Some Thoughts about Literature as a Means of Advancing Sustainable Unity and Stability in the Contemporary Nigerian State

An in-depth investigation was conducted on the possibility of literature employed to enhance cohesion, sustainable unity, national stability, and security of lives and property in the contemporary Nigeria. These three elements--unity, national stability, and security of lives and property are considered the key pillars of a modern state, the absence of which render the country volatile and uninhabitable. The contemporary Nigeria lacks these elements in a large dose, thereby rendering it a country without peace and security. This has been the root cause of the current nationwide agitation for a national conference required to define the future for a country that has existed for a century, but still grappling unsuccessfully, with the problems of nationhood. This paper identified the cause of the problems to arise from the multi-ethnic composition of the one hundred and seventy million people and over three hundred different ethnic nationals of Nigeria. The fact of uniting so many ethnic groups into one country is not peculiar to Nigeria, as many other countries have a similar composition.