Ethnicity, Ethnic Crisis, and Good governance in Nigeria: Implications for Sustainable National Development.

Abstract

The Nigerian federation is a marriage of over 400 ethnic nationalities whose consents were not sought in its formation. This fundamental flaw is further deepened by the fact that these ethnic groups have very striking differences ranging from language, population, level of education and geographical terrain which was not factored into the crafting of the Nigerian State. Expectedly, the politics and governance of the Nigerian State continues to be rudely punctuated by very disturbing ethnic and ethnic related crises that threaten its continued existence as a Nation. This paper attempts a chronicle and analysis of some of these crises and finds out among others that; ethnicity has remained the single most threatening trigger of crises in Nigeria and it is strongly supported by abject poverty which leaves a larger part of it citizenry grossly frustrated and easily swayed by opportunities to vent this frustration. Similarly, its implication for good governance and sustainable national development is huge in that, employment and appointments into the public service hardly respect the merit rule because ethnic considerations are put ahead of merit and national interest. The implication is worsening underdevelopment and general failure of governance at all levels. This paper therefore recommends among others, that government should address poverty as a matter of urgency and priority by creating jobs and an enabling environment for direct foreign investment, the government should more than ever before invest in educating its citizens by making primary and secondary education not just free, but also compulsory and qualitative while making tertiary education qualitative and more importantly, accessible to all. There should also exist, a legal framework that makes the implementation of the recommendations of panels of enquiry into various crises in Nigeria, mandatory within a maximum of six months.

Keywords: Ethnicity, Ethnic crises, Good governance, Sustainable National development