A nationwide survey conducted between April and May 2021 by the Africa Polling Institute (API), an independent, non-profit, non-partisan opinion research think-tank, has revealed that four geopolitical zones are disappointed in Nigeria.
The regions are the northeast, southwest, south-south, and southeast.
The survey, conducted under the theme “The Nigeria Social Cohesion 2021” with support from the Ford Foundation sought to develop a social cohesion index for Nigeria and to gauge citizens’ perception concerning the state of social cohesion in Africa’s most populous nation.
“In recent decades, the state of social cohesion in Nigeria has been under serious threat, arising from seeming ethnic, religious, political, economic and social divisions. This trend is worrisome given that without social cohesion, other development goals could be unattainable. The willingness of Nigerians to live together and cooperate for the collective good of the country depends on the extent of the country’s level of unity”, the report says.
A quantitative project, data for the research was gathered through the use of questionnaires and interviews while households were selected through stratified random sampling techniques. Five major languages were used which were English, Pidgin, Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo. Geographic quotas helped to ensure that every senatorial district and state were proportionately represented leading to the visitation of six local government areas in each state representing two local government areas per every senatorial district.
In all, a total of 8,114 interview contacts were made, with 5,363 interviews completed and that amounted to 66.09 percent response rate for all the respondents who were aged 18 years and older.
In terms of questionnaires and interview distributions by geopolitical zones, north west had 26 percent; southwest got 20 percent; south-south, 15 percent; north central 14 percent; north east, 13 percent; while south-east got 12 percent.
Read also: How Nigeria can address rising cyber threats to drive digital economy
Although the respondents were aged 18 years and older, those within the age bracket 18-35 years constituted 57 percent of the respondents. That group was followed by those aged 36-60 years, 39 percent while those aged 61 and above constituted 4 percent. It was an equal split between rural and urban dwellers.
On the national cohesion, the respondents had four options which were: “I feel proud of Nigeria”; “I feel really disappointed in Nigeria”; “I’m indifferent about Nigeria”, and “I’m not sure”.
When the respondents were asked: “When you think about your country Nigeria, which of these statements best expresses your feelings?” and choosing from the above four options, 49 percent of the respondents chose “I feel really disappointed in Nigeria”; 42 percent chose “I feel truly proud of Nigeria”; 7 percent were indifferent while 2 percent said they were not sure of their feelings for the country.
Analysing the responses along geopolitical zones shows more insights about Nigeria’s social cohesion. The option, “I feel really disappointed in Nigeria” reverberated strongly across four geopolitical zones. The nationwide average for those disappointed in Nigeria is 49 percent, but on geopolitical zone basis, 72 percent of the respondents from the southeast said they were disappointed in the country; same option was chosen by 56 percent of the respondents from south-south; chosen by 52 percent of the respondents from southwest and 51 percent of the respondents from the northeast.
Only the respondents from the northwest felt proud of Nigeria. This is because 58 percent of the respondents from this zone said they felt proud of Nigeria, as against 49 percent in north-central; 41 percent in northeast, 16 percent in southeast, 34 percent in south-south, and 39 percent in southwest.
“The level of disappointment expressed here could stem from the inability of citizens of this region to appreciate the much-cherished dividends of democracy and inclusive government. On the contrary, the proportion of Nigerians who felt truly proud of the country was observed more in the President’s regional base of the northwest”, the report says.
By religious lines, 52 percent of the Muslim respondents said they felt proud in Nigeria, as against 35 percent for Christian faithful and 32 percent for traditional adherents. In addition, 52 percent of those that said they felt proud in Nigeria do not have formal education, or having at most primary school certificates as their highest educational attainment.
On the other hand, 56 percent of the Christian faithful said they were disappointed in Nigeria, compared with 38 percent for Muslim, and 50 percent for traditional worshippers. Also, 51 percent of those that said they were disappointed in Nigeria have a minimum of secondary school certificates or higher while 39 percent have primary school certificates or no formal education.
Further, 40 percent of the respondents felt equally ethnic and Nigerian, compared to 33 percent which felt more ethnic than Nigerian; 13 percent that felt only ethnic; 9 percent that felt more Nigerian than ethnic, while only 5 percent felt only Nigerian.
