Ife PsychologIA 2015, 23(1), 43-51 Copyright © 2014 Ife Centre for Psychological Studies/Services, Ile-Ife, Nigeria ISSN: 1117-1421 43 Formation of National Identity among Children in Southern Nigeria and the Analysis of their Attitude of In-group/Out-group: An Experimental Study Wakil Ajibola Asekun Department of Psychology University of Nicosia, Nicosia Cyprus. kjasekun@yahoo.co.uk . The paper examined the dynamics of socializing southern Nigerian children amidst prevailing ethno-religious conflicts claiming lives and properties in the northern Nigeria; the consequences of the realities on in-group attitude and out-group attitude of the children were analysed. The study adopted an experimental design and was conducted in a classroom among 55 primary school pupils in Lagos, Southern Nigeria. Results suggested that Southern Nigerian children hold favourable attitudes towards their in-group, but showed unfavourable attitudes towards their fellow children in northern Nigeria (out-group), essentially, due to the prevailing crises in the area; consequently, they expressed a negative national identity. The implication of these findings on the quest for a cohesive national life in Nigeria and other African countries was discussed. Keyword: Identity formation, Southern Nigeria, in-group, out-group, attitude. Nigeria is made up of over 250 ethnic nationalities. Yoruba and Igbo are the major ethnic groups in the south, while Hausa and Fulani are the major ethnic groups in the North. Prior to the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914, the British had administered the whole country as Northern and Southern protectorates. Then, in 1960, the British granted independence to Nigeria and became an entity with diverse ethnic groups. Many economic and political events have transpired between independence and the present day Nigeria. She has experienced a civil war between 1967 and 1970, she has been (mis)ruled by military at different times, she had witnessed oil boom that unleashed unprecedented prosperity but later brought her many woes. (Ayokhai, 2010). When Nigeria became independent, it came with pong and pageantry, hopes were high, nationalism was at the peak, there was a lot of patriotism, it was not difficult to construct a positive national identity. However, positive affect for out- group among many ethnic groups in Nigeria began to give way for mistrust and suspicion, which has its root in perceived unfair distribution of natural resources, this challenge has led to formulation and reformulation of sharing formula. This scenario seems to support the claim of Bannon and Collier (1997) that nations endowed with natural resources are prone to violent conflicts. That Northern part of Nigeria has been particularly notorious for religious induced violent conflicts is to state the obvious, just when Nigeria thought it was getting over the burden of militancy attacks from the youths of Niger Delta, that characterized the fourth republic under President Olusegun Obasanjo, through the success of the amnesty programme, introduced by his successor, Late Musa Yaradua. (Ekpo, 2004), the country was rudely confronted with fresh hostilities from a religious group called Boko Haram. Hundreds of Nigerians have lost lives and properties since the beginning of these insurgencies, at the moment over 200 school-girls have been abducted with no clues to their whereabouts. “It is a long story, they came to our school and deceived us into believing they were soldiers, they were dressed in military uniform and made us believe they were about rescuing us only for us to later find out that they were