Nigeria, Oct. 20 -- Since the inception of the modern Nigerian state, observers have repeatedly contemplated its bewildering diversity and issued earnest forecasts of its impending disintegration. Across successive decades, scholars, intelligence services, think tanks and assorted professional obituarists have confidently predicted the Republic's demise. Yet Nigeria endures, in stubborn defiance of its prophets of doom. As one born after the Civil War, I have witnessed repeated invocations of imminent national calamity. With another electoral season approaching, polarisation has again assumed topical significance. Some commentators contend that Nigeria's ethnic and religious heterogeneity makes it fundamentally unworkable. I disagree.

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