what are the challenges faced by the independent nigerian nation? in what ways is it similar or different. from the challenges faced by independent india?
Answers
The pre-independence legacy of regionalism will challenge the unity of Nigerian citizens.
The demands of an equitable and fair constitution for all groups in Nigeria.
Social and economic inequalities between several ethnic and language based tribes.
Challenges of providing suitable leadership and creating strong courts and parliamentary bodies.
India faced the same problems which were resolve by the intelligence of our constitution makers in the year 1950.
The nations of Nigeria and India both have exceptionally diverse populations, endured the deliberate divide-and-rule strategies executed by British colonizers who sought thereby to exacerbate existing differences, and experienced peaceful transfers from colonial rule to independence. Despite these key similarities in certain aspects of their colonial and decolonization experiences, India and Nigeria have had very different levels of success in their efforts to create and maintain politically stable nation-states. Today, India is distinguished from other post-colonial independent nations for its political stability, demonstrated by its "set of stable political and legal institutions that has now remained more or less intact for over five decades" and a parliamentary democracy that has "remained more or less unchanged since India's independence and continues to function in an orderly fashion".1 Nigeria, on the other hand, is an exemplar of third world political instability, characterized as "highly nondemocratic and prone to using force" and plagued by recurrent coups and violent ethno-religious conflicts.2 In this paper, I identify crucial differences between each country's pre-colonial, colonial, and postcolonial experiences that have contributed to such divergent political conditions today. Specifically, this paper surveys the types and structuring of diversity in each country; their experiences under British colonialism (including how their boundaries were determined, what political and economic policies were implemented, and how they gained independence); and finally the important aspects that have colored their experiences since colonialism—including significant historical events, the geographic distribution of natural resources, and particular economic and political policies pursued.i
I argue that the source of India and Nigeria's divergent outcomes lies primarily in the structuring of their demographic diversity. India has had success in achieving political stability due to its diversity existing as "crosscutting cleavages," a characteristic of society that is associated with political stability.ii A society with cross-cutting cleavages is a society in which political, ideological, ethnic, racial, religious, socioeconomic, or linguistic divisions cut across one another "such that individuals on opposite sides of one divisive issue are often allies on another issue".3 And India, "with [its] multiple cleavages of religion, caste, tribe, region, and language slicing across each other," is indeed commonly considered to be "an outstanding example" of such a society.4 To give a concrete example, it is not the case that all Hindus in India speak the same language, are of the same socio-economic class, and live in the same region. Additionally, having a common ancestral history and traditions, experiencing a unifying and nationalistic independence movement, and pursuing political and economic policies (both under colonial rule and afterward) that had the effect of uniting the population has helped India.
In contrast, Nigeria's "overlapping cleavages"iii—being comprised of a population whose linguistic, religious, and ethnic differences overlap on top of one another and coincide with regional boundaries—have compromised its political stability. As scholar Okechukwu Iheduru describes, Nigeria's "250 ethnic groups, with their distinct (and mostly unintelligible) languages and cultural characteristics, are geographically separated".5 Moreover, Nigeria's lack of common national history, unequal natural resource distribution, and promotion of regionalism over a strong central government via specific political and economic policies (both under colonialism and after gaining its independence) have helped produce a Nigeria whose stability continues to be undermined by regional competition and violence.
I conclude this paper by looking at the political approach taken by several Southeast Asian countries. It is true that several Southeast Asian countries have had success in achieving national political stability via a type of governance that emphasizes central planning under an authoritarian government. However, I propose that several preexisting characteristics of India and Nigeria, as well as some features of their current political structure, are such that this Southeast Asian "model" (as some have described it) would not necessarily be adaptable to or useful for improving these nations' political stabilities.