The National Question in the Face of a Nigerian Spring

Abstract

The greatest phenomenon challenging the continued corporate existence of Nigeria can be identified as the army of unemployed surging across the country which the State has continued to fail to design an eco-military model to gainfully engage. It is not the scare of a coup but civil insurrection. When the Arab spring broke out leading to the fall of the Tunisian, Libyan and Egyptian strong regimes, the Obama administration seemed to have pointed towards sub-Saharan Africa, probably Nigeria as the next global sphere of spring. But it did not happen much to the chagrin of the Nigerian left and civil society organizations. One important point was that the nation was under a political administration that was never ready to excite the populace negatively like the Buhari administration has been known to do. All previous administration of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had pandered to the resolution of the national question as soon as it reared its ugly head. But the All Progressive Congress (APC) foisted Gen. Buhari and fingered the rosaries of the national question with its potential impact to oust the Jonathan administration from power. Yet, the question has not been abated or averted since the commencement of the 4^th Republic. This paper which adopts the doctrinal method underscores the various factors driving the Nigerian insecurity crisis towards the tipping point of a spring. It finds that there is neither uniformity nor synergy on the part of the Federal and State governments and the people in combating insecurity. Rather the Federal government’s policies have come to be informed by nepotism, corruption and incompetence instead of the general principles of true federalism recommended by the paper.