THE NIGERIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY ISSN: 0331-4111 E-ISSN: 2736-075X Volume 20, No. 1 (June, 2022) DOI: 10.36108/NJSA/2202.02.0150 Is the Unity of Nigeria Negotiable or Not? Obatunde Bright Adetola and Comfort O. Oyafunke-Omoniyi Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria Abstract One popular saying among the elites in Nigeria is that ‘unity of Nigeria is not negotiable’. However, going by the daily experiences or occurrences and views of ordinary Nigerians, the statement seems aloof of the realities in Nigeria in all the decades of her creation. Indeed, there seems to be more factors pointing to the need for re-negotiation than a blanket non-negotiability-the sing song of the elites. The concern of this paper is to explore the factors that have made Nigerians unwilling to live together. In this regard therefore, the paper shall unravel reasons advanced by the elites for the non-negotiability of Nigeria in spite of her challenges and unwillingness to live together; find out why some Nigerians belief and call for self-determination or a complete re-negotiation of Nigeria and finally document the daily experiences of Nigerians in the last sixty years to supply empirical evidences for the need for a re- negotiation of a nation on the brink. Introduction The Nigeria’s National Motto is Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress. The Nigeria’s motto encapsulates the beliefs or ideals of Nigeria as a nation. On the contrary, the realities and history of Nigeria since independence has been opposite of her motto. It has been a history and a mixed bag of the bad, the good and the ugly considering her trajectory of development. Nigeria, no doubt, is a great country that has enjoyed warm friendship across the globe among comity of nations in the early 1970s and 1980s. Things however began to take a down-turn for Nigeria from late 1980s through the 1990s when Nigeria’s resources began to be plundered by her political leadership and she began to pile up debts occasioned by senseless borrowing (by both Military and Civilian Governments) and outright stealing of the common patrimony of the citizens. The height of the plundering and corruption was captured by T. Momoh the Federal Minister of Information and