LIST OF REASONS

INTRO: What we know today as Unity Schools or Federal Unity Colleges are the Federal Government Colleges in Nigeria, and they are one of the notable federal institutions in Nigeria. The history of Unity Schools in Nigeria is traceable to 1966 even though it was inspired by the British contrivance of schools, the Kings College, Lagos established in 1909, and Queens College, Lagos, established in 1927. Known as the first generation Unity Schools, three Unity Schools were created in 1966 across the Regions of Nigeria at Okposi for the Eastern Region, Sokoto for the Northern Region, and Warri for the Mid-Western Region, by Alhaji Sir Tafawa Balewa . It is understandable that Western Region was already having Kings, and Queens Colleges at Lagos. The second generation Unity Schools were created in 1973 by the then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon who created 9 more Unity Schools to cover all the 12 states he created in 1967 in Nigeria. The success of the first generation Unity Schools in

INTRO : Since 1967, the federating units of the Nigeria federation became known as the “states,” following the creation of the 12 states by General Yakubu Gowon. Prior to that, the federating units were called regions, especially since the Richards Constitution of 1946 that introduced regionalism in Nigeria. The regions were 3 in number originally until 1963 when the Mid-Western region was carved out of the Western Region. During the era of regionalism, there were agitations for separate administrative entities (states) by the minority ethnic nationalities who were being marginalized or so they felt, by the big three ethnic groups: Hausa (Northern Region), Igbo (Eastern Region), Yoruba (Western Region). Prior to independence, in 1957, this had necessitated the Henry Willink Commission tasked with ascertaining the facts about the fears of minorities in any part of Nigeria in order to propose means of allaying those fears, whether well or ill founded. The Commission in their reports refu