The National Question in Nigeria: Comparative Perspectives (Interdisciplinary Research Series in Ethnic, Gender & Class Relations) - Hardcover

The inspiration for this work came in the aftermath of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election by the Nigerian military junta under the leadership of General Ibrahim Babangida. The annulment itself led to popular struggles and a mass exodus of people across the country. This text is not a mere political response but also an academic response to the crises and challenges the Nigerian nation-state has been facing since then. It identifies the core philosophical and theoretical issues that underline the discourse on the national question worldwide and explores the ways in which the national question manifests itself in Nigeria. The history of Nigeria is discussed, along with the proposition that Nigeria's politics, from time to time, has been based on the principle of domination by the three majority ethnic groups. One of the chapters argues that the revenue allocation is central to all talks about the national question and that injustice in the allocation of revenue is important to the understanding of the national question in Nigeria. Another chapter seeks to debunk several myths and notions about the Middle Belt, and further chapters argue that the military is central to the understanding of the crisis of federalism and that federalism is a solution to the national question.