Beyond Conflicts, the Misrepresentation of Ethnicity in Contemporary Nigeria
Beyond Conflicts, the Misrepresentation of Ethnicity in Contemporary Nigeria

Summary/Abstract: Within the literature on ethnicity, the predisposition to amplify the conflictual dimensions of ethnicity at the expense of its competitive and cooperative properties has gained considerable audience. Often than not, heightened levels of ethnic consciousness are closely associated with the inability of indigenous ethnic groups in Nigerian to attain commendable level of integration. Given its centrifugal role in informing competition for resource, political power as well as its collective action properties, it is imperative to extend research on ethnicity beyond its potency for driving conflictual group relations. Building on the submissions of ethnic competition theorists, the study concludes; ethnic in its symbolic and instrumental dimensions, are not spontaneous, and as such insufficient in accounting for the prevalence of inter-group conflict. Rather, the research acknowledges the role of ethnic entrepreneurs who pursue their personal and in other times group aspirations by mobilizing ethnic consciousness for conflictual ends. Resultantly, the study blames ethnic entrepreneurs and not ethnic consciousness for prevailing conflictual relations amongst ethnic groups. Moving on, the study advocates the need for objective analysis of ethnicity beyond its potency for mobilizing conflictual group relation.

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