Vanessa Ko

Nigeria’s politics has been defined by considerable ethnic heterogeneity – and abundant ethnic conflict. Since reaching independence in 1960, Nigeria has been host to several ongoing civil conflicts often drawn along ethnic and regional lines. This has occurred despite several attempts at regional power-sharing mechanisms through various systems of federalism. This paper will argue that the dismantling and failure of true federalism in Nigeria is due to its’ plentiful oil resources. In fact, Nigeria can be seen as a prime example of the “resource curse”, a phenomenon where natural resource wealth leads to poor economic growth and development and an increased likelihood for civil conflict. Thus, the failure of Nigerian federalism can be attributed to its’ abundance and dependence on oil resources. While oil resources are not themselves a sufficient explanation of Nigeria’s ethnic conflict, they have hindered the practice of ‘true’ federalism and have posed a significant challenge to ...