American Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research (AJHSSR)
2018
American Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research (AJHSSR)
e-ISSN :2378-703X Volume-02, Issue-06, pp-59-67 www.ajhssr.com Research Paper
Open Access
Identity Issues in the Nigerian State and the Problem of Youth Alienation at the Southeast Zone: Reflections on Health, Livelihood and Sustainable Development Implications Nwankwo, Ignatius Uche (Ph.D) Department of Sociology/Anthropology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria.
ABSTRACT: Nigeria has a population of over 170 million. She is the world‘s sixth largest oil supplier and is blessed with enormous economic potentials. However, identity issues arising from her multi-ethnic structure remain a major problem contributing negatively to her socio-economic development. Majority of Nigerians remain abjectly poor due to bad governance, corruption and related factors. This paper examined the relationship between identity issues, youth alienation (particularly in the Southeast zone), health/livelihood of youths, and sustainable development in the Nigerian context. The paper posited that government in Nigeria is biased in handling identity issues and that democracy has not been able to bring about much anticipated positive social change. The paper therefore recommended that Nigerian political leaders should, do away with biased treatment of social groups to the disadvantage of some others. Government should also articulate and conscientiously pursue democratic ideals that will positively stimulate sustainable development at all levels. Keywords: Health, Identities, Livelihood, Nigerian state, Sustainable Development, Youth Alienation
I. INTRODUCTION Nigeria is increasingly becoming more divided in recent times because of identities. The character of the colonial Nigerian state and its mode of creation have led to conflict situations and identity issues while it lasted. Similarly, Nigeria‘s post colonial state re-enacted the ills of the colonial state which they replaced with newly created elites and new authority order that jettisoned the traditional authority giving rise to further identity cleavages. This is racist, and has set natives against one another. Thus, it could be rightly concluded in the words of Ahaneku (2018) that from inception, the Nigerian state has being enmeshed in a rising vortex of a miasma of crises, rooted in an unhealthy interplay of its pluralistic identities: particularly culture, religion, ethnicity, jostling for advantageous positions in the country‘s power structure, and to a great extent contributed to the unfortunate events of 1967 – 1970 civil war. Unfortunately, such identities, as well as power structure in the Nigerian context, whether formal or informal, are yet to be harnessed and mobilized to ensure fairness, equity and justice for the sustainability of the Nigerian State. The expectation that the state will be reasonably neutral in managing identity issues in her territory is yet to materialize in the Nigerian circumstance. Rather, the Nigerian state, over time, has remained biased rather than neutral. She regularly connives with groups it has sympathy for, to maltreat other groups. Because of these, individuals and groups within the maltreated segments become frustrated and alienated from meaningful participation in the socio-political and economic development of the country. Indeed, there is so much alienation in the land, especially among the youth category in the Southeast region due to construction of identity politics in Nigeria with its traits of inclusion and exclusion that allow one or two identity groups to completely hijack power and resources of the state to the disadvantage of others. Identity in Nigeria is thus wrongly used as basis for rewards. Some cases of identity politics in Nigeria include the proscription of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as terrorist group while Fulani herdsmen who have attacked several farming communities go scot free. Another instance is the fact that there are five states in Southeast region as against six states in other zones. Also worrisome is the situation whereby Unity Schools and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board operate lopsided admission policy in favour of so called ‗educationally disadvantaged‘ northern states to the detriment of students from southern states that may have scored higher in the screening tests. Furthermore, when people are extremely poor, the state could further entrench such poverty and sow seeds of alienation if its structure and responses to identity issues are heavily biased. This is exactly the case of youths in Southeast Nigeria.
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