Minorities and the State in Africa By Michael U. Mbanaso and Chi ...

investigates Nigeria's multiple minority problems, epitomized not only by its ethno-linguistic plurality, but also its religious diversity. With over 250 and 450 ethnic and linguistic groups, respectively, Nigeria's multiple ethnic and pluralistic religious divides have created what the author characterized as limited majorities and multiple minorities and makes ethnic divides almost coterminous with religious inclinations. It also considers easily vulnerable groups, especially women, as another distinct category of minority and as victims of diverse forms of marginalization and exclusion. Omotola reflects on the forms and character of these minorities, the connections among them and between them and national politics. He provides possible alternative frameworks for the constructive and progressive management of Nigeria's multiple minority problems.

Like many other countries in Africa, the Nigerian state has responded intermittently to the minority problems it inherited after colonialism. In “The State and Minority Agitation in Nigeria, 1900–1954,” R. T. Akinyele traces the genesis of minority problems in Nigeria to early periods of the twentieth century. He contends that the heterogeneity of the country created the necessary conditions for the development of minority consciousness that goes back beyond the adoption of the federal system of government in 1954. The study highlights eight instances of minority agitations in the period the earlier studies have described as crisis free. The methods of agitations adopted by ethnic minorities in the period of study suggest that minority problems had evoked deep emotions at all stages of Nigeria's history. These include protest petitions, deputations, boycott of services and institutions, protest migrations, and physical violence. Yet the scope of minority problems at any given period depended on the force generated within the group and the treatment received from the dominant group. Indeed, the Nigerian experience indicates that regionalization exacerbated minority problems in Nigeria, a problem that different regimes have attempted to solve through the creation of states that catered to the interests of specific linguistic or ethnic groups. Furthermore, the rise of ethnic consciousness as Ukoha Ukiwo noted is “neither natural nor accidental, but is the product of a conscious