I had often wondered how ethnic strife came about
to the point of being a thorn in the flesh of most - if not every - citizen of
Nigeria. The origin of this menace, i came to know about through seeking the
history of the people that were eventually assembled into forming a country.
That is; studying the different ideologies and cultures attached to the
different tribes before the culture clash. I call it a clash because where
three different individuals with different ideologies form a group, there is
bound to be a clash of interest eventually - how much more different tribes.
I can't begin to get into the history of Nigeria
before and after the amalgamation but the fact is; we have been hovering around
the same cycle of doom for an overly prolonged period, and need to freeze a
little to consider the stagnation or progress (if any) made thus far. How long
would a country plagued by nepotism, embezzlement, abuse of fundamental human
rights and all forms of corruption stand? It is bad enough that Nigeria was
built on a narcissistic foundation, yet life goes on as though we are oblivious
of the dangers that lie ahead. Almost as though with every new leader comes a new strategy for the country to keep spiraling downwards. These diverse
challenges plaguing the country aren't close to being resolved as the several
tribes that make up Nigeria haven't accepted Nigeria as a unified country
meaning that the "the people is not one yet". This as i always tell
my friends, reminds me of "the Tower of Babel" -the bible story about
God saying because the people spoke one language, worked as a unit and were determined,
they could for CERTAINTY achieve whatever they set their minds to. So what did
God do? He caused confusion amongst them by putting different languages into
their mouths and one did not understand the other.
The older generations are great at inciting conflicts in the hearts of the younger generations with
statements such as----
Do not marry or
do business with Igbo because they are greedy and would choose money over you.
Do not marry or associate with Yoruba because they are two faced.
Do not marry an Urhobo
person because they are lazy.
What/who gives us the right to stigmatize another
tribe or any other person for that matter? (I am talking to myself as well) If
all these tribes are studied severally, i can assert without flinching that
traits perceived to be peculiar to a certain tribe alone can be found in other
tribes. To purify our country, we need to teach our children acceptance and
appreciation of individual differences. I wish the younger generation would recognize this problem and take the other route rather than the route our fathers dwelt and continue to dwell on. Appreciating the diversity in our culture, languages, ideologies etc....would ultimately lead to a point
whereby when anyone in Nigeria is asked "where are you from?" Rather
than say i am Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba....we would simply say... I AM NIGERIAN not
in vacuity but because we finally have closure.
