Forging national integrarion through philosophic interrogation of cultures

Abstract

About 100 years ago the various nationalities and tribes inhabiting the coastal and Sahel regions of West Africa were amalgamated into a single geo-political entity called Nigeria. The government of Nigeria celebrated 100 years of the amalgamation last January. Two events occurred in the teeth of the celebration which respectively demonstrated the two intractable problems that have bugged the development of Nigeria: mal-administration and disunity. There was the commotion caused by the national honors awardees scrambling and engaging in fist-cuffs over the medals which were less in number than the awardees. There was rigorous and suffocating security screening which enshrouded the venue in an eerie atmosphere of security scare. This paper argues that the recipe is philosophical re-orientation towards instituting liberalism (in the original sense of the word) as national ethos. It is also argued that liberalism is a philosophy of freedom and justice upon which anvil great civilizations have been forged and great civilizations broken when they turned against it. The conclusion is made that Nigeria can achieve liberalism through philosophic interrogation of her peoples' cultures and in that stride attain greatness. This paper employs the methods of philosophical analysis and hermeneutics to attain its research goals.

Keywords: Forging, National, Integration, Interrogation, Culture.