Effect of ethnic politics on the socio-economic development of South East, Nigeria

Abstract

The study explored the effect of ethnic politics on the socio-economic development of South East, Nigeria. The study employed primary and secondary data. The population of the study was 11641017. Taro Yamane formula was adopted in determining the sample size of 400. The study adopted the Stratified Sampling Technique or the Proportionate Stratified Random Sampling (STRS) technique. Tables, frequency distribution and Mean Scores were adopted in the analysis of data while Chi-square test analysis was used in testing the hypotheses. The findings revealed that Ethnic politics has an effect on infrastructural development of South East Nigeria, that Ethnic politics has an effect on industrialization of South East Nigeria and that there was a relationship between ethnic politics and insecurity in the South East Nigeria. The study concluded that ethnic politics affected socioeconomic development of South East Nigeria. It is evident that the ethnic virus has been one of the most important causes of social crisis and political instability in Nigeria; and ethnicity has been perceived in general as a major obstacle to the overall politico-economic development of the country. The study recommended among others that recognizing the heterogeneous nature of the Nigerian society, our leaders should look beyond ethnic differences and formulate unifying national goals which will hence, put ethnic sentiments as second place in terms of priority.