Ethnicity and Nationalism in Nigeria

Abstract

The underlying literally endeavor sets out to investigate the resulting identity crisis that derives from the interplay between ethnic and nationalist ideologies. The search for identity has and continues to be of immeasurable significant in man’s quest for significance and meaning, more so in Africa where self-consciousness remains in crisis having been assailed from of myriad of directions. The once enduring racial consciousness, shared faith of colonial subjugation and quest for self-actualization that propelled nationalist ideologies in Nigeria, has since waned off and regressed into ethno-consciousness based on shared languages and geographical proximity amongst other primordial factors. Exploring the interplay from the theoretical perspective of relative deprivation, the study concludes comparison and established or perceived feeling of superiority has pitched ethnicity groups against each other. The notion that one group is better than the other base on access or inaccess to resources and political has driven the dual identity crisis in contemporary Nigeria. To address the unhealthy competition from power certain state policies need to be reviewed or enhance to reflect the foundations of the federal character principle in particular. Further claiming the near monocropic nature of the Nigerian state as a defining attribute of ethnic antagonism.