Cultural-pluralism: implications for national integration and socio-economic development in Nigeria

The process by which nation states are created makes them to be a conglomerate of various ethnic groups or sub-nationalities. These groups, as it were, surrender some of their sovereignty to the new state with the central objective of providing security and welfare for the people. This derives perhaps from the notion that things are better achieved within a cooperative environment. The state therefore strives to create a peaceful and conducive environment to enable it attain its objectives of sustainable development using appropriate structures. The state also ensures that its various segments live in harmony in their day-to-day interactions by establishing a consensus on norms, values and ethics of engagement. This leads to forging a ‘homogeneous’ culture which further engenders peaceful co-existence and socio-economic development of the country/state. However one cannot say this about Nigeria where ethnic rivalry has continued to undermine her developmental efforts. This paper examines the plural nature of Nigeria and concludes that rather than be an asset, the country’s cultural pluralism is a draw-back to its development. Means of harmonious co-existence geared towards national socio-economic development are suggested.