CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1Background of the study
It is a commonplace fact that Nigeria is a multi-ethnic nation state with socio-cultural differences between its component ethnic groups all of which have resulted into cultural dissimilarity (Okafor, 2007). This cultural dissimilarity has been manifested by, for instance, the differences in language, diet, dress and types of social system. Shrewd observers have noticed that the recent event such as globalization have not significantly diminished these differences. This static situation has been due to a number of reasons.
The indigenous languages, which help to identify the various ethnic groups, are still spoken by almost the entire population of Nigeria.
The style of life has not, for the majority people, changed to such a degree as to produce appreciably greater uniformity. Against this diverse background, many ethnic problems abound in Nigeria, which arise principally from the hostility that derives from competition between ethnically different peoples for wealth and power (Okafor, 2007).
The establishment of ethno-regionalism had a significant impact in Nigerian political arena. Theoretically, Edlyne (2002) contented that, even the formations of political parties, their manifestos, system of leadership and campaign strategies were originated from ethnic and geographical dimensions. An ethnic nationality refers to people who agree to share a common language, their cultural ideology and self identity.
While Okafor (2007) observed that since the beginning of democratic system of government during the first republic Nigerian political parties were forms into regional position supporting the three major ethnic groups the Hausa/Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba. In similar vein, the third republic of Nigerian democracy follows the same train. Furthermore, the model indicates clearly that Nigerians are more loyal to their ethnic background than their state.
The phenomenon of ethnicity becomes the most essential aspect of national identity in Nigerian politics, because people are more prone to their identity than being a Nigerian (Ogundiya, (2010). Gilley (2009) observed that, majority of Nigerians in their survey prepare to be label by their ethnic background. However, Nigerians tend to cluster more readily around the cultural solidarities of kinship, traditional entity than the class solidarities of the workplace. They also opined that what is more, “religious and ethnic identities are more fully formed, more holistic and more strongly felt than class identities” as evidenced in the fact that “whereas those who identify with religious and ethnic communities are almost universally proud of their group identities…those who see themselves as members of a social class are somewhat more equivocal about their pride”. Edlyne (2002) concludes that looking at the historical antecedent of Nigeria and the effect of colonialism the challenges is not a point of surprise but to adhere into unity in diversity.
According to Ogundiya, (2010) Nigeria has witnessed the transition from the military regime for a quite long time to a democratic system of government since the year 1999, Nigeria failed to resolve its ethno-religious and political violence which contributed to the weakening of democratic governance and national integration. As a multi-ethnic nation, with diverse religious and cultural background the political system is expected to cope with and control both human and natural resources effectively, but in contrast this diversity becomes the source of ethno-religious and political violence.  About five decades after Nigeria gained independence, the Nigerian diverse social structure in terms of her heterogeneity has not changed significantly.
Gilley B (2009) opined that the diversity nature of the society has made identification with the ‘nation’ a difficult task. Today, identification is easier at both family and ethnic levels. A consequence of this is that many of the citizens may never develop a proper concept of nation. This kind of ethnic group relations signifies a negative dimension and which may mean much for the Nigerian political system. Therefore, a discussion of the effects of ethnic politics on the survival of democracy is or seems to be highly desirable. It even becomes necessary given the cry of political marginalisation coming from various ethnic groups in the new democracy. In all political activities in Nigeria, the factor of ethnicity is reflected. It is particularly obvious in areas like voting, distribution of political offices, employment and government general patronage of the citizens. It is against this background that this research work discusses ethic affiliation and resource challenges in Nigeria with particular reference to Igbo Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State (Gilley, 2009).
According to Levitsky, (2010) in a federal system of government, revenue allocation involves two schemes. The first is the vertical sharing between the federal or inclusive government and the other tiers of governments. The subject of these sharing schemes is the federally collected revenues. This is because the revenues generated within the jurisdictional areas of the units – states and local governments are not subject to the national sharing formula.