Tribalism in Nigeria: A Deep-Seated Challenge

I am Nigerian, and that is the one Ethnic group I have decided to hold on to. You might wonder why I say so, knowing that Nigeria has over 300 ethnic groups with different languages. With politics, we even now make it less broad with geopolitical regions calling regions like South West, South South, North Central, North East, and so on. In reality, how diversity should have been our strength, but this isn't true because Tribalism has become a cancer in almost everyone. This isn't a problem to Nigeria alone, but to Africa.

This is something I notice in Nigeria, Tribalism has eaten so deep into people that it has been divided into two groups of division. The division based on Politics, and the division based on Class. Looking at the three major ethnic groups which are Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa, the division can be explained easily.

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Based on class, the division is thus; the Elite, the Business Class, and the Someworth Low class. The Yorubas see themselves as the Elites, since they are the most educated with some reaching the position of Billionaire status even in the world. They see themselves as the once who should hold positions of power and even be in most professional careers. The Igbos are seen as the business class people. They regard them as people who only know how to do petty businesses and when they get to the position of Millionaires, they lose grip ad start to show off. While people see Hausas as the low class, although they have the 1% that are extremely wealthy and they hold positions when looking at global rich people but most of them are poor. They are believed to be the ones who would clean and polish the shoes of both the business class and the elites, as well as do other jobs that other tribes won't do.

For me this is wrong, but I have heard a lot of people say this, and they even believe this. While the northerners are not regarded when it comes to class, they hold a strong position with politics. The 1% of them that are in power are able to use the population and loyalty of their fellow tribe to remain in the power tussle with the Yorubas. Igbos, aren't really respected when it comes to politics and are seen as minority in that regards. Since Democracy, we haven't had an Igbo president and this might be as a result of the geopolitical sharing but then, this has been lingering since the independence of Nigeria.

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The truth is this tribal divisions has led to a deep form of tribalism. It had eaten so deep that lots of people have lost opportunities because they are not from one tribe or the other, The opportunities can go from denying people services, to denying them jobs, and so on. It is even deep that marriages sometimes can be a very big problem for people of two different tribes.

This issue began even before the colonial era of Nigeria, and when the colonial masters came into the country, they saw it as a weakness and exploited it very well for their own benefit. This tribalistic issues continued even after independence and led to so many coups, and counter coups. This tribalism led to the civil war (Biafra) where the Igbos wanted to leave the country.

I have always hear people say that they first belong to a tribe before they are Nigerians but I always say to them that they should be humans first before thinking of any other thing. If you see the next person as human just the way you are, you would not think of a tribe, rather you would think of humanity. You would first consider the person's feelings before considering tribalism.

The deep-seated tribalism in Nigeria is a formidable challenge, denying opportunities and perpetuating division among its people. It is an issue that predates the colonial era and has persisted, casting a shadow over the nation's progress. To overcome this hurdle, a shift in perspective is crucial. Recognizing our shared humanity before tribal affiliations is the key to dismantling the divisive force of tribalism and fostering a united, inclusive nation.