HISTORY AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
CLIFFORD UNIVSERSITY

NIGERIA PEOPLES AND CULTURE

Nation Building, Challenges and Way forwaRd

Nation-building is constructing or structuring a national identity using
the power of the state. Nation-building aims at the unification of the
people within the state so that it remains politically stable and viable in
the long run. Furthermore, Nation-building is the process whereby a
society of people with diverse origins, histories, languages, cultures and
religions come together within the boundaries of a sovereign state with a
unified constitutional and legal dispensation, a national public education
system, an integrated national economy, shared symbols and values as
equals, with the aim of eradicating the divisions and injustices of the
past; to foster unity; and promote a countrywide conscious sense of
being proudly one Nigeria, committed to the country and open to the
continent and the world. Nation-building is a significant undertaking that
governments employ to develop political, economic, security and social
institutions in other countries especially those emerging from conflict.
Governments conduct those activities abroad to secure their own
national interests.

Challenges of Nation Building in Nigeria

Persistence of Sectarian Uprising and Ethnic Militia Groups: The
21st century Nigeria has continued to witness rising and persistent cases
of ethnic militia and sectarian groups across the geo-political zones in
Nigeria. The activities of these group have led to a high level of
insecurity across the nation; inter and intra-ethnic disharmony; hatred;
mutual suspicion and disaffection which have hampered nation building
efforts in the country.
Endemic Corruption: In most part of Nigeria if not all, corruption has
been identified as a major cankerworm that has seriously derailed the
nation building efforts of the Nigerian state. The precise meaning of
corruption has attracted divergent views among scholars. Ifamose (2007)
defined corruption as the manifestation of anti-social behaviour by an
individual or social group which confers unjust or fraudulent benefit on
its perpetrators.
Ethno-Religious Conflicts: The multi-ethnic and heterogeneous nature
of the Nigerian state has manifested in the multiplicity of religious
beliefs and practices in the country which have continued to generate
some ethno-religious conflicts. According to Ibenwa, conflict implies “a
disagreement between two individuals, groups, or countries especially
when they have differing views or interests”. Phil Eze, conflict refers to
“the expression of disagreement over something important to two or
more individuals, groups, state or nation”. Conflicst usually occur when
these groups have divergent or different views, goals, needs and have to
fight over available limited resources.
Gender inequality and persistence of human rights abuses: Gender is
a universal concept that classifies the human nature into male or female
with respect to sex characteristic. Gender is also described as social
construct of roles, rights and responsibilities that human communities or
social members consider to be more appropriate for men and women. In
this vein, gender roles, inequalities or power imbalances are not natural
biological differences but are humanly or socio-culturally defined.
Gender therefore represents a social construct or parallel of unequal
division classifying human nature into feminist or masculinity.

Political violence: Political violence has constituted a bane in the

Nigerian electoral process and democratic consolidation. Up till the 21st
century, elections in Nigeria are still characterized by widespread
violence, intimidations, killings and various forms of rigging in favour
of a preferred candidate or party. Privileged or wealthy politicians have
continued to use financial or other inducements to pay their way through.
This scenario has led to the emergence of unpopular candidates and a
high level of political alienation among the average Nigerian electorate.

Ethnicity: The manner through which Nigerian territories were

partitioned, balkanized and amalgamated by the colonialists without due
consultation of those involved or proper study of the people’s culture
and ethnic affiliations have continued to affect nation building efforts of
the Nigerian state. Nnoli, defines “ethnicity as a social phenomenon
associated with the identity of members of the largest possible
competing communal groups (ethnic groups) seeking to protect and
advance their interest in a political system”. In Nigeria, the issue of
where somebody hails from, before certain recognitions, job offers,
admission into higher schools and some other considerations are made
have remained the order of the day. In most cases, merit have been
compromised on the alter of expediency. Ethnicity promotes mediocrity
which lowers the productivity of the workforce. In most cases,
unqualified persons are placed over the more qualified and more
efficient workers. The low productivity that is a feature of African
economies is essentially a result of this state of affairs.

Regional imbalance, political and socio-economic disparities: One

major issue that has continued to affect the unity and stability of Nigeria
since independence has been the uneven distribution of the size of the
geo-political zones in the country. Just before and after Nigeria’s
political independence, the size and population of the North was noted to
be bigger than the other regions put together. Nothing has changed
significantly till date and this has continued to put the North in an
advantageous position in the distribution of both tangible and intangible
national resources. Kano state for instance, has 44 local government
areas presently, a number that is larger than what exist in three states
outside the North put together.
Youth Unemployment: The level of unemployment in Nigeria
especially among the youth has remained alarming. This has constituted
a major threat to their survival. Government efforts over the years to
tackle this have remained cosmetic, half baked and unfocused. In 2015
for instance, figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)
showed that 64 million Nigerian youths were unemployed while 1.6
million were underemployed, a situation which led to dejection,
frustration, desperation and dependency on family members, relations
and friends
Communal conflicts: Generally, conflict refers to a felt struggle
between two or more independent individuals over perceived
incompatible differences in beliefs, values, and goals or differences in
desires for esteem, control and connectedness Conflict does not occur in
isolation as it usually occur in social relationships. Conflict is described
as functional or constructive when the intended outcome turns positive.
On the other hand, conflict is dysfunctional when the intended outcome
becomes negative.

Challenges of nation building in Nigeria in the 21st century; The

way forward
For over 57 years of Nigeria’s political independence, the issue of nation
building has remained a major challenge to the leadership. The more
certain issues confronting the Nigerian state are addressed, the more
some other threatening challenges emerge. As a way out, this study
proposes the following as the way forward:
Use of the political approach in resolving Sectarian uprising and
Boko Haram insurgency
In view of the huge losses in persons and materials the nation has
continued to record on the war against youth militancy and Boko Haram
insurgency without fully getting the desired results, the Nigerian state
and other relevant security agencies should as a matter of urgency
reconsider their approach

Provision of enabling environment and level playing ground for all

citizens
Section 17, sub section 1(2) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria clearly states that every “citizen shall have equality
of rights, obligations and opportunities before the law” (egalitarian
society).
Intensified national citizens’ orientation
One of the targets of nation building is the creation of national
consciousness and love for ones nation through the building of structures
and sound institutions. From what obtains so far in Nigeria, many have
continued to lose fate in the country given the tempo of sectarian
uprising and security breaches across the country. Discordant voices and
expressions of ethnic chauvinism have continued to trail over a galaxy of
issues. In as much as political demands are inevitable in democracy,
such demands however should be managed in order not to provoke
unnecessary ethnic tension and agitations to the extent of constituting a
threat to national unity.

Responsive governance and leadership accountability

The development of any society is undoubtedly tied to the extent to
which its government or governance is responsive and accountable.
Democratic good governance “provides a platform for rapid changes in
the socio-economic and political status of nations and their citizenry”.
Nation building hardly takes place where there are no nation builders
(selfless, visionary and committed patriots). Responsive government
takes place when those in power adhere to the principles of
constitutionalism, that is, seeing leadership as a social contract between
the leaders and the led whereby government actions reflect the will or
wishes of the electorate.
Adjustment of existing Western ideologies and strategies of
development
The blind adoption and importation of some Western values, ideologies
and strategies of national development by Nigeria without a careful
study of the Nigerian environment has continued to constitute a cog on
the wheel of societal progress in Nigeria. Some of the ideologies such as
western capitalism, liberalism and programmes such as privatization and
commercialization have been placed not within, but above the Nigerian
society. The end result has been failure of implementation and inability
to realize expected targets. Some western values which Nigerians have
also imbibed wholeheartedly have encouraged corruption, ostentatious
living, undue competition, political violence, individualism and the ever
widening gap between the rich and the poor.
Conclusion
A good number of efforts undertaken to bring about nation building in
Nigeria have continued to be problematic. For various reasons, a lot of
people have continued to express lack of faith on the Nigerian state as
state policies and programmes have continued to alienate majority of
Nigerians especially those at the grassroots, and thus reducing level of
patriotism to the state. One cardinal thing that has continued to elude
Nigeria has been that of competent and responsive leaders with integrity,
vision, service orientation and high moral values. It has remained
worrisome that after over 57 years of Nigeria’s political independence, a
country that is blessed with abundant natural and manpower resources
still wallow in abject poverty of the majority; unemployment;
institutionalized corruption; squandering and looting of public funds and
economic mismanagement. These have led to undesirable consequences
on the state and its people
Appraisal Questions
1. Exhaust a comprehensive meaning of nation-building
2. List and explain at least four (4) challenges of nation-building
 3. Briefly enumerate at least five (5) solutions to the problems of
nation-building in Nigeria
4. How true is this assertion that, the problem of nation-building in
Nigeria is simply and squarely leadership failure.