International records / OpenAlex research

Ethnic Management in the 1979 Nigerian Constitution

Nigeria, the most populous African nation, is also the most heterogeneous. The desire to contain the many ethnic groups within the framework of one united country has necessitated political experiments of federalism and, even for a brief while, unitarism. A thirty-month war was fought to prevent secession and then a constitutional compact was drawn up to secure the unity of the country. The constitution sought to guarantee ethnic equality and equal ethnic opportunities in governments, political parties, and nongovernment public establishments. All government and parastatal organizations had to…