SOUTH EAST JOURNAL OF POITICAL SCIENCE Vol 4 No 2, 2018

SOUTH EAST JOURNAL OF POITICAL SCIENCE Vol 4 No 2, 2018

THE STATE, NATION-BUILDING AND DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Dr. Obi Emeka Anthony

Associate Professor of Public Administration and Director, Division of General Studies,

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU) Igbariam Campus

Email: obiemeka06@yahoo.com

Tel: 08063758338

Abstract:

The problem of nation-building is one that has confronted most multi-ethnic states in the world.
The concept of nation building which essentially implies fostering group cohesion from multi-
farious groups that make up a state often boils down to managing ethnicity and ethnic related
problems. Nigeria is a multi-ethnic state with over three hundred different ethnic nationalities.
For Nigeria therefore, nation-building has meant fashioning out programmes and procedures
that would lead to creating a sense of oneness among these diverse nationalities irrespective of
tribe and tongue. These apparently have not been easy. The study relied mainly on secondary
sources of data, while content analysis was employed in data analysis. This study therefore is
an attempt to examine the process of nation building in Nigeria over the years and identify the
problems which have militated or slowed down the process. In doing this we employed the
theory of federalism. The study among others found that the main problem of nation-building in
Nigeria is the problem of ethnicity and its many manifestations. Most unfortunately, the
solutions that have been employed in the past to manage this ethnicity have ended up
exacerbating the problem thereby negatively affecting the process of nation-building and also at
the same impeding the nations development. Based on this therefore, the study suggests
among others that nation-building can only succeed in Nigeria through multi-pronged solutions
and a national consensus derived from a broad-based dialogue among Nigerians who should
on their own decide the fundamental basis of their -co-existence if the country would record any
appreciable level of development.

Key-words- Nation-Building, Federalism, Ethnicity and Development.

Introduction
The Nigerian Federal experiment today is facing its most serious crisis of
confidence since the end of the civil war in 1970. One may even consider the pre-civil
war crisis better than what we have today since the situation then was basically, a face-
off between the Igbos and the federal government or better still the Igbos and the rest of
Nigeria. Today, the crisis is multi-faceted as different nationalities in Nigeria are
questioning the basis for the continued existence of the Nigerian state and have
therefore decided to call for a restructuring of the country.

1
 SOUTH EAST JOURNAL OF POITICAL SCIENCE Vol 4 No 2, 2018

The case for restructuring which practically all the groups in Nigeria have
supported apart from the core North according to former military President Gen Ibrahim
Babangida “means that Nigerians are agreed on our unity in diversity; but that we
strengthen our structures to make the union more functional based on our comparative
advantages” (Babangida Vanguard 27/6/17). Almost from the beginning of Nigeria,
Nigerians were made to believe that they were different and would probably remain so.
Incidentally instead of narrowing down the differences among Nigerian people, various
Nigerian governments have worked hard in making sure that the differences keep
widening. Perhaps, the present Buhari government is the worst culprit in this regard as it
has shown in words and deeds that it is a sectional government, which places the
interest of a particular section of the country above others. The feelings of alienation
and marginalization which have resulted from this, have heightened ethnic tensions in
the country, thereby calling to question the process of nation building in Nigeria. This
paper is an attempt in that direction. In doing this,we divided the paper into five sections
including the introduction. The second section would explain the keywords used in the
paper. The third section is the theoretical framework which is the theory of federalism.
The fourth section is on nation building in Nigeria, while the fifth and final section serves
as the conclusion.

EXPLICITATION OF THE KEYWORDS

In this second section of our study, we would briefly explain the key words used
in the paper in order to put our study in the right and proper perspective.

Nation Building: Nation building according to Fredrich (1966) is a matter of building

group cohesion and group loyalty for purposes of international representation and
domestic planning, whatever might be the building stones of the past” (p.32). It is simply
the “process whereby people transfer their commitment and loyalty from smaller tribes,
villages or petty principalities to the larger central political system”( Almond and Powell
1988, p.36). From the above therefore, nation building involves all the processes and
procedures involved in getting people from diverse and heterogeneous backgrounds in
a state to transfer their main loyalties from their smaller groups to the larger nation
state. Its main aim is achieving unity in diversity. Nwolise (2017), believes nation
building is “the process of motivating, mobilizing and galvanizing groups of diverse
ancestry, history, world outlook, language, religion and others into one nation”(p.9).

Federalism: Federalism according to Ramphal (1

is a method of organizing government so that sovereignty and political power are

combined within a single nation of several territorial units but are also distributed

2
 SOUTH EAST JOURNAL OF POITICAL SCIENCE Vol 4 No 2, 2018

between national and unit governments that each within its own sphere is
substantially independent of the other” (p.xv).

The fundament thing about federalism is that it is a political arrangement in a

state where there is a constitutional division of powers between levels of government.
The manner of cooperation between or among these levels may differ from one state to
another or even in the same state at different points in time to reflect political changes in
that state (Obi, 2004)

Ethnicity: Ethnicity, according to Nnoli (1978), is a social phenomenon associated with

interactions among members of different ethnic groups, which arises from the desire of
individuals to organize themselves in ways to enhance their competitive efficiency in a
situation where they perceive each other as competing for resources and positions. We
would still come back to this later.

Federal Character Principle: This according to the 1999 Nigeria Constitution means
that the:

composition of the federal government or any of its agencies and the conduct of
their affairs shall be carried out in such manner as to recognise the federal
character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity and to command
national loyalty. Accordingly the predominance in that government or its agencies
of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic of other sectional groups shall
be avoided.

Development: Development is one concept that evokes extreme passions in people

and often time is defined in contradictory terms. In this study we adopt the
conceptualization of the 2001 Nobel Laureate in Economics, Prof. Stigliz. According to
him, development should be seen as a transformation of society, a move from old ways
of thinking, and old forms of social and economic organization to new ones.
Development and developmental transformation involve a change in the way people
think and the way societies function, a change in norms, expectations and institutions.
Development involves not just the acceptance of change but its promotion and indeed,
its routinization (1997,cited in Obi,2017,p.120

THEORITICAL FRAMWORK

The theoretical framework on which this study would be anchored is the theory of
federalism. The reason behind this is that federalism is a system of organization of
government in order to accommodate inherent diversities within a nation state.

3
 SOUTH EAST JOURNAL OF POITICAL SCIENCE Vol 4 No 2, 2018

Incidentally, this study is on the method of handling diversities in Nigeria and integrating
them into a united country, which is the crux of the policy of nation building.

Often times trying to conceptualize federalism have not been easy. This is
because according to Elazar (1977),”there have been several varieties of political
arrangements to which the term has properly been applied”(p.26).In the same vein
Riker (1975), has also argued that “an initial difficulty in any discussion of federalism is
that the meaning of the word has been thoroughly confused by dramatic changes in the
institutions to which it refers. Hence, a word that originally referred to an institution with
emphasis on local self-government has come to connote also domination by a gigantic
impersonal concentration of force”. Apart from the reasons adduced by Elazar (1977)
and Riker (1975) above, perhaps Ramphals (1979) argument that "the practical
necessities of a miscellany of national circumstances, not the symmetry of academic
reasoning, have given it its content and its form"(p.xiv) is a serious explanation for the
reasons behind the fact "that the study of federalism, remains in a state of uncertainty
and vagueness" (Dare 1979,p.26).

Though there have been many efforts in the past to define federalism, the ground
breaking work by K.C. Wheare(1943) titled, "Federal Government" set the tone for
contemporary thinking on the subject. To conceptualize federalism he said; “By the
federal principle I mean a method of dividing powers so that general and regional
governments are each, within a sphere, coordinate and independent” (p.10).
He listed what he considered as the federal principle as including the following:
a) The division of powers among levels of government,
b) written constitution showing this division; and
c) coordinate supremacy of the two levels of government with regards to their
respective functions.
In defence of the water-tight nature of his definition, he later stated that:

I have put forward uncompromisingly a criterion of federal government- the

delimited and coordinate division of government functions-and I have implied that
to the extent to which any system of government does not conform to this
criterion, it has no claim to call itself federal (Wheare 1943,p.34).

Wheare's conceptualization which is seen as legalistic has been criticized for

being too legalistic and inflexible by Birch (1968). Beyond this, it has also been criticized
for been a description of American federalism, which in any case Wheare, believed is
the archetype of federal government. On this critical defect of Wheare, Obi (2014)
argues extensively that;
He (Wheare) seemed to have forgotten that even the American federalism was a
reflection of the socio- political conditions and history of America and has equally
witnessed some changes since the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 where the
constitution was adopted. In any case, the American patriots that converged in
Philadelphia stated that "they gathered for the purpose of rendering the articles of

4
 SOUTH EAST JOURNAL OF POITICAL SCIENCE Vol 4 No 2, 2018

confederation adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of

the union”(p.12).

It is therefore apparent from the above, that since the American federalism was
fashioned bearing in mind the exigencies of government, it cannot be the ideal as
K.C Wheare felt, because every society ought to fashion its own system to make
it ‘adequate to the exigencies of government.

These exigencies we know, must take into consideration, the peculiarities, history and
eccentricities of the local conditions of the country fashioning out the constitution. In his
evaluation of Wheare's formulation, especially as at concerns seeing the American
federal system as an ideal, Jinadu (1979) has argued that to the extent to which he sets
up the United States as a paradigm of federal government, Wheare's model is static.
This is because federalism in the United States has undergone different phases and
stages; so much so, that some features delineated by Wheare may not be of
contemporary significance. He concludes by stating that "Wheare falls prey to a kind of
historicism whereby what he interprets as socio-political facts about the United States
federal experiment, are elevated to the status of defining characteristics, which they are
not"(p.63 ). Scholars who conceptualized federalism in reaction to the noticeable pit falls
of Wheare's are Livingstone (1968), Birch (1955), Friedrich (1964) Elazar (1977) Riker
(1964) and Davis (1967) among others. Each of these scholars contributed towards a
proper understanding of the concept, thus none can be said to be a futile exercise, as
Dare (1979) has argued that;
Each approach is a narrow perspective of the broad theme, and none by itself
explains the totality of the federal concept or its dynamics. For example, Wheare
provides the legal framework of what constitutes a federal constitution; Livingston
looked beyond the surface to the social diversities that the constitutional division
of powers is supposed to mirror; Riker addressed himself to the actual bargain
and the integrative roles of political parties; Etzioni considered the process of
unification and interaction among the elites: Truman examined groups and
political parties and Friedrich looked intensely at the actual operation of the
societal centripetal and centrifugal forces and how these affect the constitutional
arrangements. In short, all these approaches together provide a comprehensive
view of federalism and complement each other. Both constitutional and extra-
constitutional factors go into the making and working of any federal system
(p.34).

In summation, these differences not withstanding, there is no doubt that irrespective of

where one decides to stand, federalism remains in the words of Ramphal (1979) "a
pragmatic method of organizing government so that sovereignty and political power are
combined within a single nation of several territorial units but are also distributed
between national and unit governments that each within its own sphere is substantially
independent of the others"(p.xv). It is this issue of organizing government between
national and unit governments in such a manner as to make for unity in diversity and,
5
 SOUTH EAST JOURNAL OF POITICAL SCIENCE Vol 4 No 2, 2018

and at the same guarantee a high level of equity, fairness and justice for the component
units that is the issue in nation building.

NATION BUILDING IN NIGERIA

Various Nigerian governments have introduced measures they felt will reduce
ethnic tensions, allay the fears of the minorities about domination by the major tribes,
guarantee equity in sharing of positions and resources all in the process of nation
building. The question, that one may then ask, is, how far all these measures have gone
in the process of nation-building? The answer very simply is, not far.

First, the level, intensity, spread and violent nature of ethnic strives that have
occurred in the country in the past years have really shown that Nigeria in 2018 is not
much different from what it was in 1948 when Arthur Richards (Lord Milverton) said that:

It is only the accident of British suzerainty which has made Nigeria one country. It
is still far from being one country or one nation socially or even economically —
socially and politically there are deep differences between the major tribal
groups. They do not speak the same language and they have highly divergent
customs and ways of life and they represent different stages of culture(cited in
Coleman 1986).

The raging ethnic wars in most parts of the country, seem to suggest that
Nigerians are yet to accept themselves as one which is an indictment of the previous
and present efforts to achieve unity in the country. The activities of separatist groups like
Independent Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), militant groups in the Niger Delta, Boko Haram
insurgency in the North,the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC), the Fulani herdsmen
menace all over the country, and other sundry groups, all challenging the basis of the
continued existence of Nigeria, and above all, the present deafening calls for
restructuring have all combined to challenge any pretentions that the process of
nation-building is on course.

State creation exercises that have been rationalised as a means of allaying the
fears of the minorities have not really succeeded in doing that. The minority groups as
represented by the South-South and the Middle-Belt are yet to be convinced that they
are not been cheated in the Nigerian federation. Thus, cries of marginalisation echo
from such areas. Even the Igbos that are seen as one of the majority groups are crying
out loudest against marginalisation.

Perhaps the most profound constitutional mechanism for nation-building in Nigeria is the
federal character principle. This principle originated from the 1979 Constitution Drafting

6
 SOUTH EAST JOURNAL OF POITICAL SCIENCE Vol 4 No 2, 2018

Committee, and was contained in section 14(3) of the 1979 Constitution. It stated the
premise of the principle as:

composition of the federal government or any of its agencies and the conduct of
their affairs shall be carried out in such manner as to recognise the federal
character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity and to command
national loyalty. Accordingly the predominance in that government or its agencies
of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic of other sectional groups shall
be avoided.

Section 14(4) of that same Constitution states that.

The composition of the government of a state, a local government council, or any

of the agencies of such government or council or such agencies and the conduct
of the affairs of the government or council or such agencies shall be carried out in
such a manner as to recognise the diversity of the peoples within it's area of
authority and the need to promote a sense of belonging and loyalty among all the
people of the federation.

The above which is contained under the Fundamental Objectives and Directive
Principles of State Policy, as also contained in the 1999 Constitution has been a very
contentious issue in the governance and politics of Nigeria. In order to ensure the full
implementation of the policy, a Federal Character Commission was established.

The Commission which has a Chairman and one person to represent each of the
states and the Federal capital territory Abuja is empowered to

A) Work out an equitable formula subject to the approval of the National Assembly
for the distribution of all cadres of posts in the public service of the federation
and of the states, the armed forces of the federation, the Nigeria Police Force
and other government security agencies, government owned companies and
parastatals of the states;
B) Promote, monitor and enforce compliance with the principles of proportional
sharing of all bureaucratic, economic, media and political posts at all levels of
government.

In all fairness to the authors of the principle, they were trying to find a solution to
the intractable problem of ethnicity in Nigeria and to bring about the desired peace
and harmony, thereby making for national integration (Obi & Abonyi 2004).

One would however say that (at least with the benefit of hindsight) that they got it all
wrong .By officially instituting discriminatory practice in employments and appointments
in the public sector, the Nigerian Constitution has enthroned mediocrity and discouraged

7
 SOUTH EAST JOURNAL OF POITICAL SCIENCE Vol 4 No 2, 2018

meritocracy. Through the quota system, Nigerians are encouraged to level down
instead of leveling up. Any society that rejects the best for the rest apparently cannot
develop, and no doubt real development has continued to elude Nigeria.

To start with, you cannot fight, eradicate or manage ethnicity by giving it

prominence. By giving salience to ethnic groups and making them prominent in our
national life, you are strengthening ethnic affiliations and by extension inflaming ethnic
tensions. If political appointments and public offices are shared out on the basis of
ethnic groups, it invariably means that a struggle for public offices, instead of being a
struggle by individuals is made a struggle among ethnic groups. It is quite clear that the
federal character principle has exacerbated the main problem it was made to solve (Obi
& Abonyi 2004).

The federal character principle has been used in admissions into the Unity
schools, federal higher institutions, the civil service, the Police, Armed Forces etc.
Those who support the federal character principle believe that it will lead to a reduction
of imbalance in socio-economic gap among the various ethnic groups in the country.
This, they believe will lead to a reduction of ethnicity and ethnic tensions in Nigeria. But
they are mistaken. According to Nnoli (1978).

The viewpoint that a reduction in the socio-economic imbalance between ethnic

groups would reduce tension is thus mistaken. It arises essentially from a static
conception of the ethnic groups as innate primary units of actions, thereby
neglecting the historical changes in the boundaries of the ethnic groups and de-
emphasising the role of class and individual factors in inter-ethnic processes
(p.225)..

Nnoli, further showed in his study that between 1946-1964, the pattern of inter-
ethnic animosity in Nigeria, shifted from the Igbo and Hausa to relations between Igbo
and Yoruba. This according to him was precisely the period when the socio-economic
imbalance between the two ethnic groups had considerably lowered.

Any system, no matter its merits, that discriminates against somebody on

grounds of his place of origin (which in -any case is a biological accident which he did
not contribute to) is unjust. Even the same 1979 Constitution that introduced federal
character equally prohibited, this type of discrimination in section 15(2) when it said that:
“Accordingly, national integration shall be actively encouraged, whilst discrimination on
grounds of place of origin, sex, religion, status, ethnic or linguistic association or ties
shall be prohibited”.

Balancing inequality should not be aimed at retardation but at the upliftment of

society, because by retarding somebody today in order to lift another person is not only

8
 SOUTH EAST JOURNAL OF POITICAL SCIENCE Vol 4 No 2, 2018

unjust but insensible. This is because, the victim of that action will still tomorrow
demand his own affirmative action, in order for society to lift him from the pit where
society dumped him in order to lift another person. If we must hold somebody down, in
order to bring another up, we must be ready to pull our victim up later or face the
consequences of our action. No society grows by discouraging excellence and hard
work. Societies grow by encouraging healthy competition among it's citizens. Though it
is accepted that all the groups may not have equal capacities or zeal to compete, it is
the duty of the government to motivate such people to see the need and advantage of
increasing their pace. However, if such groups still do not see the need for the urgency,
they should be left to move at their own pace. In any case, federalism, as a system
evolved from the recognition of diversities and the need to protect such diversities while
still existing in one nation. It therefore should be the aim of the federal government to
maintain a nationally acceptable minimum standard which it should encourage and
assist the component units to attain. But in this assignment, it should not be seen to be
discouraging some groups from making their desired progress. The aim should be to
encourage all to exceed the minimum, and to also encourage those who have the
capacity to set the pace for others to follow:

CONCLUSION: Towards Nation Building in Nigeria

We have been trying to look at the issue of nation building with particular
reference to Nigeria. It has been our contention that the problem of nation-building in
multi-ethnic societies is almost a problem of managing ethnicity. Wielding the different
ethnic groups into one united people is the major task that has faced most people that
are interested or involved in nation-building.

Having gone this far, we wish to conclude our study with a few suggestions on
how to embark on the onerous task of nation-building.

In encouraging relatively backward groups it should constantly borne in mind that:

We do not have to make a poor man rich by making a rich man poor. The aim
should be to make a poor man as rich as the wealthy in our midst. Our peculiar
politics of envy that seeks deliberately to retard the progress of those who are
making sacrifices to obtain their level of development in order that the less
developed can catch up, will impede rather than accelerate the process of national
integration and cohesion (Uroh 2000).

First, since the task of nation-building is mainly but not exclusively concerned with
managing ethnicity it is our believe that, ethnicity can be better handled not by

9
 SOUTH EAST JOURNAL OF POITICAL SCIENCE Vol 4 No 2, 2018

eliminating it but by reducing the salience of ethnic groups. Ethnic groups gain
prominence because they are quite functional for those that embrace them. Ake (1994)
argues that: “Ethnic identities displace national identities for good reason. The state in
Africa is tendentially uncaring and most ordinary people experience it as a hostile force.
The ethnic group cares and delivers”(p.25)..

If governments live up to their utilitarian billing by struggling to truly satisfy the needs of
their citizens, the people would have little or no reasons for relying on ethnic groups for
the satisfaction of their needs. In most developed countries the social security system
takes care of people who are unable to take care of themselves. These people have no
reasons to take refuge in parochial groups.

Based on the above therefore, one of the easiest ways of tackling the scourge of
ethnicity which hinders nation-building is to institute and run welfarist governments.
These are governments that are interested in the welfare of people, governments that
see human beings as the goal of development. When governments are interested in
people having Jobs, houses, health care and that people are free from hunger and
deprivation and psychological insecurity, then people will have little reasons for falling
back on ethnic associations except for cultural or purely social purposes.

Closely related to the above is the role of democracy in managing ethnicity and aiding
nation-building. Ake (1994) has so succinctly advanced this point when he said that;

Democratization is a solution to some of the problems which the manipulation of

ethnicity has caused, especially the antipathies between ethnic groups, the
violent intensity of political competition caused by fear of ethnic domination, the
dissolution of political society into ethnicities and the failure to crystallize a
national identity arising from the tendency to be loyal to the ethnic group rather
than the state — A democratized state would be responsive to social needs and
thus reduce, if not eliminate, the need to seek safety and support in the ethnic
group. In a truly democratized society, state power would not be privatized and
used to terrorize, exploit and oppress as is currently the case in most of Africa.
Ethnic groups would not be so desperate about avoiding domination and the
premium on power would be not be so high when there is rule of law, equality of
opportunity and equitable sharing of the burdens and rewards of
citizenship(p.25).

For Nigerians that are interested in embarking on the process of nation-building,

one thing we must understand is that for Nigerians to accept to transfer their
commitment and loyalty from smaller tribes to the larger central political system, there is

10
 SOUTH EAST JOURNAL OF POITICAL SCIENCE Vol 4 No 2, 2018

a compelling need for the nationalities to sit down in a round table to discuss about the
conditions of their co-existence as a nation. It is when people are sure that their
interests are fully protected in a union, and that they stand to gain more from staying
together than from standing on their own, that they can think about transferring their
commitment and loyalties to the Nigerian nation which is what nation-building entails.

Also we adopt the view by (Obi & Abonyi 2004) that any attempt at really solving the
ethnic problem in Nigeria must of necessity talk about restructuring the federation. The
present over-centralised federalism practiced in Nigeria, where the centre has so much
power and resources fuels the Hobbesian struggle to capture the centre. Since people
fighting to control the centre do not fight as individuals but groups, ethnic groupings
come in handy. In a restructured federation, more powers and resources reside in the
constituent units who would have the freedom to develop at their own pace. If the
units/states/regions become the loci of power the norm-less struggle to capture the
centre will gradually reduce and ethnicity would equally reduce with it. restructuring,
should be deep enough to alter the asymmetrical political structure that has over the
years impoverished the people, thus, allowing a few elites to feed fat on our common
wealth, while a group of rentiers and looters have foisted a sense of false
consciousness on the people through manipulating ethnic, sectarian and religious
sentiments thereby adversely affecting the capacity, ability and propensity of
development process in Nigeria.

On this issue of restructuring, Obi (2017), has submitted that for it to be meaningful,
it must address certain issues that are adversely affecting the growth and development
of the Nigerian nation. These issues according to him include but not limited to:

1) Bad governance
2) Resource control
3) Skewed federal allocations in favour of the federal government
4) Excessive powers of the federal government
5) The place of the Local government
6) Recurrent expenditure
7) The issue of State Police

We are therefore advocating for a comprehensive restructuring and of empowerment

in line with Ihonvbere's ( 2006 )call for:

A form of socio-economic and political restructuring which removes the locus of

power from the current custodians of state power and enables the currently

11
 SOUTH EAST JOURNAL OF POITICAL SCIENCE Vol 4 No 2, 2018

disadvantaged to meet their basic needs, fully participate in decision-making, and

provide opportunities to challenge internal and external oppression(P. 267).

Finally, we will conclude by stating the fact that the process of nation building in
Nigeria really faces a dilemma. This is because it is the political class who are supposed
to initiate and implement policies that will ultimately lead to nation building. The irony
however, is that this class are beneficiaries of the various zoning and rotation formulae,
which derive their roots from ethnic politics. Being products of the bad system, they are
not likely going to be disposed to measures that will erode the ethnic bases of their
power. Hence, they may see this call on them as a call for class suicide. This makes the
case look hopeless. However, there is some hope that as democracy gradually takes
root in Nigeria, the day will come when the voice of the people who are increasingly
bearing the brunt of our skewed and faulty federation will overwhelm the forces that
have kept the nation divided so that they may continue to forage on our collective
patrimony. When this happens, Nigerians can have the opportunity of sitting down to
discuss and negotiate the basis for the continued co-existence of the different
nationalities that make up Nigeria. For those who have been saying that Nigerian unity
is non-negotiable, they need to understand that federalism is ideally a contract among
the federating units, and that like in every contract, the contracting parties can and do
negotiate the bases of the contract based on the exigencies of the changing times and
the vicissitudes of the volatile environment. The case of Nigeria can’t be any different.
The option now seem to be an understanding of this necessity and subsequently doing
the needful in order to create the atmosphere for socio-economic development or
remain in self- denial and continue gyrating in the quagmire of underdevelopment.

REFERENCES

Ake, C. (1996). Is Africa democratizing? CASS occasional monograph No 5 .Lagos:

Malthouse
Dare L. O. (1979). Perspectives on federalism. In B. Akinyemi, P. D. Cole & W.
Ofonagoro (Eds.), Readings on federalism. Lagos NIJA.
Elazar, D. J. (1977). The ends of federalism: Notes towards a theory of federal political
arrangements. In Frankel (Ed.), Partnership in federalism Benr: Peter Hang.

Emerson, E. (1966). Nation-building in Africa. In K. Deutsche and W. Foltz (eds).

quoted by Obasi, I. N. (2001) Nation-building in Nigeria: Issues and problems. In
Ofuebe, C. (ed). Dynamics of social studies. Enugu: New Generation Books.

12
 SOUTH EAST JOURNAL OF POITICAL SCIENCE Vol 4 No 2, 2018

Etzioni, A. (1962). A paradigm for the study of political clarification. World Politcs Vol. 15
No, I

Federal Republic of Nigeria, Report of the Constitution Drafting Committee containing

the Draft Constitution. Vol. 1 Lagos, Federal Ministry of Information. 1976

Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1979 Constitution, Lagos Government Press.

Friedrich, C. (1966). Nation-building"? In K. Deutsche and W. Foltz nation building.

New York: Alterton Press

Jinadu, A. (197). A note on the theory of federalism. In B. Akinyemi, P. D. Cole & W.

Ofonagoro (Eds.), Readings on federalism. Lagos NIJA.

Nnoli, O. (1978). Ethnic politics in Nigeria. Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers

Nnoli, O. 1994). Ethnicity & democracy in Africa intervening variables. CASS Occasional
Monograph No. 4

Nwolise,O.B.C.(2017)Security challenges, peace building and nation building in Nigeria.

Keynote address presented at the first international conference on security challenges
and peacebuilding in Nigeria by the General studies division of Chukwuemeka
Odumegwu Ojukwu University Igbariam Campus oct 26

Obi, E. A. (2004). Issues in the theoretical foundations of federalism. In O.S.A. Obikeze,

and E. A. Obi (eds). Federalism and national integration in Nigeria. Onitsha: Bookpoint
Ltd.

Obi, E. A. and Abonyi, N. (2004). Ethnicity and nation building in Nigeria: The federal
character principle revisited. In S .A Obikeze. & E. A.Obi (eds). Federalism and national
integration in Nigeria. Onitsha:Bookpoint Ltd.

Obikeze, S.O. & Obi, E.A.(2 nd ed) (2016). Government & Politics of Nigeria: The
Struggle for Power in an African state Onitsha: Bookpoint Ltd.

Obi,E.A (2017) Reconstructing the meaning and tenets of development. In E.A. Obi,
A.M. Okolie and O.S.Obikeze (eds). State and economy: Interrogating the role of the
state in the development process (2nd ed). Onitsha Bookpoint Ltd.

Obi E.A. (2017)Imperatives for restructuring in Nigeria. Paper presented at the

roundtable on restructuring at the 1 st International Conference of the division of General
Studies of the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Igbariam campus on the
26th and 27th October 2017

13
 SOUTH EAST JOURNAL OF POITICAL SCIENCE Vol 4 No 2, 2018

Oyovbaire S. E. (1979). Kenote address at the international conference on federalism

held in Lagos Nigeria in 1st May 1976 contained in Akinyemi et al (Eds.) op. cit.

Riker W. (1962). Federalism: Origin, operation, significance. Boston, Little Brown

Wheare K.C. (1953). Federal government (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

14