Copyright © 2016 KWP Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. International Journal of Law and Peace Works Kambohwell Publisher Enterprises Vol. 1, Issue 1, PP. 1-10, April 2016 ww.kwpublisher.com Socio-Political Reform and Entity Identity: Nigeria‟s Struggles Towards Stability Olayinka Kehinde Binuomoyo Abstract— Nigeria is in a crucial transition. This is particularly in its economic, social and political areas. The blame for the country‟s woes is sometimes put on the military. Nevertheless, the present civilian era seem to bring certain newness; the realization by the people of their own potentials and rights (in particular). The cumulative events of the past and bottled-up bitterness now find expression in democratic governance. The National Political Reform Conference (NPRC) of 2005 and Sovereign National Conference (SNC) 2014 organized by the respective governments of former presidents, Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan to address all forms of unfairness turned out to be the stage where the country‟s weaknesses are exposed and in the midst of a US-released report on the country‟s imminent break-up in the next few years 1 and the scourge of terrorism from Boko Haram ravaging the North-East of the country. Within a conglomerate of political, economic and social problems, the country took the challenge as it confronts its own future at the 2014 Sovereign National Conference in a bid to bring permanent stability to the nation. 2 This paper takes a look at the NPRC 2005, examines its discourses and its implications to further conference discourse and the stability of the Nigerian nation. Keywords— Nigeria, Federalism, Political, NPRC, Constitution I. INTRODUCTION When in 1914, the Sir Lord Fredrick Lugard amalgamated the North and the South parts of Nigeria, little did he knew that he was planting a seed whose tree though large will be shaken by boisterous winds of conflicts. 3 The story today has confirmed this as the country experiences one conflict after another ranging from religious to ethnic, political and economic. The threats of secession have never stopped coming since the first ended in a civil war in 1967. the Kano riot of 1953 arising due to disagreement over independence advances, 1 In 2005, the United States Intelligence in a released document titled „Mapping sub-Saharan Africa‟s Future‟ had predicted that in 15 years‟ time, Nigeria would fail [1]. 2 The Sovereign National Conference (SNC) organized in 2014 under the government of the former president, Goodluck Jonathan, was a follow-up to the 2005 NPRC. The conference was aimed at bringing the varied interests within the Nigerian nation together and agreeing on its political, social and economic arrangement for the sustainability of the country [2]. 3 Nigeria was until January 1 1914 an un-united colonial protectorate (North and South) though under same British government. The appointment of Sir Fredrick Lugard as the Governor-General in 1912 was to effect the amalgamation of the two protectorates. the census crisis of 1962/63 over suspected inflation of census figures in favour of the northern region, parties and elections crises, and the civil war of 1967 to 1970 over the secession move of the south-eastern part of the country. These issues have outlived the country‟s ancestors as the shadows left behind include principally, a weak Nigerian structure and protracted conflicts of (common) identity. Today, Nigeria‟s self-helplessness is more pronounced as civil strife grows by the day. Assessing the country‟s structure therefore, one will find a mix of nations: itself not a nation but a state. It is wonder why nationalists are rare in the country, and this is the impediment to its development. A common culture is the foundation for national integration and social cohesion, but where a country (like Nigeria) has such volatile ethnic groups as Ibo (or Igbo), Hausa and Yoruba with distinct cohesiveness, her legal entity is questioned in the midst of political and social conflicts. The nationhood that inculcates the spirit of unity and nationalism is one crucial element missing from the Nigerian environment. This article lays bare the real bone of contention in the country‟s quest for stability in the midst of these social, political and economic challenges, considering the issue of imminent break-up raised by the US. This paper will assess the basis of the several economic and political threats from the Niger-Delta region and a possible scare from the Biafra militant group advocating for Biafra Republic. 4 The implication of the present political structure will be examined. In addition, the processes towards a genuine redress of contentious issues will be assessed. It is important to note that while tangible outcomes came out of the NPRC 2005, which of course formed the bedrock of a number of public policies and governance, the government did not give any attention to the SNC 2014. With this in mind, this article concentrates on the NPRC 2005 in analysing Nigeria‟s travails and the struggles to stabilise it. 4 Biafra (or Republic of Biafra), from Bight of Biafra (the Atlantic bay to its south), is essentially an Igbo-tribe agitated country. It was an unrecognized secessionist state in south-east of Nigeria that existed between 30 May 1967 and 15 January 1970. The agitation for Biafra led to the Nigerian Civil War between 1967 and 1970. Some commentators have attributed the motivation for the agitation to the large mineral deposits in the south-south region, a close-by south-east neighbour which the Igbos hope to be able to secede with, other commentaries hinged the agitation on the Igbos not being able to hold a central political portfolio at the Nigeria political centre. In recent time and after over four decades of civil war, another Biafra agitation has started in the south-east. See [3] for more information on Biafra.