The Proverbial ‘National Cake’: Towards Building the Nigerian Commonwealth in a Multi-Ethnic Society, Niger Delta in Focus

The central thrust of this paper is the attention it has drawn to the people’s yearning for the dividends of democracy, transparency, equity, fairness, and justice which is the essence of democratic leadership. Thus, the Nigerian proverbial ‘national cake’ (commonwealth), connoting that the wealth of the nation belongs to all, and it’s for the common good of the people, irrespective of one’s tribe, religion, political affiliation, gender, or color. Regrettably, the Nigerian commonwealth is today serving the interest of a few individuals rather than the greater majority. It is against this backdrop that the paper is aimed to exploring the task of building the Nigerian commonwealth amidst multi-ethnic, religious, sociopolitical, and individual/elites’ interest. The study further focuses on the philosophy of the proverbial ‘national cake’, the ingenuity of driving the Nigerian commonwealth (Niger Delta in focus), as well as building the Nigerian commonwealth through the lenses of philosophy. In discussing this topic, the paper made use of the qualitative technique with special reference to the historical and philosophical approach premised on secondary data. The paper traces the problem of building the Nigerian commonwealth to failure of leadership, and the continuous shifting of blames to the 1914 amalgamation by Lord Lugard. The paper therefore charges Nigerians to rise-up to the reality of building and developing the country, through quality representation, strong will and sincerity of purpose, as well as the change in people’s attitude towards the state, its right status, and its function towards the essence of commonwealth and democratic leadership.