Internal boundary conflicts and national integration in post – colonial Nigeria: An assessment

Abstract

This paper is titled “Internal Boundary Conflicts and National Integration in Post-Colonial Nigeria”. It examines post-colonial resurgences of internal boundary conflicts that have bedevilled Nigeria. It argues that resurgences of internal boundary conflicts in the country since independence are crops of expansionism in the sense that colonialism itself created organisations and societies that encouraged aggressive propensities, while the post-colonial state could not avert the ills of colonial rule but rather re-invented the foreign strategy of division and law. That the scuffles for control of the naturally found resources in our localities have over the years led communities, local governments and States to a long-drawn-out deadly boundary conflicts. Nigeria‟s experiment with federalism, constitutionalism and national integration is fraught with these pervasive internal boundary conflicts, an unfortunate scenario that has compromised national unity, political stability and development. The objective of this research is not only aimed at highlighting the impact of internal boundary conflicts on Nigerian federation but to also draw the attention of Nigerian policy makers and researchers to the “neglect” of these issues which have pitted groups between and even within states in the country, with deadly consequences thereby questioning the principle of national integration and its essence in Nigeria. The methodology adopted involved mainly the secondary source which has to do with only published and unpublished works on the vexed issues of internal boundaries and national integration. The paper submits that, the existence of different natural resources found within the country should not always lead to internal boundary conflicts but cooperation among the people. That, it‟s the lack of harmony of the peoples collective and civil values and customs that makes it difficult for them to arrive at equally acceptable policies for resolving differences, a scenario with serious implications for the socio-political and economic development of the country.