Constitutional Change For Minorities In Nigerian Federal Arrangement

Abstract

The minority problem in Nigeria is the direct product of the existence of the federal system's growth and creation. In order to foster creation of national meaning, the emerging framework should resolve the interests of all communities in an ethnically varied political climate. Where national consciousness is replaced by ethnic identification, national integration wishes to encourage solidarity through treatment. A sense of national consciousness was not stimulated at the beginning of the federal system in Nigeria. Unfortunately, at the detriment of national unification, independence political actors politicised the minority problem. As a result, calls for self-determination, ownership of land, and Sharia law were moved in many phases, as well as the creation of additional States, and a recent national conference on sovereignty was convened. This paper suggests that overall institutional corruption in Nigeria exacerbates the turmoil generated by these demands and the subsequent crises over the years. While in the various units of the federation there are minority groups, politics are more a matter of the more prominent minority than politics. Devices designed to alleviate minorities' fears have become a catalyst for federal instability. The paper states that Nigeria should examine the minority problem for the second time and undertake further concrete steps in order to develop a federal political system isolated from divisive trends.