria – a heterogeneous nation with multiple ethnic groups still face clear obstacles to develop as a united and prosperous. This article views that the ineffective inter-ethnic relationship among the multiple ethnic groups in Nigeria has created ethno-religion crises. Various measures have been taken up by the successive governmental administration in the country, yet forms of ethnic crises still broadly manifested through ethnic suspicion, ethnic rivalry,...