ETHNICITY AND NATIONAL INTEGRATION: A REVIEW OF NIGERIAN POLITICAL STRUCTURE, 1966-2023

Abstract

The absence of true democracy has been a reoccurrence issue in Nigeria and this has disintegrated her national unity as a nation and left her politically unstable. Ethnic identity and sectorial cleavage of political power have schism Nigeria political structure. The design of the study was a descriptive survey. The study was carried out inIgboeze South local government of Enugu State. The population of the study was 100 participants which comprises among the party leaders and members, traditional rulers, political aspirants and eligible voters within these communities. Fifteen items questionnaire was constructed to elicit information from the respondents on a 5 point rating scale. A multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data collected. Statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) was employed in the data analysis. The result showed that ethnicity has a significant impact on national disintegration amongs (â= .20, t = 2.03, P <.05), among others.The paper recommends, restructuring of the values and ethnos that govern Nigeria national identity, inclusive governance and true federalism thereby undo the colonist imperialist structure which has been the backbone of ethnocentrism in Nigeria political sphere