Culture, Tourism and National Integration in Nigeria John Jakada Manasseh

Abstract

The state of affairs that preceded Nigeria's independence and its mergence as a nation state nurtured an idea of a promising nation of greatness. However, that outburst of hope was short-lived by sudden incursions resulting from various crises that personified its existence and the woes that plunged the young country into a confused state, battered by instability, and disunity. To that extend, lots of issues surrounding Nigeria's existence as one indivisible entity have for decades been threatened and subjected to ridicule against the backdrop of its multi-ethnic conglomeration and identity crisis. Though concerted efforts were made in a bid to nip the issues at its bud; but, it appears only little had been achieved thus far. Little wonder the continuous relapse in spite of all adopted and invented strategies. Suffice it to say, the events of the past had the heads of both military and civilian governments under pressure to fashion out ways of tackling the menace. In all of that, less attention was given to the culture and tourism sector. This paper examines the roles of culture and tourism as cohesive factors in tackling the difficult and appalling problems of Nigeria's national cohesion. It notes that the inability to surmount the apparent challenges of disunity was exacerbated by the obvious neglect of the sector. Hence, the paper suggests that the solution to the long range schism lies in the history of cultural diversity and laying much emphasis on that would help greatly to foster national unity in Nigeria.