2012
X, 405 pp.
5 colour diagrams, 4 b/w graphs, numerous tables and charts, index of subjects and names
Text language: English
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:
