Unifying Nigeria - How to overcome tribalism
Nigeria is one of the most diverse countries in the world - with an estimate of 400 different ethnic groups. Despite its national borders, tribalism remains deeply rooted in Nigerian society today, sparking insecurity and unrest. But many Gen Z-ers want to break free from being valued based on their ethnicity alone.
Transcript
00:00 Hello and welcome back to the 77% Street Debate.
00:03 This week we are in Lagos, Nigeria.
00:05 And would you believe me if I told you that this country has over 300 ethnic groups?
00:11 That's crazy to think about.
00:12 And with that comes over 500 languages,
00:14 making this one of the most diverse countries in the world.
00:18 But that diversity can sometimes get in its own way, resulting to tribalism.
00:23 And our question today is, can this country overcome it?
00:26 And what can the older folk learn from the younger people?
00:29 Who better to ask than fellow Nigerians?
00:32 Thank you all for joining us.
00:33 But before we begin, I'd like to ask a general question.
00:36 How many of you here have experienced tribalism directly or indirectly?
00:40 Let me see by show of hands.
00:41 Okay, so quite a fair amount of you.
00:43 Let's start with you, Emi.
00:44 What was that experience like, if you don't mind sharing?
00:47 I would say that it was very uncomfortable.
00:50 Because essentially, we are such a huge nation and we have so many languages.
00:57 So hearing that you cannot have an opportunity to do something
01:00 because you are from a minority tribe or from a tribe that is not central
01:03 was actually very uncomfortable for me.
01:05 So was this something that happened where you were denied a service or you were denied work?
01:09 Give us a few more details.
01:10 Okay, so the situation was, I was in a relationship with someone
01:14 and I was not allowed to marry this person because he was from another tribe.
01:18 So it was kind of, you know, uncomfortable.
01:20 It was back and forth between families.
01:22 But you don't know this person as I know him.
01:25 So it's about the people, not about where they're from
01:27 or what their people are like or what their people have done, etc.
01:31 Walking around Nigeria today, I mean, I can't distinguish between an Igbo, a Yoruba, a Hausa.
01:36 So how does it manifest in contemporary Nigerian life?
01:40 The other day I was online and then someone, you know, said that the Yoruba tribe, like,
01:48 formed or made, you know, Nollywood, which is the third biggest movie industry in the world.
01:53 People were saying, Oh, no, this one was struggling.
01:56 It's the Igbos.
01:57 And this person said, No, it's the Hausas.
01:58 Right now on social media, you can see people insulting themselves,
02:01 people throwing jabs at each other.
02:03 When, like, given that you're a Hausa, you're Yoruba, you're Igbo,
02:06 it should not be a problem at all.
02:08 Okay, so you asked a very important question.
02:10 Why the need to identify along tribal lines and not just as Nigeria, as Nollywood, as Afrobeats?
02:16 Let's ask Henry here because he works for a national agency of orientation,
02:20 which is basically supposed to unite Nigerians.
02:22 There's nothing intrinsically wrong with identifying with your tribe, is there?
02:26 So where does the challenge come in?
02:27 Just like what she has said, a lot of things are now happening on social media.
02:31 That is bringing back the memories that have been healed over tribalism back into our system.
02:35 Okay, let me talk to somebody who knows a little bit about social media,
02:38 Samuel, who's a digital strategist.
02:41 So does this imply then that it's young people,
02:43 because they're the ones who are majority on social media,
02:45 who have inherited this disease of tribalism?
02:49 Nigeria has about what, 300 ethnic groups, 500 languages.
02:53 If you put people of different beliefs in the same place,
02:57 there's bound to be disagreements, right?
03:00 I think it's just generally natural that those things would happen.
03:03 And the younger people don't really care about the differences.
03:05 If you ask everybody, we don't really care, right?
03:08 The younger people have their own culture, their own belief systems, you know,
03:12 and I think this will thrive at the end of the day.
03:15 Okay, so I'm hearing here, I'm going to come to you in just a second.
03:18 I'm hearing a lot of, we're really not tribalist,
03:20 we don't care what tribe you come from.
03:22 And yet you're telling me that in your politics,
03:24 sometimes even in your relationships, tribalism is seeping through.
03:28 Why is that?
03:29 Let me hear from someone at the back here.
03:30 So I witnessed tribalism when I was still in secondary school.
03:35 A friend of mine who was my namesake,
03:38 but he wasn't from, he was a Delta Igbo,
03:40 he was not from the, across the Niger, I was across the Niger.
03:43 And we got the same cut of Marquini Ben, engineering, engineering.
03:46 He got it, I didn't get it.
03:48 I started questioning and everything.
03:48 I went through different places.
03:50 I started hearing that, ah, because I'm from Delta,
03:52 my cutoff mark has to be higher than a certain level.
03:54 It's happening on a secondary level, at that level, education.
03:57 Imagine what's going to happen, politics, business, every other thing.
04:00 So I think National Orientation Agency,
04:03 I don't think they've addressed all these issues.
04:06 Well, here is the National Orientation Agency.
04:08 Okay, but I will tell you that National Orientation Agency is doing a lot.
04:12 We are the government.
04:13 But he's saying you're doing nothing.
04:15 That's what I'm about to tell you.
04:16 We are the only government agency, apart from security agency,
04:19 that is present in all the 774 local governments,
04:23 to ensure that, yes, such things are cutting.
04:25 And one of them is Federal Character Commission.
04:27 Okay, ah, I don't think the government plays a role in this.
04:33 I think it is us who makes up the government, individuals,
04:36 who makes up the system.
04:37 We're complaining about individuals.
04:39 So these people, you, me, if one of us,
04:41 they say it takes one person to change a situation.
04:44 Who is the government?
04:45 I think we should just stop saying it.
04:47 It's annoying.
04:48 We have failed to mention two other very big institutions
04:51 that play a part in tribalism.
04:53 And that's our family and religion.
04:55 And they ingrain some values, they ingrain some principles into you.
04:58 We agree and we know that until these other institutions
05:03 take the issue of tribalism seriously,
05:05 and find a way to make sure that it is curtailed,
05:07 even the government will try,
05:08 and it looks like pouring water into a basket.
05:10 Now, let me tell you one thing.
05:11 I traveled and then someone was telling me,
05:13 "Oh, where are you from?"
05:13 I said, "Oh, I'm Nigerian."
05:14 "Oh, which state?"
05:15 I said, "Cross River."
05:16 "Oh, you are Igbo."
05:17 I said, "I'm not Igbo."
05:18 And this man argued with me that I am Igbo.
05:22 I have a tribe.
05:23 It is just minor, but I have a tribe.
05:26 It's so unfair.
05:27 So these things, I feel like education should play a huge part.
05:30 We should learn and know the Igbo,
05:32 because even us here, we are all doing yeah, yeah.
05:34 Even some of you, you don't even know the other states in Nigeria,
05:37 apart from Igbo, Igbo state, Anambra.
05:39 You don't know other states.
05:40 And I think we should all educate ourselves very well
05:42 so that we know we treat each other with respect.
05:44 All right, let me come to you.
05:45 So you see, I just, I said something,
05:48 and we just saw a player right now.
05:50 Now she was offended because she's from Cross River State,
05:53 and they said she was Igbo.
05:54 Is there any crime being an Igbo person?
05:55 Actually, there's no crime.
05:57 So no, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.
05:59 I'm going somewhere.
06:00 Hold on, I'm going somewhere.
06:01 Hold on, I'm going.
06:01 I know, I know, I'm going somewhere.
06:03 You got a bit upset because you are trying to make them understand
06:08 that there are other tribes outside the major tribes, right?
06:10 Now that is stated,
06:12 but I don't see the reason why you should be upset,
06:14 because it's...
06:15 Hold on.
06:15 Someone is saying your name is Adams.
06:18 No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
06:20 You cannot rule out your identity.
06:21 Okay, okay, okay, okay.
06:25 Hold on.
06:25 Before we start throwing hands,
06:28 let's take a deep breath.
06:30 Make your point.
06:31 Okay, so the thing is,
06:33 you're not supposed to be upset
06:34 that someone is mistaking your identity.
06:36 Rather, you educate them.
06:37 Okay, Ikechukwu, let me throw the question back at you,
06:41 because it's similarly to when you travel outside of the continent,
06:45 and you say you're Nigerian,
06:47 and you're introduced to a Kenyan,
06:49 and you're told, well, you all are Africans.
06:51 There's something about erasing your identity,
06:54 and I think that's the point that she was trying to make.
06:56 Let's hear from you, Victor.
06:57 So I just wanted to tell him that.
06:58 I just wanted to say the same thing you just said.
07:00 It's not about being offended.
07:02 It's about your identity.
07:03 Your identity is about you, who you are.
07:04 Like, my identity is being swept away.
07:07 I don't like it.
07:08 I want to be called a woman for who I am,
07:10 not because you assume I'm from a certain place,
07:14 so you just generalize it.
07:15 Okay, so while I really am seriously enjoying the enthusiasm of this debate,
07:20 we really need to come to a wrap-up and talk about some solutions.
07:23 We all see how tribalism is affecting us in different ways.
07:27 How do we stop it?
07:28 How do we stop it?
07:29 I think, just like everything we've been saying, individualism.
07:33 Let's all see ourselves as individuals.
07:35 Let's all see ourselves as people.
07:38 Let's all see ourselves as humans.
07:40 Before we start looking at tribe, I'm from here, I'm from there.
07:44 That is the first place to start from.
07:46 I think we have a lot of work to do in our rural communities.
07:50 The clashes that happen are in the rural areas,
07:52 so the message needs to be driven down to those levels.
07:55 Okay, Ifanyu?
07:56 Yeah, so I think it still boils down to the government.
07:59 If the government is actively representing what it's supposed to represent,
08:03 people will respect and follow the system.
08:06 If they do and represent very well, everybody does the same.
08:08 Okay.
08:09 Wherever they talk about tribalism on the negative side,
08:12 it actually comes from selfish interests.
08:15 Let me tell you what tribe is all about in Nigeria.
08:17 There is this particular kola nut.
08:20 Kola nut is actually grown in the West,
08:24 but eaten in the North and celebrated in the East.
08:28 So this is what tribe is in Nigeria.
08:30 Oh, I love that.
08:31 So at the beginning of this debate, I asked a simple question.
08:36 Is it possible for the young generation to teach the older generation
08:39 how to overcome tribalism?
08:41 I think all of you here have shown resoundingly that the answer is a definite yes.
08:47 I have never felt so good after discussing something so tenuous.
08:50 Thank you all for watching.