THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION, NATIONAL- ETHNIC MINORITY GROUPS AND THE CREATION OF STATES: THE POST–COLONIAL NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Critics will retort that there are well over 400 ethno-linguistic groups in Nigeria and each of them cannot have their own state! This is acknowledged and is not an altogether unfounded claim. It, however, underestimates inter-communal and interethnic relations which in Nigeria is generally cordial. Several states in the country are strictly speaking not entirely homogenous ethnically but are composed of several minority groups living together in harmony. Furthermore, there are criteria which ethnic groups agitating for states within Nigeria must meet. Political negotiations, rallies, campaigns and the like all play a part in the realization of the legitimate aspirations of ethnic minorities within a constitutional democracy. Undoubtedly, the operation of Federal Republican Constitution and the creation of states continues to attract constructive criticism. Thus, it has been argued against Nigeria’s Presidential Federalism that this type of republican constitutionalism continues to sustain and perpetuate the status of the predominant tribes more powerfully than would have occurred in a unitary system.