Belonging&Non Belonging:A Discuss on the Indigene/Settler Issue in Jos,Nigeria

Abstract

The JOS crisis has clearly brought to the fore the indigene /Settler issue and the multiple negatives encountered in a plural society like Nigeria. While noting the implosions that exist in such plural societies like Nigeria, recourse is made to John Rawls idea of justice. Succinctly leaning on his idea of overlapping consensus and idea of citizenship, this paper adopts an elastic definition of citizenship and indigeneship. It posited that any Nigerian citizen who has lived in any part of the country for a reasonable length of time and if he so chooses ought to be regarded as an indigene of such a place and as such ought not to be discriminated against. The paper while urging for a religious balanced society in the impossibility of a religious blind society, noted that discrimination is bad since humanity is one.