Justice, Recognition, and the Ethics of Ethnic Minority Accommodation in Nigerian Federalism: An Original Philosophical Framework

This dissertation develops an original philosophical framework for the just accommodation of ethnic minority identities within Nigerian federalism, engaging with the recognition theory of Charles Taylor and Axel Honneth, Kymlicka's multicultural citizenship, and African communitarian political philosophy to address the systematic philosophical injustice suffered by ethnic minorities across all six Nigerian geopolitical zones. Recognition theory holds that social and political injustice often takes the form of denied or distorted recognition of group identities, and this framework has significant implications for federalism design in Nigeria, where minority groups from the Niger Delta, Middle Belt, and North East zones suffer identifiable recognition injustices within the current federal structure. A four-phase methodology is employed, combining systematic philosophical analysis of recognition theory and multicultural citizenship alongside African political philosophy; empirical investigation through 90 interviews with ethnic minority community leaders, constitutional scholars, and political philosophers across all six zones; quantitative survey of 450 respondents from minority and majority ethnic communities measuring recognition perceptions and institutional trust; and constructive philosophical synthesis. The dissertation proposes the African Recognition Justice Framework as an original contribution, which specifies three philosophically necessary conditions for just ethnic minority accommodation: political recognition (institutional acknowledgment of minority collective identities), cultural recognition (constitutional protection of minority cultural practices and languages), and redistributive recognition (resource allocation corrective of historical recognition injustices). Original contributions include the framework, an empirically validated recognition injustice index for Nigerian ethnic minorities, and constitutional reform proposals. Keywords: recognition theory, ethnic minority rights, Nigerian federalism, multicultural philosophy, justice.