A CASE STUDY ON THE CAUSES OF ETHNIC CONFLICTWITHIN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

Ethnic conflict in Nigeria has led to the lack of peace and harmony. Nigeria is a complex country in Africa with over 300 ethnic groups and 120 different languages spoken throughout the country. The issue of discrimination, based on “We” and “Them.” negatively affect the socio-economic and political development of Nigeria. Since the day of independence, there has been the struggle for superiority and recognition among the various ethnic groups that led to the Nigerian civil war from 1967-70.

olonization, the struggle for position and power, resource control, social class status and land dispute has been the causes of ethnic conflicts within Nigeria. The objectives of this study are to explain the root causes of ethnic conflicts that lead to ethno–religious conflicts in Nigeria and to evaluate the magnitude of human and material resources destroyed as a result of such conflicts. A historical research method was employed for gathering secondary data from sources such as books, newspapers, magazines, dictionaries, journals, government publications and online information. The result revealed that the six geo-political zones of Nigeria namely; North West, North East, North Central, South West, South-South and South East zones have all witnessed all kinds of ethnic conflicts resulted from the same set of causes. Based on the findings, it was recommended that Nigeria should stop the practice of federalism and embrace confederation, which will give the country and its people autonomy to rule and manage their resources. The government should not be biased in sharing the wealth of the nation, one ethnic group, in particular, should not be favored against another

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1        Background of the study

Nigeria is a country in the continent of Africa, with over 300 ethnic groups and 120 different languages spoken in the country. Nigeria has two major religious affiliations Christianity and Islam, which are both the origin and history of ethnic conflict in the country. The ethnic groups have all seen themselves as a rival competing for power and decision making over economic resources. Today the country faces a more serious challenge to peace and stability as a result of ethnic differences; this has led to insecurity, instability, poverty and corrupt political institutions in the country.

According to Reuter (2015) International peace and security has been mainly threatened by ethnic clashes. The clashes in Balkans, Rwanda, Chechnya, Iraq, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Darfur, as well as in Israel where the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, are the worst examples of the late 20th and 21st centuries. Ethnic chaos is the widely known result of unstable province, states and most of the case, the whole region. These incidents are associated with ethnic clashes, multitude human right violations, genocide and crimes against humanity, all make the economic to fall to the lowest, state failure and refugee crises. Chaos in ethnic clashes often led to huge human hardship.

Many African countries such as Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Somalia, Sudan, Burundi and many more have experienced series of conflict, that occurred between communities, ethnic groups and religious groups and Nigeria is not excluded. Conflict have been linked to ethnicity and this have led to serious loss of life and property in many areas of the country.

The first years of Nigerian independence were characterized by severe conflicts within and between regions (InfoPlease, 2012). Compounding the problem of underdevelopment in a poor country like Nigeria is ethno nationalism, access to resources and allocation of power poses a great threat to peace, security and progress of the nation. Nigeria has a long history of ethnic conflict in which development cannot take place.

According to StudyMode Website (2013), the problem of Nigeria ethnicity and ethnic clashes has its roots from the history of colonialism, which forcefully brought the ethnic groups of the northern and southern states to form the entity called Nigeria in the year 1914.  In addition to the problem, StudyMode, (2013) stated that the case of Nigeria circumstance with past event of colonialism distress have brought into existence, hatred and clashes within different ethnic groups.

As the case may be, the country persists and remains polarized along ethnic divisions.

Lack of trust and discrimination has frequently characterized the features relationship of all the ethnic groups in the country, affecting unity, peace and stability of the country.    Nigeria has witness series and countless of different ethnic crisis / violence such as the Igbo-Hausa crisis in

Kano, Hausa-Yoruba crisis in Lagos and Ogun States, Zagon-Kataf in Kaduna State, Jukun-Tiv in Taraba State, Birom-Hausa in Plateau State, among others, the civil war of 1967-1970 and many more which have threatened the unity and well-being of Nigeria.

Ife-Modakeke chaos is the ancient intra-ethnic clashes in Nigeria archive. Nigeria southwestern state Osun belongs to Yoruba tribe where both Ife and Modakeke are part of the same tribe and state. These two communities of Ife and Modakeke are both descendants of Oduduwa, the ancestral father of the Yoruba people according to hereditary traditional story.  The two community’s lifestyle and governance operational way are greatly identical and their surrounding spreading greatly with one another. Ife and Modakeke are both relatives, but they have fought each other in a bitter struggle clashes for century (Akanle,2009).

The circumstance continued to impact negatively on the forces of national integration and cohesion in ethnically divided Nigeria. A country that is troubled with series of ethnic difficulty can only face enormous loss of lives, destruction of property and refugee crisis, that frequently redirect the attention of government from the business of governance to crisis management. To end ethnic conflict in Nigeria, an effort must be made to create and foster an enabling environment which result in peace, stability and assured the security and well-being of the people and the optimal use of human and natural resources to promote and improvement the quality and

value of all citizens.

According to AnswersAfrica (2013) Nigeria largest tribe is the Hausa, which makes up to 29 % of the country population. The Hausas occupied the northern part of Nigeria, Niger Republic southern part and Chad Republic west end are also being occupied by the Hausas. The rural and urban areas in northern part of Nigeria consists of Kano, Kaduna, Jos, Katsina, Abuja, Sokoto, Bauchi, Birnin Kebbi, Damaturu, Gombe and Jos.  Most often these two tribes in Nigeria, Hausa and Fulani, have the same identity in their tradition and lifestyle which makes them to be called Hausa-Fulani. One of the main tribes in Nigeria are the Igbos with measured amount of people inheriting their ancestry from the Igbo tribes. Past events show that the Igbo tribes were from Nri kingdom, one of the oldest kingdom in Nigeria.

Culturally, Igbos are productive. During the Stone Age they produce bronze ceremonial vessels as way of their culture and heritage. The south-eastern part of Nigeria and some of the main cities such as; Enugu, Onitsha, Owerri, Asaba, Awka, Abakiliki, Abia, Orlu are habitable by the Igbo tribes. (AnswersAfrica, 2013). Nigeria population of 21% is the Yoruba tribe and this amount to 40 million people.  The Yoruba tribes occupied the southwestern part of Nigeria and also spread across some of the West African countries like Benin Republic, Ghana, Togo and surprisingly the Caribbean.  The Yoruba has ancient past event of poetry and arts in 1100 to 1700, which produce magnificent bronze statues which represent their goods and their rulers in heads form, they produce so much bead work, metalwork weaving and mask making as part of artworks (AnswersAfrica, 2013).

Picture No 1: – Ethnic Map of Nigeria

 Source: http://www.onlinenigeria.com/mapethnic.asp

 Regarding origin of the name of the country, Flora Shaw, a British journalist and a writer, created the name Nigeria. Shaw suggested the name Nigeria to the Times of London through a message on January 8th of 1897. The name Nigeria was proposed to the British Protectorate along the Niger River. Shaw research writing to be used for a short form “agglomeration of pagan and Mahomedan States” which was operating under Royal Niger Company territories as an official name. The thinking of Royal Niger Company Territories as a term is too long for a name of a Real Estate Property which was Shaw concern. She then looked for a name and called it Nigeria, liking to such as Central Sudan” that were known with the area by some geographers and travelers (Wikipedia, 2016).

The 19th century saw the British manipulation over the most-biggest Africa nation called

Nigeria.  The year 1960, independence of Nigeria from the British were declared. After the Second World War, many events constituted Nigerian the self-rule of their own nation. Nigeria, for more than 40 years, was governed by the military between the 1966-79 and 1983-98. It just became a constitution state in 1999 with some peaceful handover from civilian to civilian in the past 16 years of democracy. Nigeria still have its ethnic and religious hostility up to date, with the

2003 and 2007 election reported to be fraud and with chaos, at the moment the nation is seen as the longest democracy form of government in the history of the country since its independence.

The April 2007 election was noted to be the first transition of power from a civilian to a civilian in the history of the nation, while the 2011 election was recognized as free and fair.  Nigeria in January 2014 gained a non-permanent seat in the UN security council for 2014-15 era (Online, 2014).

Nowadays, the Federal Republic of Nigeria is made up with 36 states with 774 local governments’ areas (LGA) and 9,565 wards with the Federal Capital Territory located in Abuja (FCT). The nation is divided into six geopolitical zones such as; North Central – North West – North East – South West – South East and South-South. The nation is still in chaos up to date, due to the inefficient of the leaders to supply enough sociopolitical and economic stability to all the ethnic groups. The living standard of Nigeria citizens is very poor and it has grown into an epidemic, such that almost 100 million are living below $1 per day, even though the nation economic has grown so much. According to the National Bureau of Statistic of 2010, 60.9% of Nigeria citizen still live definitely in hardship, which rose from 54.7% in 2004. (BBC, 2012).

1.2        Significance of the Problem

As mentioned in the background of the study, Nigeria is a complex country with over 300 ethnic groups and 120 different languages spoken in the country. According to Nnenna (2014), Nigeria citizens are radical when it comes to ethnicity. This makes it easy for Nigerians to be annoyed when being referred to as another tribe which is not them. The problem of antisemitism has destroyed the socioeconomic and political growth of the nation.  Nigeria, as a country, been rooted on “we” and “them” that has had a bad impact on the nation.  This is not the real image of federal nation, diversification in ethnicity has been the sociological issues holding back the progress of Nigeria as a nation. In addition to the issue, according to Nnenna, (2014); the entity called Nigeria is a forced marriage in which the people involved were not been asked if they want to be one nation. The battle for supremacy has brought chaos among the ethnic groups since the independent of Nigeria, which also had led to civil war between 1967-70.  This war was fought between the Igbo tribes called Biafra and the Nigeria federal government, which was led by General Yakubu Gowon and mainly populated by the Hausa’s.

While every main ethnic groups in Nigeria have taken advantage against other groups, they have created militants for their own selfish purpose which are not legitimate. Because of the absent of the law enforcement agencies, they formed some watchful groups that have done more chaos than good (PBS, 2007).

Political supremacy and lack of availability of economic wealth is responsible for the epidemic of ethnic militant in Nigeria as a nation. These are ethnic groups militants and their base in the country, South West occupied by – the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), South East – the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), South-South – the Egbesu Boys of Africa (EBA), North (North West, North Central and North East) – the Arewa People’s Congress etc. These affiliated groups are certainly made up of youths and they profess to represent ethnic groups and their interest.

In addition, disaster to the nation’s socioeconomic progress goal also been caused by the ethnic militant activities in Nigeria. Many ethnic groups want to fulfill their own interest at the cost of the nation, which happen to be the real truth about the circumstance of Nigeria. The disaster to the progress of Nigeria in aspect of politics of bitterness, culture of impunity, moral

decadence, hooliganism and many more are due to the events of militants groups in the nation.

Investigating Nigeria as the giant of Africa, with over 300 ethnic groups overwhelming velocity of ethnic clashes is very interesting, the reason is that most main causes of the clashes such as; politics, power, economic, culture and regional issues have been abandoned as cause factors to the Nigerian clashes, the research will center the main root of ethnic clashes in Nigeria and how dangerous it will be in the future.

The research will look on the effect that ethnic clashes have done to the socioeconomic and political progress of Nigeria, which will also look at all the most affected states that have suffered from the ethnic clashes.

This investigation job will be used as a fair root of character progress. The investigation will identify the main source that is producing ethnic chaos in Nigeria, with important data available for people. It will be used as recorded proof that widen the understanding of the ethnic leaders, followers and policy makers on the atrocity of ethnic clashes in Nigeria. A preferable policy formulation right from the local, state and national levels would enhance in correcting problems relating to ethnic clashes in Nigeria. The anticipated benefits of this investigation are that it will be used as a way towards the progress of a policy plan and notable force in peaceful co-existence among the practitioners of different ethnicity in Nigeria.

Upon these mentioned rationale, the research study got my attention while I was moved on my last visit to Zaria, one of the major city in Kaduna State in northern Nigeria. I found out that they were in some kind of disagreement with the next community. Less than a day they were killing among the ethnic groups over the unresolved issue. I got interest to know more why circumstances like this occur among the ethnic groups in Nigeria. I want to learn more on conflict issue and learn how to prevent and profound solution when needed in the future.

1.3        Objectives of the study

This research aims to achieve the following objectives:

1. To evaluate the magnitude of human and material resources destroyed as a result of ethnic conflict in Nigeria

.2.  To explain the roots causes of ethnic conflicts in Nigeria

3. 3. To recommend a comprehensive strategy for resolving ethnic conflict in Nigeria Conflict group.

Conflict Prevention

These mechanisms help to control potential violent conflicts or dispute from escalating into violence. Despite the development and effort of various government agencies and NGOs working together to promote social justice, conflict resolution, good governance and participatory sustainable development, the number of violent conflicts has increase rather than decrease in Nigeria.

Conflict Resolution

In this study, conflict resolution refers to the methods or process of attempting to find solution to settle a dispute. In today Nigeria, very few people involved in conflict resolution are trained to either prevent or settle disputes (Fatunde,2010). Fatunde further stated that the University of Ibadan recently signed a memorandum of understanding with two government

agencies to establish an Institute of Peace that will train people in this crucial field.

In addition, three major events in the recent past have galvanized the government to seek the creation of a peace institute: the crisis in Niger Delta, Nigeria’s economic honey pot; the ethnic-religious conflict in Plateau State, the country’s tin producing region; and Nigeria’s involvement in the multi-ethnic conflict in Darfur, in south west Sudan.

Ethnicity

Ethnicity refers to shared cultural practices, perspectives, and distinctions that set apart one group of people from another. That is, ethnicity is a shared cultural heritage. The most common characteristics distinguishing various ethnic groups are ancestry, a sense of history, language, religion, and forms of dress. Ethnic differences are not inherited; they are learned (Harcourt, 2016).  

Ethnic Conflict

According to (Wikipedia, 2016) Ethnic conflict is a conflict between two or more contending ethnic groups. While the source of the conflict may be political, social, or economic, the individuals in conflict must expressly fight for their ethnic group’s position within society.

National Stability

National Stability refers to the common or characteristics of a whole nation in a state of being stable or peacefully united.

Peace

Peace, is seen as harmony and tranquility with the absence of violence and freedom from fear of violence. Peace in Nigeria is critical to regional stability. The government should be held accountable in ensuring peace and unity in Nigeria. The leader’s must step-in to inform and educate the public, mostly the uneducated citizens about the unity and peaceful living among the ethnic groups, with the main theme of equality and oneness. This can be spread through all form of media to the massive population. Nigeria was built on the foundations of peace and unity. They should support the Nigerian dream of unity in diversity and stay strong, peaceful, and united despite the challenges ahead of them.

Peace Building

Peace Building in this study is the mechanisms designed to facilitate and ensure that stability and peace is reinstated and prevent the recurrence of conflicts by promoting peace building and reconciliation through social, political and economic transformation. Today, the united states institute of peace (USIP) work jointly with the Inter-Faith Mediation Center to promote religious peace building and reduce conflict in the Niger Delta area by funding and facilitating dialogue among the three ethnic groups locked in competition and conflict.

A CASE STUDY ON THE CAUSES OF ETHNIC CONFLICTWITHIN NIGERIA