Under Reconstruction: Ethnicity, Ethnic Nationalism, and the Future of the Nigerian State

Abstract

This article, using a diachronic approach, advances the argument that a genuine national cohesion and the future of the Nigerian state cannot be fully guaranteed in the clear absence of addressing the inherent structural defects of the country’s malfunctioning federalism. The Nigerian post-colony is, presently, confronted by the challenges pose by ethnicity/ethnic nationalism with negative consequences of political ethnicity, ethnic conflicts, etc. It is argued that the entrenchment of plural democracy has the capacity to address the lopsided policies of the central state that are at the peril of the weakening federating states and most importantly, the oil-bearing ethnic minorities of Nigeria’s Niger Delta. In addendum, the article argues and demonstrates that democracy in the real sense of it has the potency of democratising the Nigerian nation-state; strengthening of mediatory and regulatory institutions; promoting intraand inter-ethnic relations, etc. The agitations and activities of the oil-bearing ethnicities and various ethnic social movements of the Nigeria’s Fourth Republic for autonomy and social justice were used to buttress this article basic arguments and concludes with the government’s efforts in addressing Africa’s most populous country’s multilayered ethnic problems. 1 An abridged version of this article has been published in Law and Politics in Africa, Asia and Latin America [Verfassung und Recht in Ubersee, VRUE] vol. 42, no. 2, 2009, pp. 212-239. 2 A Nigerian social scientist, Isiaka Alani Badmus is currently an Australian Government funded international scholar attached to the Centre for Peace Studies, School of Humanities, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia where he is conducting a Doctoral research on International Peacekeeping. E-mail: Tel: +61403051521. * Acknowledgment: The author would like to thank ’Dele Ogunmola of the University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia; ’Demola Victor Akinyoade of Salem University, Lokoja, Nigeria; Maureen OgbonaNwaogu of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Lagos, Nigeria, and Unumeri Godwin, author, social scientist and independent researcher/consultant based in Lagos, Nigeria for useful comments on earlier drafts. I thank Dr. Karl-Andreas Hernekamp, Editor of Law and Politics in Africa, Asia and Latin America (c/o Institut fur Internationale Angelegenheiten, Universitat Hamburg, Germany) for his permission to publish the full-length manuscript. Remaining errors are the author’s responsibility.