Ethnicity, Religion and the future of Nigerian Democracy by Sunday M.A. Aloko, Scientific Research Journal (Scirj), Volume II, Issue XI, November 2014 Edition

Scirj Volume II, Issue XI, November 2014 Edition
ISSN: 2201-2796

Ethnicity, Religion and the future of Nigerian Democracy

Sunday M.A. Aloko

Abstract: Nigeria’s ruling elites are guilty of deliberately promoting the social fragmentation that creates, feeds and reinforces religious and ethnic identities to the exclusion of civic and national identities throughout the democratization process of the country. This situation breeds mutual distrusts and tensions culminating into frequent ethnic and religious violence, which leads to the wanton destruction of lives and property and doubts over the future of democracy and even the future of the polity. This paper is a critical attempt to analyze the challenges ethnic and religious politics poses to the continuing existence of the Nigerian Nation-State and its democracy. The paper contends that ethnic and religious differences are not the problem per se, except for the manipulation of these identities by the political juggernauts and the fertile ground unemployment, poverty, injustices, inequitable distribution of resources leading to uneven development in the country. The colonial ideology of divide and rule inherited by the post-colonial state has been identified as the root cause of the problem. Thus, the paper argues that unless the challenges of ethnicity and religion are grasped and adequately addressed, it could tear Nigeria apart, serving sectarian religious and ethnic interest.

Reference this Paper: Ethnicity, Religion and the future of Nigerian Democracy by Sunday M.A. Aloko published at: "Scientific Research Journal (Scirj), Volume II, Issue XI, November 2014 Edition, Page 12-18 ".

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