FEDERAL CHARACTER PRINCIPLE AND NATIONAL INTEGRATION

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FEDERAL CHARACTER PRINCIPLE AND NATIONAL INTEGRATION

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

Nigeria’s population is estimated at 150 million. The country has between 250 and 400 ethnic groups depending on the criteria used A total of 374 ethnic groups were identified by the eminent sociologist, Otite (1990). These ethnic groups are broadly divided into ethnic ‘majorities’ and ethnic ‘minorities. The numerically-and politically-majority ethnic groups are the composites Hausa-Fulani of the north, the Yoruba of the southwest, and the Igbo of the southeast. The three majority ethnic groups constituted 57.8% of the national population in the 1963 census. That census has the Hausa (without the Fulani) at 11,653,000 (20.9%), the Yoruba at 11,321,000 (20.3%) and the Igbo at 9,246,000 (16.6%) (Jibril 1991). Eleven of the largest ethnic minorities put together constituted 27.9% of the population in the 1963 census (Afolayan 1983). The numerical and hegemonic strength of these three ethnic groups within the Nigerian federation has meant that Nigeria has a tripodal ethnic structure, with each of the three majority ethnic groups constituting a pole in the competition for political and economic resources. The ethnic minorities are forced to form a bewildering array of alliances around each of the three dominant ethnicities. Tripodal ethnic structures are inherently unstable, especially compared to countries like Tanzania which has a fragmented ethnic structure. In Tanzania, no ethnic group constitutes more than 12% of the population (cf. Nyang’oro 2006), so alliance building is the norm in politics. By contrast, ethnic politics in tripodal Nigeria is often conflictual as each of the three hegemonic groups tries to build up sufficient alliances to ensure its preponderance in government, or to prevent its being marginalized by competing alliance.

The interplay between this tripodal ethnic structure on the one hand, and administrative divisions and communal identities on the other, has led to eight major cleavages in Nigerian political life (Mustapha 1986), the most important of which are: the cleavages between the three majority groups; between the majority ethnic groups on the one hand and the 350-odd minority ethnic groups on the other; between the north and south and between the 36 states of the federation and the six zones-three in the north and three in the south-into which they are grouped; and finally, between different religious affiliations. Some of these cleavages overlap, for example, the southeast zone overlaps with Igbo ethnicity and Christian religious affiliation, while the north central overlaps with northern ethnic minorities.

Statement of the problem

There may have been previous researches in this subject. This work gives further explanations and analysis in federal character principle and national integration

Objectives of the study
To understand the impact of federal character principle on national integration
To understand the relationship between federal character principle and national integration

Research questions
What is the impact of federal character principle on national integration
What is the relationship between relationship between federal character principle and national integration