This article, using a diachronic approach, advances the argument that a genuine national
cohesion and the future of the Nigerian state cannot be fully guaranteed in the clear absence
of addressing the inherent structural defects of the country’s malfunctioning federalism. The
Nigerian post-colony is, presently, confronted by the challenges pose by ethnicity/ethnic
nationalism with negative consequences of political ethnicity, ethnic conflicts, etc. It is argued
that the entrenchment of plural democracy has the capacity to address the lopsided policies of
the central state that are at the peril of the weakening federating states and most importantly,
the oil-bearing ethnic minorities of Nigeria’s Niger Delta. In addendum, the article argues
and demonstrates that democracy in the real sense of it has the potency of democratising the
Nigerian nation-state; strengthening of mediatory and regulatory institutions; promoting
intra- and inter-ethnic relations, etc. The agitations and activities of the oil-bearing
ethnicities and various ethnic social movements of the Nigeria’s Fourth Republic for
autonomy and social justice were used to buttress this article basic arguments and concludes
with the government’s efforts in addressing Africa’s most populous country’s multilayered
ethnic problems.