Territorial Pluralism: Assessing the Ethnofederal Variant in Nigeria

Abstract

Ought states to adopt institutional arrangements that enable groups to exercise internal political autonomy? This paper answers this question with specific reference to ethnofederalism in Nigeria. It proceeds by surveying the theoretical literature that invokes liberal principles to defend group claims to internal self-government or full independence and the empirical literature that maintains political autonomy for groups is a recipe for democratic failure and state breakdown. It combines and uses these ideas to normatively evaluate four institutional elements of Nigerian ethnofederalism. Its main arguments are: first, contemporary liberal-based arguments for the right of groups to territorial self-government speak to and would defend Nigerian ethnofederal arrangements; and, secondly, empirical claims that ethnofederal institutions risk conflict and instability are valid in the Nigerian context; however, these potential dangers can be deflected through solutions that are just and democratic.