Enhancing National Integration and Inter-Group Relations in Post-Colonial Nigeria State through Federal Character: An Analytical Discourse.

Abstract

The geo-political entity defined as Nigeria remained the most enduring hangover of the British colonialism. Before the 1914 popular amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates, each of the over 250 ethnic groups that make up Nigerian State existed to some extent independently and distinctively in culture and tradition, but not that they were not interacting with one another in favourable term. What happened in the 1914 episode of the northern and southern unification was reminiscence of a marriage, which may not be so pleasant but cannot be easily divorced. Consequently, the British displayed their political craft by introducing federalism. Still, the 1914 exercise it did not bring to bear the desired integration and inter-group relations. Arising from the problems inherent with federalism or federal arrangement, Federal Character Principle was introduced as a therapy. The degree to which the policy has achieved its fundamental historic objectives in terms of nation building and inter-group relations casts serious doubt on scholarship and therefore demands analytical academic exploration.