Abstract
Federalism is contributing to Nigeria’s failure in four main ways. First, it is fuelling the ethnic tensions and religious hatreds that are undermining the quality of life of tens of thousands of Nigerians. The cities of Kano, Kaduna, Maiduguri and Jos are regularly plunged into sectarian violence resulting in considerable loss of life and damage to property. At least some of this death and destruction is caused by the federal and state authorities who permit and instruct the police and army to respond with extreme force. The widespread anger and resentment this causes continue to drive some Nigerians into the arms of insurgent groups and others to support secession. By fuelling these tensions the Federal Government is not only failing to promote the flourishing of all its citizens, but it is also assisting groups and organisations which are either preventing it from exercising total control over its territory or seeking to break Nigeria up.
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Notes
Eghosa E. Osaghae, Nigeria since Independence: Crippled Giant (London: Hurst, 1998), p. 34.
C.M. Ngou, ‘The 1959 Elections and Formation of the Independence Government’, in Peter Ekeh (ed.), Nigeria since Independence: The First 25 Years (Ibadan: Heinemann, 1989), p. 100.
William D. Graf, The Nigerian State (London: James Currey, 1988), p. 36.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Walter Schwarz, Nigeria (New York: Praeger, 1968), p. 178.
Kalu N. Kalu, State Power, Autarchy, and Political Conquest in Nigerian Federalism (New York: Lexington books, 2008), p. 189.
Human Rights Watch, Arbitrary Killings by Security Forces: Submission to the Investigative Bodies on the November 28–29, 2008, July 2009, available at http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/nigeria0709web.pdf (accessed 2 April 2012), p. 3, and John Boye Ejobowah, Recognition in the Nigerian Public Sphere: A Liberal Argument about Justice in Plural Societies (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2001), p. 140.
Cited in Matthew Parris and Andrew Bryson, Parting Shots (London: Viking, 2010), pp. 282–283.
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© 2012 J.N.C. Hill
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Hill, J.N.C. (2012). The Emperor’s New Clothes? Federalism, the Decline of Old Loyalties and the Rise of New Jealousies. In: Nigeria Since Independence. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137292049_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137292049_4
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