CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Nigeria, a federation of many different nations, is the most populous country in Africa with approximately 160 million inhabitants. The country is divided into 36 states and 748 local government areas. The religious, ethnic and cultural diversity of the federative units is, without a doubt, an exception. Otite (1990) in Mustapha (2007) identifies 374 ethnic groups that are largely divided into "majorities" and "minorities." The majority ethnic groups are Hausa-Fulani from the north, Yoruba from the southwest and Igbo from the southeast. However, relations between these groups are characterized by fear and suspicion of domination of one state or ethnic group by another. Meanwhile, this suspicion and fear among the groups is historical. However, this was manifested when Sir Fredrick Lord Lugard began to subject ethnic groups to a history of mutual distrust and hatred as a single Nigeria. Surprisingly, these ethnic groups are not part of the same population and, as a result, some tend to dominate others, which exploits them. In addition, there are political and economic imbalances between these different states or ethnic groups that make up Nigeria. These imbalances come from the nature and character of the postcolonial Nigerian state. In almost all sectors, states, ethnicities or regions, people feel marginalized.
These have brought about a choking socio-economic competition among the various ethnic groups which have resulted into ethno-regional conflict and tension that characterize Nigeria since 1960. The emergence of various militia groups in the Niger Delta, OPC in the South-West, MASSOB in the South East and of recent Boko Haram in the North, are all indications of the existence of rivalries between and among the various groups over the sharing of national cake. These ethnic, regional, and religious divides in the country have become so problematic with resultant patterns of inequalities. These inequalities are caused by a complex range of factors, including history, geography, cultural orientation, religious affiliation, natural resource endowments, current government policies, and past colonial policies. Akinola and Adesopo (2011) in Aderonke (2013) support this argument when they posit that, the problem of ethnic minority has been receiving attention of scholars and practitioners of governance and development. This is because ethnic minority is usually sidelined and ignored by the majority in decision making and resources distribution. The consequence of such politics of exclusion has been agitation and demand for social inclusion, which at times results to violent actions. Society is a system of human cooperation, the question of how society can mainstream the minority groups in decision making on welfare matters, requires adequate policy consideration.