ETHNIC AFFILIATION AND RESOURCE CHALLENGES IN NIGERIA A STUDY OF IGBO ETITI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ENUGU STATE

ETHNIC AFFILIATION AND RESOURCE CHALLENGES IN NIGERIA A STUDY OF IGBO ETITI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ENUGU STATE

ABSTRACT

This research work titled ethic affiliation and resource challenges in Nigeria with particular reference to Igbo Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State. The researcher examined the effect of ethnic affiliation on the development of Nigerian economy. Four research questions and hypotheses were formulated in this project work. The research instrument used in this study includes oral interview and questionnaire. The population of the study was 209,248 while the samples size of 399 was determined by the use of Taro Yamanis formular. The sampling technique used in this study is simple random sampling. The questionnaire is structured as to contain both close and open ended question. Simple tables and percentages were used in treatment of data. Chi-square was used in testing the hypotheses.  At the end the researcher found out that Ethnic affiliation has significant effect on the development of Nigerian economy. It was also observed that the resource challenges of ethnic affiliation in Nigeria are Poor Revenue Allocation, Mismanagement of allocated funds and so on. The researcher equally discovered that the various ethnic affiliations in Igbo Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State affects the area to a large extent. The study recommends that To build a virile state the ruling elites should encourage national discourse to enable the various groups’ air their grievances and fears.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      Background of the study

It is a commonplace fact that Nigeria is a multi-ethnic nation state with socio-cultural differences between its component ethnic groups all of which have resulted into cultural dissimilarity (Okafor, 2007). This cultural dissimilarity has been manifested by, for instance, the differences in language, diet, dress and types of social system. Shrewd observers have noticed that the recent event such as globalization have not significantly diminished these differences. This static situation has been due to a number of reasons.

The indigenous languages, which help to identify the various ethnic groups, are still spoken by almost the entire population of Nigeria.

The style of life has not, for the majority people, changed to such a degree as to produce appreciably greater uniformity. Against this diverse background, many ethnic problems abound in Nigeria, which arise principally from the hostility that derives from competition between ethnically different peoples for wealth and power (Okafor, 2007).

The establishment of ethno-regionalism had a significant impact in Nigerian political arena. Theoretically, Edlyne (2002) contented that, even the formations of political parties, their manifestos, system of leadership and campaign strategies were originated from ethnic and geographical dimensions. An ethnic nationality refers to people who agree to share a common language, their cultural ideology and self identity.

While Okafor (2007) observed that since the beginning of democratic system of government during the first republic Nigerian political parties were forms into regional position supporting the three major ethnic groups the Hausa/Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba. In similar vein, the third republic of Nigerian democracy follows the same train. Furthermore, the model indicates clearly that Nigerians are more loyal to their ethnic background than their state.

The phenomenon of ethnicity becomes the most essential aspect of national identity in Nigerian politics, because people are more prone to their identity than being a Nigerian (Ogundiya, (2010). Gilley (2009) observed that, majority of Nigerians in their survey prepare to be label by their ethnic background. However, Nigerians tend to cluster more readily around the cultural solidarities of kinship, traditional entity than the class solidarities of the workplace. They also opined that what is more, “religious and ethnic identities are more fully formed, more holistic and more strongly felt than class identities” as evidenced in the fact that “whereas those who identify with religious and ethnic communities are almost universally proud of their group identities…those who see themselves as members of a social class are somewhat more equivocal about their pride”. Edlyne (2002) concludes that looking at the historical antecedent of Nigeria and the effect of colonialism the challenges is not a point of surprise but to adhere into unity in diversity.

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