ETHNO-RELIGIOUS CONFLICT AND NATIONAL INTEGRATION IN NIGERIA: ISSUES, CHALLENGES AND WAY FORWARD

Abstract

Ethnicity and religion have emerged as major political forces in Nigeria, being a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation. Interactions and conflicts among ethnic groups in Nigeria to a great extent influence and determine in varying degrees the nature and course of development. There is no gainsaying that ethno-religious conflicts in Nigeria are products of the country’s amalgamation in 1914. Using the descriptive method of data analysis, the paper argues that political conflicts in Nigeria stem from issues such as resource sharing, electoral and leadership crisis among other issues and has devastating effect on development in the country. The paper is anchored on the instrumentalist theory and recommended that the federal government needs to articulate a medium through which the various ethnic groups can be heard. Equity should be considered in handling the affairs of the various ethnic groups, government should design more programmes to tackle poverty, government should reduce the use of military force in quelling crisis and the judiciary should be given adequate power to adjudicate ethnic matters.