Resurgence of Ethnic Crises and Instability in Nigeria

Abstract

The three major ethno-political structures (the Hausa - Fulani of the North, the Ibo of the East and the Yoruba of the West) into which Nigeria was carved by the colonialist have been one of the most debilitating problem at the root of ethnic crises witnessed since the Nigeria independence in 1960.The communities conquered by the British military power were different in race and language and in social and political organization. The emirates of Northern Nigeria were largely under the influence of Islamic culture for over six centuries and had little in common with the Yoruba and Ibo ethnic groups from the south. For the colonialist the situation created the problem of how to unite the inharmonious elements into a coherent whole while preserving each group’s sufficient autonomy to satisfy cultural aspirations The significant issue most especially in Nigerian Constitutional development from the colonization of Lagos territory in 1857 has been the unification and development of a common nationality. Though the struggle for independence in Nigeria was fought largely on one united front, disagreements among the several disparate nationalists groups were submerged. Despite several attempts that were made by the colonialist and Nigerian political leaders after independence to foster Nigeria unity, there exists persistent cavernous ethnic tension and crises engendered by mistrust and fear of domination, resulting to exaggerated political competition. The focus of this paper is therefore, to examine the effect of ethnic crises in the context of national integration process in Nigeria.