Fostering National Integration in Nigeria through Quality Education

Nigerians in recent times appear to be more disconnected from one another than ever before. This has led to various forms of agitations in the form of restructuring, devolution of powers, self-determination, resource control and even insurgency, all pointing to the fact that the country is badly in need of national integration. With analysis of various literatures; this paper argues that quality education can be the panacea to the problem of national disintegration in Nigeria. National integration presupposes a situation where the various cleavages that have held the people from national consciousness like ethnicity, tribalism, religion and culture are minimized. The findings show that such measures as introduction of NYSC, Federal character, Quota system, revenue sharing formula and others have done little to ameliorate the divides, thus impeding on a progressive development for the country. The paper posits the measure of quality education as a way out. It there submits that if quality education is attained, national integration would be achieved. Recommendations therefore include, increasing annual budget for education to at least 12 percent of GDP, improving teachers’ remuneration and government honouring its agreement with various academic unions to prevent the incessant industrial actions that have continuously plagued quality education in Nigeria.