Beyond Secession: Understanding Separatist Agitations and the Search for Good Governance in Nigeria

This paper explores the underlying factors for separatist agitations in Nigeria. It is an exploratory study that used qualitative method of secondary source of data collection from text book, peer review journals with relevant topics on separatist agitations. The study reported that the major causes of separatist agitations are hinged on political imbalances, historical antecedents, psychological discontent, and economic with skewed allocation of resources, It further couched the separatist agitation on ethno-regional, religious, and latent separatist agitations. The study argued that the good governance strategies answers the national and critical questions of how, why, and what? It concluded that the leaders of the three tiers of governments should promote, practice, encourage, and strengthen good governance practices that discourages marginalisation, clannishness, tribalism/nepotism, and other forms of injustices. But, governance of inclusivity, fair play, equity, balanced, and the strategy of adequate sharing of the common wealth for the common good of the people to engender peaceful-coexistence, security of life and property, and development in Nigeria.