THE INDIVISIBILITY AND INDISSOLUBILITY OF NIGERIA VIS-À-VIS THE RIGHT OF SELF-DETERMINATION

Abstract

The geographical area which eventually evolved into the modern-day Nigeria is a territory/country made up of a heterogeneous population – it consisted, and still consists, of various indigenous peoples [of different ethnic groups and/or tribes, different languages, different aspirations, different cultures, and different religions] who, before colonization, existed and operated independent of each other. Accordingly, each of the said indigenous peoples maintained independent pursuit of their political, economic, social and cultural development as it were before colonization interrupted such independence and pursuits. The modern-day Nigeria was conceived and eventually birthed on the ancient colonial bed of the Great Britain vide the amalgamation of the then Northern Protectorate and Colony and Southern Protectorate; thus, before the advent of colonization by Great Britain, Nigeria was not in existence as one nation. This academic voyage of inquiry was, in the main, actuated by the incessant clamours/agitations by different indigenous peoples in Nigeria for independence. Accordingly, this work traces the oneness of Nigeria, and interrogates the indivisibility and indissolubility thereof vis-à-vis the development and application of the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination as recognized under International Law especially in the context of decolonization. It is the researcher’s finding that the oneness, indivisibility, and indissolubility of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not out of place, but such a fusion should necessarily be, and seen to have been, conceived and birthed on the bed of the mutual volition and/or valid consents of the various indigenous peoples in Nigeria. This work recommends, in the main, a true, honest and complete decolonization of Nigeria vide the conduct of free and fair plebiscite to afford the various indigenous peoples in Nigeria a genuine opportunity to determine how to pursue their respective political, economic, social and cultural development without any constitutional let or hindrance.