ASSESSING THE ROLE OF MULTICULTURALISM POLICIES INMANAGING ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN NIGERIA

Multiculturalism has been viewed by authors in different situations and countries.Part of the effect of globalisation is the multiplicity of cultures and traditions across nations.Nigeria is known to play host to more than 500 ethnicities with diverse traditions and cultures.Multiculturalism aims towards equity; equal opportunity in the area of education, social and economic aspects of life for every ethnic groups.Language plays a major role in every society, language and society are conjoined twins that are not detachable.Understanding a language of another person/tribe automatically enables someone to identify with others who speak the same language and building confidence in such a person and his culture, it builds confidence which results in progress and development.For mutual intelligibility and existence, comprehension of ones neighbours' language is a must.Postcolonial and Multiculturalism Theory was adopted to view this topic with documentation methods.This paper investigates the situation of language and cultural diversities (multiculturalism) and multiculturalism in Nigeria as a concept.It views the multicultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-linguistic nature of Nigeria and the ways peace has been retained.It also proffers some plausible solutions on how to maximally explore multiculturalism to forestall the entanglement in Nigeria.