The national question in Nigeria has been defined as the extent to which the citizens think Nigeria, instead of their ethnicities or localities. The rate is, undoubtedly, low, with successive governments not deeming it fit to look seriously into the cause.
Beyond sloganeering, the Nigerian state must rise to assure peoples of the over 300 ethnic groups in the country that it is in the best position to guarantee them political, economic, and social security. The federal government must demonstrate capacity for equity. This is the only way to permanently calm the growing separatist voices angrily raising the national question.
There is no better time to ponder the national question than now, when the country is marking its 56th anniversary amid hardship and sundry frustrating conditions that have got some wondering if the country was not better under colonialism.
– Vincent Obia
