ETHNO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM:

ETHNO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM: IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND PLANNING IN NIGERIA BY PROFESSOR ROSELINEEMEHUYANGA (Ph.D) DEPARTMENT OF CURRICULUM STUDIES, EDUC. MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING UNIVERSITY OF UYO, UYO NIGERIA roselineuyanga@yahoo.com

FOCUS OF THE STUDY • Inter- community conflicts • Internal displacement of persons (IDPs) • Loss of lives and livelihoods • Ethnic and religious identities of IDPs and influence on education

THEORY • Lee’s theory of migration (1966) • Positive / pull factors comprising attractive socio-economic conditions, security and comfort • Negative/push factors including poor socio-economic conditions, conflicts, wars, natural disasters and others

MOVEMENTS AND ASSOCIATED CHALLENGES • Movements bring diverse groups of persons together, hence the need for self understanding and tolerance for co-existence. • Nigeria has over 450 ethnic groups living in 774 local government areas. • Nigeria has three major tribes namely: Ibo, Yoruba and Hausa. • Nigeria has three major religions namely: Christianity, Islamism and Paganism. Hence: • Religious intolerance, • Ethnic rivalry, • Clash of cultural interest, • Struggle for resource control, • Struggle for governance.

CONFLICTS AND CRISES LEADING TO INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT OF PERSONS • Boundary/ cross border crises (Ebonyi- Cross River, Benue –Taraba, Kogi-Edo and Cross River- AkwaIbom states) • Ethno-religious crises (Maitasine riots in Kano, Kaduna, Yola , Maiduguri,Gombe, Bauchi, the Zango-Kataf, Kaduna, Zaria, Katsina and Bauchi crisis etc., Boko Haram) • Inter-group crises (Jos civil disturbances, Tiv- Fulani clashes in Benue, Niger delta disturbances, Tiv- Jukun crisis in Benue and Taraba state, etc.)

TABLE 1: Summary of IDPs spread across Nigeria, 2003-2007. Source: The Punch, Mon. Feb 22, 2010,p.8 Associated challenges are: inability to provide education to IDPs; dis-unity in the nation. Study investigated these challenges.

TABLE 2: Figures of IDPs in camps during Jan.-Feb. 2010 Ethno-religious crisis within Jos City Source: The Punch, Mon. Feb 22, 2010, p.8

RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESIS The following research questions guided the study: • What are the prevalent factors that pre-dispose to internal displacement of persons in Nigeria? • What are the adaptive strategies of educational administrators and planners regarding use of school plant facilities for IDP youths? • What are the economic leverage strategies adopted by the educational administrators and planners for IDPs? • What integration strategies are adopted by the educational administrators and planners for national unity? Null hypothesis (Ho): There is no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female IDPs on the prevalent factors that pre-dispose to internal displacement of persons in Nigeria.

METHODOLOGY • A purposive sampling technique was adopted (Plateau, Cross River and Yobe states in Nigeria) • Sample comprised 200 IDPs in the age bracket of 11-30 years, and 40 educational administrators • Data collection was with a researcher- designed questionnaire which covered the main areas addressed by the research questions. • Descriptive statistics were used to answer research questions, and a t- test of no significant difference was used to test the hypothesis.

RESEARCH QUESTION 1 AND TABLE 4 What are the prevalent factors that pre-dispose to internal displacement of persons in Nigeria? Table 4: Prevalent factors and IDPs in Nigeria

RESEARCH QUESTION 2 AND TABLE 5 What are the adaptive strategies of educational administrators and planners regarding use of school plant facilities for IDPs? Table 5: Ranking of Administrators’ mean responses to adaptive strategies

RESEARCHQUESTION 3 AND TABLE 6 What are the economic leverage strategies adopted by the educational administrators and planners? Table 6: Ranking of mean responses of IDPs to economic leverage strategies

RESEARCH QUESTION 4 AND TABLE 7 What are the functional integration strategies adopted by the government? Table 7: Ranking of administrators’ mean responses to functional integration strategies

HYPOTHESIS AND TABLE 8 Null hypothesis (Ho): There is no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female IDPs on the prevalent factors that pre-dispose to human displacement in Nigeria. Table 8: t-test on views of IDPs on the prevalent factors that pre-dispose to human displacement based on gender

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS • Internal displacement of persons is a very common phenomenon in Nigeria. • The most prevalent factor that causes internal displacement of persons as indicated in this study, is the Boko Haram insurgency. This is followed by competitive resource use conflict which includes though is not limited to: • land use crisis, ethnic rivalry and boundary adjustment crisis, resource control, and struggle for governance crises. • Other factors include natural disasters like flood. • Internal displacement of persons affects school plant facilities management. • Educational administrators and planners in Nigeria are doing very little to provide education to IDPs of school age. • No specific economic leverage activities like skills training, are planned for IDPs. • Integration strategies adopted by both education managers and the Nigerian government are inadequate as unifying factors for the nation, hence the need for additional strategies such as: Provision of functional basic education; promotion of social integration through education, appointment to posts of responsibilities, governance/ leadership, scholarships, employments etc. without bias, and religious tolerance. • IDPs should be taken care of educationally, so as to sustain their psyche and personality, and build their capacity for futuristic living .

ETHNO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM: