Attempts at solving the ethnic issue bedeviling Nigeria dated back to the pre-independence era. At its take-off in 1914, it was obvious the regions merged together by the British Colonial Administration under Lord Lugard, were at different levels of civilization and social evolution.
Besides, the
three major ethnic groups in the merged territories of the Northern and
Southern Protectorates known as Nigeria, differed markedly in culture,
perspective, socio-political temperament, character and aspiration.
