Indigene/Settler Question in National Politics
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Date
2015
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Faculty of Law, University of Llorin, Nigeria.
Abstract
This article examines indigene/settler question in national politics.
Contestation over citizenship rights has become a major source of political
conflicts in post-independence Nigeria. It argues that the problem of
citizenship in Nigerians today largely stems from discrimination and
exclusion meted out to Nigerians on the basis of ethnic, regional, religious
and gender identities. Essentially those who see themselves as
"natives/indigenes" exclude those considered as "stranger/settlers" from
enjoying certain rights and benefits which they ought to enjoy as
Nigerians upon the fulfillment of certain civil duties such as payment of
tax. It further argues that the crisis of citizenship in Nigeria especially the
one associated with the distinction between "national" citizenship on the
one hand and "local" citizenship on the other draws attention to the
inadequacies in the post-colonial constitutions of Nigeria. It is also the
argument of this paper that the question of who owns the land is central to
indigenes and settlers and how the contestation between them impact on
the constitution and citizenship rights and privileges in Nigeria. This
paper however concludes that it is not only the amendment of the
constitution that can solve this problem, but the need fora reorientation of
Nigerians on how to handle this fragile and thorny issue.