International Journal of Advanced Research in Management and Social Sciences ISSN: 2278-6236 Vol. 2 | No. 6 | June 2013 www.garph.co.uk IJARMSS | 65 FEDERAL CHARACTER PRINCIPLE AS A RECIPE FOR NATIONAL INTEGRATION IN NIGERIA: AN OVERVIEW Aderonke Majekodunmi* Abstract: The Nigerian federation has been enmeshed in contradictions, paradoxes, controversies and crises. These are subsumed in the national question, and social groups of varying ideological leanings cohere on the central issues. The paper observes that the present application of the federal character principle as all bourgeois oriented and does very little to relieve the plight of the masses in Nigeria. The paper argues that the federal character principle has proved inadequate for effective national integration because it discriminates against one group and favours another. It recommends that the National Assembly should as a matter of urgency should amend the constitution and remove all references to indigeneity from the constitution. Also, there is need for all sections of the country to be consulted and be involved in the implementation of this policy. The paper concludes that it is a known fact that the principle has gone a long way to reduce various factors of mutual mistrust and rivalries among the different ethnic groups that make up the geographical entity called Nigeria. *Political Science Department, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos, Nigeria.