Citizenship, alienation and conflict in Nigeria/ created by William O. O. Idowu

he aim of this article is to show how the idea of citizenship and the related issue of alienation are central to an understanding of conflict in Nigeria. The author argues that political conflict in Nigeria is interwoven with the absence of democracy and good governance, and that its focus is the problem of citizenship. Citizenship is defined here not as a legal or constitutional concept, but as a social or sociological concept, referring to a whole complex of social institutions, practices and conventions. These may be embodied, in often contradictory ways, in the cultural perspectives of a society and will inform its political and ideological struggles. The author takes a critical look at some current views on the nature and causes of conflict in Nigeria, which focus on class issues, the role of the State, and ethnicity, arguing that these factors are not sufficient to explain the country's political conflicts. Instead, it is the absence of genuine citizenship which causes the ongoing struggles for power and the politics of exclusion and domination.