Thank you, Feyi, for another insightful and informative piece.
Just as you have adequately proffered, the faultliines on which Nigeria is built are deep and enormous.
Unfortunately, we've not be blessed The calibre of Nigerians, as leaders, who define a vision for Nigeria, as an entity, rather, this cave- out attitude that permeates.
How do we break free from the this york, the people must be enlightened to realise that power for freedom lies within their grasp ( or hands more appropriately).
A bag of rice, onions and pepper may provide stomach infrastructure today, but the consequences, as you're enumerated, may take centuries, to overcome, if at all.
Somehow, we shall come through, Europe and West, have gone through their dark ages.
I believe Africa, will not be permanently left behind.
Now it begins to make sense. Sad that our diversity rather than being a strength has been a curse. So who will restructure the country when every leader is a beneficiary of the same ethnic arithmetic? Oh by the way, this article reminds me to find the time to finish reading my Formation, delving into the audio book to make this faster, hi Elnathan!
American immigrants have been the powerhouse behind some of the greatest inventions or businesses on earth. There is diversity in competition which is what should be championed. Same playing field for everyone!
Which American immigrants? The wave of immigration in the late 19th and early 20th century saw European immigrants integrated into the white identity.
The Europeans immigrants went from being hyphenated Americans to white Americans.
So, instead of Italian Americans, German Americans, Polish Americans, etc. They all became white Americans.
And that's because Americanness was tied into whiteness. It's easy for white Europeans to be absolved into White Americans than for a black American or an Asian.
America has to transcend its whiteness and integrate all the remaining disparate identities into a single one. Instead, what we're seeing is the siloing of their identities under the aegis of multiculturalism.
The tribalism that we're trying to run from is what they're trying to cultivate. One day, the food they're cooking will become done.
Deeply thoughtful as usual. Btw shows the need to go back beyond 1914--my preferred date is the Moroccan invasion/destruction of Songhai in 1591 which set in train 1804 and then 1914. On the substantive point about the impact of the Slave Trade (incl TransSaharan especially on Bornu/Chad), I agree it greatly aggravated and entrenched ethnic fragmentation and deeply retarded African development to this day, but not the origin of fragmentation (which you did not claim of course). The origins rest in the localized village economies of yore--as is clear if one looks at ethnic fragmentation in Asia (more widespread than apparent). On your proposed solution though, I doubt that in such situations one can leap to an indidualized civic liberal democracy though I am not sure you are arguing for any such 'leap.' Possibly a transitional 'hybrid' system could work in which areas of purely civic engagement operate alongside the current ethnic arithmetic allocation. E.g, ensuring that civil society/professional associations (engineers, accountants, economists, techies, et al) are strongly non-ethnic and consciously and deliberately constituted on a purely meritocratic and civic basis). How to expand this 'civic zone?' Devil in the details as usual.
Yes, that's a very good idea - carving out "non-ethnic" spaces and getting the political consensus to agree on it. Right now there is no pushback or counter argument so it just creeps into everything. Engineers would be my favoured starting point!
I really enjoyed this piece—it addresses an issue that deeply concerns me.
I hadn’t realized just how much slavery contributed to our diversity. Thank you for shedding light on that.
I believe our institutions and political structures often incentivize ethnic groups to highlight their differences, even when they could easily belong to a broader collective. This, in my view, helps explain the persistent push for the creation of new states.
On that note, I’m still looking forward to the follow-up posts on The Impossible Equation, where you promised to explore how we divide money in this lovely country of ours. I suspect that, too, plays a role in why politicians campaign so hard for new states—so they can secure control over their own share of resources.
Diversity is definitely correlated with challenging terrains and environments, and slave raids do not create welcoming conditions. What I don't fully understand is why atomisation runs so deep in our setting. In my village for instance, the village head is rotated among the 3 main families, and even then, within families, disagreements on whose turn it is aren't uncommon. The distrust is so ingrained it's hard to be optimistic that there's a way out.
Thanks, I just read the piece and I often think about PNG when thinking about this. The challenge does seem like an impossible one as it seems to be replicating itself down the generations. But miracles have been known to happen….
> The ongoing dispute has become a microcosm of how Nigeria's ethnic diversity, rather than being a natural blessing,
But this is the thing... Diversity has never been a blessing anywhere. It is a curse. And the goal must be to make our diversity moot. By merging all pre-existing identities into the Nigerian identity.
I noticed that there were few examples of this power rotation imbroglio from the Hausa Fulani and the Yoruba states.
Could this be because the pre-existing diversities they have were merged into their current identity? There was barely a pan-Yoruba identity until some newspaper publishers in the 19th century decided to promote it. Same for Usman Dan Fodio and the Jihad that united the Hausa States.
I'm also wary of the "Because of slavery" argument. I don't know... A couple of white men concluding that the reason why Africa is they way it is today is because of something white men did (Slave Trade), is just suspicious.
The Yoruba people were slave traded en masse. Yet, all Yoruba people see themselves as one today...
They might say that but I think my own view is that it was slave raiding. Yes that was the way the Atlantic and Saharan trades were supplied but it was happening before them and continued after they had ended (for domestic usage for things like porterage). Slave raiding was an extremely brutal thing - like living under the spectre of terrorism on a timetable.
As a first-gen Nigerian who is now doing the work of self-enlightenment. I do support your theory. It seems like every dysfunction in my dear country traces back to slavery.
Many Nigerians do not like competition, that's the core of it. Businessmen also want their own form of zoning (like Dangote’s call for an import ban and the whole import substitution idea). There needs to be a much more ruthless competitive spirit ingrained in everyone from kindergarten.
JAMB, for example, doesn’t need any new cutoff marks to accommodate anyone. If you fail, go home and try again.
What we have now are people who would never be qualified to run anything in a Western country, using diversity as a shield for their failures. It's funny that dangote understands this when it comes to running his business especially with the hiring of the former shell exec.
Thank you, Feyi, for another insightful and informative piece.
Just as you have adequately proffered, the faultliines on which Nigeria is built are deep and enormous.
Unfortunately, we've not be blessed The calibre of Nigerians, as leaders, who define a vision for Nigeria, as an entity, rather, this cave- out attitude that permeates.
How do we break free from the this york, the people must be enlightened to realise that power for freedom lies within their grasp ( or hands more appropriately).
A bag of rice, onions and pepper may provide stomach infrastructure today, but the consequences, as you're enumerated, may take centuries, to overcome, if at all.
Somehow, we shall come through, Europe and West, have gone through their dark ages.
I believe Africa, will not be permanently left behind.
Now it begins to make sense. Sad that our diversity rather than being a strength has been a curse. So who will restructure the country when every leader is a beneficiary of the same ethnic arithmetic? Oh by the way, this article reminds me to find the time to finish reading my Formation, delving into the audio book to make this faster, hi Elnathan!
Diversity has never been a blessing anywhere.
American immigrants have been the powerhouse behind some of the greatest inventions or businesses on earth. There is diversity in competition which is what should be championed. Same playing field for everyone!
Which American immigrants? The wave of immigration in the late 19th and early 20th century saw European immigrants integrated into the white identity.
The Europeans immigrants went from being hyphenated Americans to white Americans.
So, instead of Italian Americans, German Americans, Polish Americans, etc. They all became white Americans.
And that's because Americanness was tied into whiteness. It's easy for white Europeans to be absolved into White Americans than for a black American or an Asian.
America has to transcend its whiteness and integrate all the remaining disparate identities into a single one. Instead, what we're seeing is the siloing of their identities under the aegis of multiculturalism.
The tribalism that we're trying to run from is what they're trying to cultivate. One day, the food they're cooking will become done.
Deeply thoughtful as usual. Btw shows the need to go back beyond 1914--my preferred date is the Moroccan invasion/destruction of Songhai in 1591 which set in train 1804 and then 1914. On the substantive point about the impact of the Slave Trade (incl TransSaharan especially on Bornu/Chad), I agree it greatly aggravated and entrenched ethnic fragmentation and deeply retarded African development to this day, but not the origin of fragmentation (which you did not claim of course). The origins rest in the localized village economies of yore--as is clear if one looks at ethnic fragmentation in Asia (more widespread than apparent). On your proposed solution though, I doubt that in such situations one can leap to an indidualized civic liberal democracy though I am not sure you are arguing for any such 'leap.' Possibly a transitional 'hybrid' system could work in which areas of purely civic engagement operate alongside the current ethnic arithmetic allocation. E.g, ensuring that civil society/professional associations (engineers, accountants, economists, techies, et al) are strongly non-ethnic and consciously and deliberately constituted on a purely meritocratic and civic basis). How to expand this 'civic zone?' Devil in the details as usual.
Yes, that's a very good idea - carving out "non-ethnic" spaces and getting the political consensus to agree on it. Right now there is no pushback or counter argument so it just creeps into everything. Engineers would be my favoured starting point!
Hello Feyi,
I really enjoyed this piece—it addresses an issue that deeply concerns me.
I hadn’t realized just how much slavery contributed to our diversity. Thank you for shedding light on that.
I believe our institutions and political structures often incentivize ethnic groups to highlight their differences, even when they could easily belong to a broader collective. This, in my view, helps explain the persistent push for the creation of new states.
On that note, I’m still looking forward to the follow-up posts on The Impossible Equation, where you promised to explore how we divide money in this lovely country of ours. I suspect that, too, plays a role in why politicians campaign so hard for new states—so they can secure control over their own share of resources.
Thanks a lot for reading! I promise the follow up to Impossible Equation is coming. It is just taking a bit longer to cook than I planed :)
Great piece. I broached a similar theme in my piece in the Republic and referenced "formation" in it. https://rpublc.com/april-may-2023/ethnicity-kinship-nigeria/
Diversity is definitely correlated with challenging terrains and environments, and slave raids do not create welcoming conditions. What I don't fully understand is why atomisation runs so deep in our setting. In my village for instance, the village head is rotated among the 3 main families, and even then, within families, disagreements on whose turn it is aren't uncommon. The distrust is so ingrained it's hard to be optimistic that there's a way out.
Thanks, I just read the piece and I often think about PNG when thinking about this. The challenge does seem like an impossible one as it seems to be replicating itself down the generations. But miracles have been known to happen….
> The ongoing dispute has become a microcosm of how Nigeria's ethnic diversity, rather than being a natural blessing,
But this is the thing... Diversity has never been a blessing anywhere. It is a curse. And the goal must be to make our diversity moot. By merging all pre-existing identities into the Nigerian identity.
I noticed that there were few examples of this power rotation imbroglio from the Hausa Fulani and the Yoruba states.
Could this be because the pre-existing diversities they have were merged into their current identity? There was barely a pan-Yoruba identity until some newspaper publishers in the 19th century decided to promote it. Same for Usman Dan Fodio and the Jihad that united the Hausa States.
I'm also wary of the "Because of slavery" argument. I don't know... A couple of white men concluding that the reason why Africa is they way it is today is because of something white men did (Slave Trade), is just suspicious.
The Yoruba people were slave traded en masse. Yet, all Yoruba people see themselves as one today...
They might say that but I think my own view is that it was slave raiding. Yes that was the way the Atlantic and Saharan trades were supplied but it was happening before them and continued after they had ended (for domestic usage for things like porterage). Slave raiding was an extremely brutal thing - like living under the spectre of terrorism on a timetable.
As a first-gen Nigerian who is now doing the work of self-enlightenment. I do support your theory. It seems like every dysfunction in my dear country traces back to slavery.
Many Nigerians do not like competition, that's the core of it. Businessmen also want their own form of zoning (like Dangote’s call for an import ban and the whole import substitution idea). There needs to be a much more ruthless competitive spirit ingrained in everyone from kindergarten.
JAMB, for example, doesn’t need any new cutoff marks to accommodate anyone. If you fail, go home and try again.
What we have now are people who would never be qualified to run anything in a Western country, using diversity as a shield for their failures. It's funny that dangote understands this when it comes to running his business especially with the hiring of the former shell exec.