55 Years Later, Nigeria Remains As Divided As Ever

Editor’s note: All of us are proudly Nigerian, but are we united, do our voices sound like one, are our decisions unanimously made? Continuing the series of articles to mark Nigeria’s 55th Independence Day anniversary, the Naij.com columnist, ‘Yomi Kazeem, focuses on the tribal and ethnic distrust between Nigerians. “It is something that I think needs to be discussed a lot more,” he says.

Some say home is where the heart is; but in truth, home, really, is where home is. Regardless of how widely traveled you are and how far away you go, home will always be where home is. For 180 million people, Nigeria is home. An imperfect home, but home all the same.

Imperfect because, despite being in existence as an independent nation since 1960, Nigeria remains far off from realizing its full potential. This year, the country took another major step in its nation-building process in April, as Goodluck Jonathan was replaced by Muhammadu Buhari at the polls. As usual, the elections were dominated by party shenanigans and all sorts of campaign promises in a bid to win out the votes needed to secure victory. But repeatedly and very disappointingly, it was clear that ours is a country still divided along the frayed lines of tribalism and religion.

On too many occasions, we witnessed politicians and their supporters seeking to drive divisive campaigns along the lines of ethnicity. While they can be rightly blamed and rebuked for driving such divisive campaigns despite claiming to seek office to try and build the country, it is very telling that those messages were often the most popular. If politicians sought to disparage other tribes and religions in a desperate attempt to win votes, it is likely because it is clear that those kinds of messages resonated the most amongst the public.

As I was growing up in Lagos, it was very common for me to hear disparaging remarks made about people from other parts of the country, and it was even more common to hear people dismissively laugh at these remarks. But they have always have struck a cord with me. Today, across social media, tribal jokes are commonplace, and stereotypes are still widely-held beliefs. Disturbingly, the new generation of Nigerians, the one which should be focusing on ignoring these stereotypes and pushing for deeper bonds, is also guilty. The truth is that there is a deep distrust between Nigerians, and its stems primarily from their many differences.

I have always thought that Nigeria missed a trick after the events of the Civil War as it critically failed at reconcilliation. Instead, it moved on and chose to act as though those gruesome three years never happened. But they did happen, and as many as three million people died. That simply cannot be forgotten and it cannot be shoved to the inner recesses of our collective memory because such moments define us.

Until Nigerians fully buy into the ideal of being a united nation, how can we truly claim to be a nation?

Despite my being from Nigeria’s Southwest, my best friends are from Nigeria’s East and I have grown to know and respect them and it continues to hurt to see Nigerians stuck in their distrust for each other as it continues to be a stumbling block to progress.

As Nigeria celebrates 55^th year of our independence and continues to evolve into the home we all wish it could be, it is still sad to see that despite going through a quite remarkable journey, our country remains as divided as ever. In bringing it together, we all have a role to play. You can either continue with disparaging tribal stereotypes and jokes or decide to stop being part of the reason why the country pulls further apart. It is a simple choice and it is yours to make.

Happy Independence Day.

‘Yomi Kazeem for Naij.com

‘Yomi Kazeem is a media professional based in Lagos, Nigeria.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the original author. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Naij.com, its editors or other contributors.

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55 Years Later, Nigeria Remains As Divided As Ever