Nationalism and Politics in Post-Colonial Nigeria

Edited by: Aderemi Suleiman Ajala. With an introduction by: Aderemi Suleiman Ajala. With contributions by: Aderemi Suleiman Ajala, Akeem Ayofe Akinwale, Emmanuel Osewe Akuboh, Shina Alimi, Tunde Decker, Moses Metumara Duruji, Peter-Jazzy Ezeh, Olumuyiwa Olusesan Familusi, Christine Fricke, Adediran Daniel Ikuomola, Mufutau Temitayo Lamidi, Chukwuemeka Eze Malachy, Garba Mohammed, David Omeiza Moveh, Sat Obiyan, Samuel Oluwole Ogundele, Adetunji Ojo Ogunyemi, Ikechukwu Bernard Okafor, Rasidi Akanji Okunola, Azeez Olusola Olaniyan, Seun Olutayo, Siyan Oyeweso, Ibrahim Umara.

Series: TIAS Topics in Interdisciplinary African Studies Volume 24

In October 2010, when Nigeria marked its 50th year of inde­pendence as a sovereign state, Nigerian statehood was still threatened by a number of problems; inter alia ethnic discontent expressed in form of locally conceived nationalism against the state and among different ethnic groups in Nigeria remains the principal. At independence in the 1960s, only three ethnic groups, the Hausa/Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba, were recognised in Nigerian politics, but post-independent politics has shown that it is not only the three major ethnic groups that are politically strong in using their ethnic consciousness to influence the state’s interests.

In the multi-ethnic Federal Republic of Nigeria, the federating units composed of many diverse ethnic groups resort to locally conceived nationalism in political relationships. Apart from rendering the Nigerian nation-state weak, such relation­ships have in many occasions resulted in widespread violence.

The focus of this book is to examine the various factors which influence nationalism in Nigeria and which in turn affect the process of nation-building. The volume emerged from an international conference titled Nigeria @50: Nationalism and Politics in Post-Colonial Nigeria which was held at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, in October 2010, and which was to mark Nigeria’s 50th year of independence. The papers that were presented at the conference form the content of this book.

Questions that encouraged the holding of the conference were e.g. as follows: How do we define a nation and a nation-state in the Nigerian case? In what way was nationalism expressed within the first 50 years of Nigerian independence? How did politics influence the expression of nationalism in Nigeria? Can Nigeria develop a broad-based nationalism that will put all its diverse interests in a strong nation-state in form of civic nationalism?


CONTENTS

Background

Aderemi Suleiman Ajala: Introduction

Chukwuemeka Eze Malachy: Ethnic Identity, Party Politics and the Nigerian Project, 1960–2010 – An Appraisal

Siyan Oyeweso: Nigeria at Fifty – The Prospects and Challenges of Nation-Building

Part One – State, Politics and Nation-Building: Conceptual Discussions

Christine Fricke: Doing the Nation – Performative and Everyday Practices of National Identities in Africa

Moses Metumara Duruji: Civic – The Ethnicity–Nationalism Dichotomy: Untangling the Renewed Demand for an Autonomous Biafran State in Nigeria

Ikechukwu Bernard Okafor: Legal Perspectives of Nationalism in Nigeria

Adetunji Ojo Ogunyemi: Nation-Building in Nigeria – Conflict between the Rights of the Indigene and the Citizen

Part Two – Local Traditions, the Media and Nationalism in Nigeria

Shina Alimi: The Nigerian Tribune and Agitation for Human Rights during the First and Second Republics

Mufutau Temitayo Lamidi: Linguistic Nationalism and the Domesticated Use of English in the Naijaworld and Nairaland Virtual Communities

Aderemi Suleiman Ajala: A jí s’ebí Òyó – Yoruba Perceptions of Nationalism in Nigerian National Politics

Rasidi Akanji Okunola / Adediran Daniel Ikuomola:
Festival of Curses: A Traditional Crime Control Method in Edo State

Samuel Oluwole Ogundele: An Anthropo-Historical Analysis of Collective Memories for Nigerian Liberation in the 21st Century

Peter-Jazzy Ezeh: Ethnology in Nigeria’s Pre- and Post-Independence Nationalism

Part Three – Politics, Economy and Nationalism in Nigeria

Tunde Decker: Poverty in Post-Colonial Nigeria – Historical Postulation

Azeez Olusola Olaniyan: Violence and Identity Politics – The Sayawa of Northeastern Nigeria as a Case Study

Olumuyiwa Olusesan Familusi: Understanding the Implications of Ethnic Politics and Agitation for Social Stability in Nigeria

Akeem Ayofe Akinwale: Ethnocentrism and the Question of Nationalism in Nigeria

David Omeiza Moveh: The Exigence of Zoning the Presidency for Nation-Building in Nigeria

Sat Obiyan: Party Politics, Ethnicity and Nation-Building in Nigeria

Part Four – Religion, Gender and Nationalism in Nigeria

Ibrahim Umara / Garba Mohammed: Strategic Implications of the Boko Haram Insurgencies in Borno State Politics

Emmanuel Osewe Akuboh: Ethno-Religious Conflict in Northern Nigeria and its Implications for National Unity, 1999–2010

Seun Olutayo: Non-Feminization, Null Nationality – The Dilemma without Gender

About the editor of this volume:

Aderemi Suleiman Ajala holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology of the Sociology Department, University of Ibadan (Nigeria). His research interests include public health, identity and politics, social movements in Yoruba land of Southwestern Nigeria, ethnography and theories in anthropology.

He is a recipient of some international grants and fellowships including the British Academy Fellowship (2006) and the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (2008–2009) and has published many articles and monographs on his research interests.

Under these links you will find publications by the volume editor and further studies of the independence of African countries and the time after:

Accompanying material:

• Constitutional Reform Processes and Integration in East Africa (ISBN 978-3-89645-168-2)
• Democracy, Decentralisation and Poverty Reduction in Malawi (ISBN 978-3-89645-815-5)
• Justice and Dignity for All (ISBN 978-3-89645-166-8)
• Processes of Legal Integration in the East African Community (ISBN 978-3-89645-167-5)
• Recht in Afrika · Law in Africa · Droit en Afrique (ISBN 978-3-89645-812-4)
• The United Republic of Tanzania in the East African Community (ISBN 978-3-89645-642-7)
• Yoruba Nationalism (ISBN 978-3-89645-900-8)

Cross-reference:

• 50 Jahre Unabhängigkeit in Afrika (ISBN 978-3-89645-829-2)
• Ein günstiger Augenblick (ISBN 978-3-89645-845-2)
• Human Rights in Tanzania (ISBN 978-3-89645-320-4)
• Oil and the Niger Delta People in International Law (ISBN 978-3-89645-622-9)
• The Lion and his Pride (ISBN 978-3-89645-838-4)
• Vom Reichtum eines armen Landes (ISBN 978-3-89645-840-7)

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