Abstract

Democratic government has been with us for over two decades, several mechanisms to ensure national integration has been put in place. Such as establishment of federal character commission, National Youth Service Corps, adoption of multi-party system, creation of states and local governments, adoption of several fiscal allocation formulae among others; yet, national integration remains a mirage. Inter and intra communal conflicts, inter and intra state clashes, religious and tribal conflicts, regional and sectional disharmony, majority and minority agitation has clouded the Nigerian polity and threaten national unity and integration of Nigeria. It is against this back drop that this paper seeks to examine democracy and National Integration in Nigeria: Issues and Prospects. The paper adopted documentary method by way of employing only secondary data in the course of conducting the study in question. The paper is pined on the sociological theory of federalism as adopted by Living Stone, (1954) and Sharada, (1984). The results reveal among others the adoption of the federal system of government that is meant to accommodate the multi-ethnic setting of Nigeria had failed to promoted national integration among Nigerians. The paper recommends that: True federalism should be incorporated and adopted in the Nigerian polity, so that all the segments of the country will have sense of belonging and fairness.