LANGUAGE, NATIONAL INTEGRATION AND NIGERIA FEDERATION

Abstract

The position of this paper is that the lack of any true national integration in the country is traceable to the belief and conduct of the elite class represented in the various ethnic groups that make up Nigeria. The masses believe in their various elite classes to the level of misnomer, while the elite on the other hand use their position to consolidate their own gains. In addition, the government exercises power in an intentionally exclusive manner, with emphasis on the dominant and subordinate structures in the society. In a situation like this, the search for true unity and national integration would have no end. There is no loyalty to the nation any more, except complex ethnic or sectional loyalties. However, the opinion of this paper is that the beginning for the achievement of a true federation is to allow the political objectives, as enshrined in the constitution, to be the guiding principle of any government in this country. Failure to uphold and put into practice these constitutional provisions means that Nigeria would remain very much in the woods.


(Humanities Review: 2002 2(1): 93-100)