International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 9, Issue 5, May 2019 519 ISSN 2250-3153 http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.9.05.2019.p8962 www.ijsrp.org National Integration and Sustainable Development of Nigeria: The Emergent Issues Salahu, Mohammed Lawal * , Ilyasu, Yakubu Ahmed ** * Ph.D, Department Of History And International Studies, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University,Lapai Niger State Nigeria ** Department Of History And International Studies , Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University,Lapai Niger State Nigeria DOI: 10.29322/IJSRP.9.05.2019.p8962 http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.9.05.2019.p8962 Abstract- Nigeria became a fostered nation in 1914 through the amalgam of the conquered areas by the British. Since then, deliberate efforts were made to nurtured the amalgam communities into nationhood during the colonial period. With the attainment of independence in 1960, successive government lost no sight in manuring the Nigeria nationhood project through a number of policies and programmes. Though these efforts have kept the hope of evolving a strong united Nigeria nation live, a catalogue of issues and challenges continued to undermine the project. It is in the light of this, that the paper attempts an examination of essential issues towards Nigeria national integration and sustainable development. Using historical research methodology and content analysis the paper sum- up that the issues notwithstanding, the project Nigeria nation is not only releasable but set her on the path of growth and sustainable development. Index Terms- Integration, Sustainable, Development I. INTRODUCTION he project Nigeria Nation began long before the 19 th century colonial process as the people, communities and polities that occupied the area has been involved in high level and meaningful interaction over time. The colonial process that began on the second half of 19 th century led to the birth of Nigeria nation through conquest and gradual amalgamation of the various groups within the geographical entity. The creation in 1914 by the British was meant to solve and meet the essence of colonialism; maximum exploitation of both human and material resources for the benefit of the metropolis. The creation of Nigeria nation was therefore in the submission of Knottla who opined that such institutions are more importantly social arrangement for dealing with or meeting up with human needs, drives and problems. 1 The British creation of Nigeria nation state was not without minimal problems but relatively met the needs and aspiration of the colonial government up to the time of independence in 1960. The creation also became the foundation of centralized political development and statehood of the country 2 and the basis for its sustainability. However, since independence in 1960, the much expected unity/integration of the various ethnic groups, culture and polities, sustained socio-economic and political development has been plagued by a catalogue of problems such as misconception of Nigeria nation, political instability and spate of insecurity among others. It is on the note, the paper attempt to look in to emergence issues in Nigeria national integration and sustainable development. II. CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION Understanding Creation of Nigeria For us to understand the emergence of Nigeria as a political entity, we need to appreciate historical process involved. This process and underlining factors could be explained from two dimension. The first being internal dynamics and the other external influence occasioned by contact with Europeans most especially the British. The most striking internal dynamics was the geographical compactness which no doubt formed the basis of the historical process. Nigeria has advantage of being located on a coastal shore of Atlantic Ocean in West Africa, with two district vegetation of forestry south and savannah belt. The land is well drained by a number of rivers anchored by Niger and Benue rivers that empty in to the ocean. The ecology was never a barbaric but a unifying factor that encouraged high level of interaction among the people across the geographical divide. The compactness of the environment, according to Ajayi and Alagoa comes from two factors; The first is the complementality of the Sudan belt and the forest zone with the intervening transitional middle belt dominated by the Jos plateau… the second factor engendering compactness has been the essential unity of the river system… the unity of these waterways encoveraged a network of relationship within the basin. The river networks provided routes of contact between people cutting across the north and south axis and supplementary. It’s because of this compactness that despite the fortuitors manner in which the political unity of Nigeria came to be achieved, culturally and economically Nigeria was not really an arbitrary creation. 3 The environmental differences of the Nigeria area was never a basner to interaction, rather it encourages migrations trade and intermingling of people and overlapping of settlements. these developments encouraged cross=fertilization of culture and idea that probably contributed to the formation and growth of states in Nigeria. In the course of time and most especially in the 18 th – 19 th centuries, most states that emerged strong in the area, there political enclave were not limited to their ethnic boundary but have people of different ethnic groups and culture within its area of influence. 4 For instance, old Oyo in the peak of its power incorporated people of not only Yoruba origin so also was the T