Igbos, Ijaw, Yoruba, Ibibio, Nembe, what have you, they all consider themselves different from 'southern Nigeria', and to that detriment, they are expecting an Igbo president after an Ijaw one, then a Yoruba, then and then all the other ethnic groups in the south.

Well, the North's unity can be confirmed by this, there was no time that Northern Nigeria request that after Hausa, Fulani will reign, then Kanuri, then Arabs (yes we have them), then Nupe, then Birom. This can go on and on and on. So, to all those who wants to see the North divided as they have started showing since, when somebody requested openly that Hausa/Fulani should blame and fight Kanuris for the boko haram issues. Most incessant comment ever. Nothing like this will ever happen, not now not in the future.

It is either we are one, or we are none, that is how North is right now.

About the Degree in Nigerian Politics

WHY STUDY NIGERIA?
by Aaron Shields


1) Nigeria covers a large area of land and has a variety of landforms

Nigeria is one of the largest countries in Africa, so one would expect the landscape to be quite diverse. The northern extremities are part of the southernmost extent of the Sahara Desert. South of that area lies the dry, but inhabitable, Sahel region of West Africa. Nigeria, therefore, is a good place to study the effects of desertification and drought.

Nigeria also contains the Jos Plateau, an upland region that has a rather moderate climate. The soils of the area are good for agricultural production of various food crops. The Plateau is also a place where extensive tin mining occurs. Thus, one could investigate the environmental impacts of mining on the surrounding agricultural areas. Issues of water contamination from tailings ponds and other mining debris is another important issue.

Nigeria has dense tropical forests and mangrove swamps in the southeastern part of the country near the Niger River delta. These areas are also known for their oil production, so the human-environment interactions can be applied to the issue of fossil fuel usage. In addition, lumbering takes place in this region, both for use of the tropical woods for furniture making but also to meet the demands for more agricultural land to feed Nigeria's people.

Both the Benue and Niger Rivers flow through parts of Nigeria with the Benue flowing into the Niger and the Niger emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. Nigeria's rivers face many of the same challenges faced elsewhere in Africa: use as transportation corridors, hydroelectric and damming projects, upstream water contamination by neighboring countries, etc.

Nigeria's landforms have created physical regions that are often coincident with the regions classified by ethnicity, language, or religion so both the physical and human aspects of geography can be seen when discussing Nigeria.


2) Nigeria has a large and rapidly-growing population

Nigeria has the largest population in Africa and one of the highest rates of natural increase as well. It offers an excellent example of the issues faced by nearly every African nation to maintain a good quality of life for their people when resources keep having to be stretched to accommodate more and more people. Issues of family planning and contraceptive use, childhood immunizations and adult vaccinations, and adequacy of medical facilities are important social issues that can be researched using Nigeria as the case study.

The structure of the population is another important issue where Nigeria serves as an excellent case study. Age-sex pyramids show how the population is distributed across the various age groups and by gender. These help to explain the strains placed on families and the government when the number of dependent persons (especially children and the elderly) exceeds that of those of working age. Understanding issues such as these helps explain why major famines, droughts, and disease epidemics take such a heavy toll in Africa.


3) Nigeria has a diversity of ethnic groups and languages

Nigeria is known to have at least 250 different ethnic groups and associated languages, some claim it may be as high as 1000 languages when dialects are included. Obviously, this could be looked at in several ways. First, Nigeria is a microcosm of Africa because each ethnic group has its own identity and social customs and these often clash. Most African countries have 10-50 ethnic groups vying for power and influence, but Nigeria has at least 5 times that number. One can easily study the political and social impacts of ethnic tensions without studying any other African countries besides Nigeria because her internal divisions often make as much of an impact as political boundaries do in other parts of Africa.

Second, with this great diversity, Nigeria also holds the distinction of being one of the only African countries to have had forced migration within its own borders. The mass migrations that occurred between Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaire) as ethnic violence waged on have also taken place within Nigeria. Much of this migration took place in relation to the Biafran civil war of the late 1960s, and many of these migrants ended up in the Jos Plateau region, giving it the most diverse population of anywhere else in the country, if not the entire continent. Again, the political and social implications can easily be looked at.

Third, one can use Nigeria as an example of the possibility that one government could exist in such an ethnically-diverse place. Through its cycling of military and civilian governments, Nigeria has exhibited what things can work well for all people despite their different backgrounds while also showing how exploitative one ethnic group can be when they are in total control of the government. Nigeria's survival as a country is dependent upon it being able to overcome the tensions between its various groups of people. Nevertheless, this is not a problem unique to Nigeria, so understanding Nigeria's situation helps students to understand why these military coups and dictatorships happen so easily in Africa, often met with little or no resistance.

Fourth, despite the negative connotations associated with colonialism, the British did leave behind one very important communication aid - the English language. The use of English by the government avoids the difficulty of having to select one African tongue to take that place. Were that to happen, it would likely lead to even greater ethnic strife than there is now as other linguistic groups would react to the proclaimed official language - likely that of whichever ethnic group happens to be in power at the time. Similar situations happened in other former colonies under French or Portuguese rule.


4) Nigeria has various belief systems and religions

Nigeria is said to be 50% Muslim (Islamic), 40% Christian, and 10% Traditional African Religions. How is this possible? During pre-colonial and colonial times, the Sokoto Caliphate governed northern Nigeria while Europeans started at the Atlantic coast and moved slowly inland toward the north. The British left the Sokoto Caliphate in charge of the North. They spread the religion of Islam amongst the Fulani and the Hausa. The Igbos of the Southeast and the Yorubas of the Southwest were primarily converted to various Christian sects depending on what church had missionaries in the area. Numerous Christian denominations exist in Nigeria today. At the same time, Yoruba and other traditional beliefs did not disappear entirely, as the missionaries and priests had hoped. Rather, many Africans began to blend their traditional rites and beliefs with those of their Christian sect or with that of Islam leading to what are known as syncretic religions.

As Christianity and Islam are the two primary religions in Africa, Nigeria serves as a good example of the roles these religions play in politics and in policy decision-making. The complications when church and state are mixed can clearly been seen throughout Nigeria's 40-year period of independence and the dominance of the Hausa Muslims in military governments. This complex relationship between church and state is a problem most every African country has faced or will face. Lessons can be learned from what Nigeria did right and what it did so very wrong.


5) Nigeria has a large urban population

Nigeria's population is spread throughout the country in both rural and urban areas. Nevertheless, the Southwest has the two largest urban areas in the country, Lagos and Ibadan. Another sizeable city is Kano in the North. Thus, Nigeria, experiences the same urban problems that any other African city would face. There are the issues of housing for that many people. Where will they all live? In many cases the continued rural-urban migration has led to the rise of shanty towns, or slums, in the urban centers. Nigeria's major cities all face this problem. These people that live in the shanty towns live in the worst conditions, often constructing their make-shift homes out of wood fragments, tin, aluminum siding, cardboard, anything they can get their hands out. There is likely no electricity, and there is certainly no running water nor sewage disposal. These are unsanitary conditions that lead to disease and early death, but many of these people have no other option.

A second major problem urban cities face is the employment situation. Where are all of these migrants from the rural areas going to work? Many are forced to beg, to work odd jobs, or to become part of the informal sector, selling goods and services. Others get involved in jobs that are dangerous but that no one else will take. Furthermore, many of the children of these families have to start working in agriculture or in factories to help their parents make a living. This means their education stops completely, many of them never finishing elementary school. This contributes to the problem of sweatshop labor because these families see no other option being available to them.

Another major problem facing cities is transportation and traffic. The bus systems of Nigeria have virtually collapsed, so most people have cars, but these cars are not necessarily safe to drive. There are a great many traffic accidents because of the lack of laws regarding motor vehicles. In the city centers there is the problem of traffic congestion and the associated air pollution from smog. Other environmental concerns are the disposal of toxic chemicals and groundwater contamination, air pollution from factory smoke stacks. All of these problems are similar to those in Cairo, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Kinshasa, Addis Ababa, and Dakar. Nigeria is certainly not alone in these urban problems, but it provides insights into where Nigerian cities went wrong and provides information that can hopefully prevent similar problems from happening in other lesser developed parts of Africa.

All lies. They only want to recolonize Nigeria by placing useless labels in particular region and over analyzing it out of context.

obowunmi:

All lies. They only want to recolonize Nigeria by placing useless labels in particular region and over analyzing it out of context.

Exactly as they want as response.

They are studying the country to understand how human behaviors changes over some circumstances. It is like doing a research on 'animals in the zoo', when you watch them over the years you will understand their behavior and then plan on how to solve your own particular problem easily.