The Urban System and National Integration in Nigeria

Abstract

Most of the countries in contemporary Africa were creations of different European powers during the scramble for the continent in the late nineteenth century. In this process various groups of people with different cultural and ethnic background were merged together to form the present countries in Africa. In some cases certain ethnic groups were equally divided between two countries by an artificial boundary. Thus, unlike most countries in Europe, where virutally all the inhabitants of a country are members of one nation, contemporary African countries are inhabited by many nations. In Nigeria, for example, about 250 ethnic groups with different cultural backgrounds have been identified. The composition of most African countries by many different ethnic groups with varying degrees of social and economic development has made the question of national unity a major problem of these countries, and this largely explains the existing instability in their political systems. For example, frequent changes in government by violent means in the continent are closely associated with ethnic divisions rather than ideological differences.