Social inequity, democratic transition and the Igbo nationalism resurgence in Nigeria

Abstract

Between 1960 and 2008 Nigeria has been characterized by social inequities in the distribution of power and
resources. These inequities, which are rooted in the foundation of the Nigerian state led to a civil war in 1967 in
which the Igbo, one of the major ethnic groups sought to secede from Nigeria. But, the attempt was not
successful. The war was followed by a number of systematic and calculated policies, which the victors used to
keep the Igbo people down and to hegemonise their grip of political domination of Nigeria for a long time in both
the Nigerian military and civilian rules. The widened democratic space in 1999 gave rise to a renewed
expression of resentment by Igbo youths whose rejection of their post-war socio -political and economic
repressions have sparked off the emergence of youth based movements. Thus, nationalism resurgence is
manifested in the renewed demand for Biafra by these organizations. They elicited responses from the
democratic government, which seemed to have relapsed to the old order of military style of violent repression of
dissension that end up as counter productive. Through the processing of primary data, this paper examines the
reinvention of Igbo nationalism in eastern Nigeria. The paper looks at its linkage with the 1999 democratic
transition in Nigeria, the implications of this development and the management of the issue by the government.
The paper concludes that the resurgence of nationalism is caused by the people’s perception of social
inequities and injustice in the distribution of power and resources. Hence a deliberate effort to correct these
social problems assuages ethnic tensions and presumptions of political violence.