VEJOH - VERITAS JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES

The term nation by its very nature should be considered in primordial, cultural and emotional terms. But the need for increased human interaction engendered by modernism introduced the need for hybrid type of grouping among humans. Statehood became the new order and employed patriotism to promote its cause. But the use of the terms 'nations' and 'nationalism' did not stop. Rather, scholars started conflating them with the terms 'state' and 'patriotism' making it generally acceptable to name a conglomeration of states 'United Nations'. As a result of this conflation, conceptual ambiguities set in which even led to the denial of the existence of nations in Africa before colonialism. Nigeria as well as England are both referred to as nations. Yet, both differ in their national pose. This paper is an attempt at a conceptual clarification. We used Nigeria as a case study and concluded that Nigeria has many types of national groups inside it. Defined in the real sense of the word, Nigeria is not a nation. It is a state-nation because her union is defined in physical and forced togetherness. She can only become a nation when she meets certain conditions that define a nation.

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