Nigeria and the Politics of Restructuring: South-South and South-East Perspectives

The concern of Nigeria is to keep the country as one united, indivisible, and economically viable nation. Nigeria’s interest toward national unity cannot be over-emphasized. Nevertheless, Nigeria has not been able to handle its heterogeneity, particularly with the uneven economic differences of its various regions, states and geo-political zones. Despite the efforts of government to foster unity and permanent national integration, ethnic rivalries, regionalization, and recently, restructuring, true federalism and devolution of powers have become the predominant factors that have threatened the unity and integration of the country. Nigeria’s integration is reflected in such indices like projects locations across the country. For example, crude oil is tapped in the Niger Delta region by the oil companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, Agip Oil, etc. whereas their headquarters are either in Lagos or Abuja. And refineries are in Sapele and Kaduna. The study adopts historical and descriptive methods of enquiry and gathered relevant data from secondary sources. The findings of the study revealed that despite government’s efforts to fix the country, the South-South and the South-East still feel grossly marginalized. The study recommends among others things that the government should put in place policies that will favour the rapid development of these zones.