Colonial Boundaries, Insecurity and the Development Nexus in Africa : Examples from Nigeria

While many thought modern African states would have found solution to the problem of artificial boundaries that colonialism birthed by now, Post-colonial Africa is yet to find plausible answers to inherited issues of identity and ethnicity years after colonialism. Where those lumped together into a geographical expression find similar rhythm of identity that class could afford, differing ethnic identity and religious beliefs pitch once peaceful brothers and neighbours against one another; leaving traces of war and the continent in turmoil. Efforts made at building post-colonial African states equipped with all it takes to achieve development, remain largely unproductive owing to inherent failure to address vexatious issues of class and ethnic identity as well as the fault-lines religious cleavages creates that push the continent into whirlpool of insecurity. This invariably, vitiate developmental efforts. Relying on secondary sources of data, the paper examines how colonial boundary induce ethno-religious cleavages in Nigeria and how it affects development. It traced origin of communal, ethnic-religious and political conflicts that plague Nigeria to the arbitrary colonial boundaries that bonded "strange bed-fellows" in colonial Nigeria together without paying attention to inherent differences. The paper noted that artificial colonial boundaries in Africa, creates tensed relationships exploited by ethno-religious sentiments to create divisions suitable to create insecurity. The paper concludes that efforts be made to re-negotiate arbitrary colonial boundaries in Africa to give aggrieved ethnic groups with peculiar religious beliefs a sense of belonging to achieve peace needed for development.