The above picture is Nigeria’s map, according to Wikipedia.
One thing that interests, baffles and pisses me off about Nigeria and Nigerians is what I have titled as The Nigerian Citizen Problem of Self Identification.
In summary, its like this:
Outside the shores of Nigeria, the average Nigerian (who doesn’t have any other citizenship rights apart from Nigeria) introduces himself or herself as A NIGERIAN.
For those who are citizens of some other countries, they usually tell you, for example: I am a Nigerian American, British Nigerian, originally from Nigeria etc., or using whatever combination they fancy.
Unfortunately, once these bonafide-Nigerians arrive at the Muritala Mohammed Airport / are within Nigeria’s shores, they throw away the Nigerian cloak and suddenly become Yoruba’s, Hausa’s and Igbo/Ibo’s, etc.
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Some years ago, I was a JJC: In fact, not until we(my family and I) returned to Nigeria some years ago did I know the difference between Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo. I never knew, and the thought never crossed my mind. Not until we returned to Nigeria did I realize that my best friend since child-hood was an Igbo guy (his surname is an Igbo/Ibo name). Not until we returned to Nigeria did I begin to dissect the origin of / and unfortunately classify the Nigerian families we were friends with; my handful of Nigerian friends in school; other general Nigerian aquaintances – all as either Ibo/Hausa/Yoruba, etc. In fact, I then realized one of my mom’s friends, we call her aunty Amina and her family were from Sokoto state in the Northern part of the country.
Our family and Aunty Amina’s family were “just-family”. They met us abroad, we became friends and we did everything together from then on. We kids played together, I and my siblings slept over in their house severally, and they slept over at ours; in fact, I had some clothes permanently in their house.
God forbid (then) that I spent Saturday and Sunday at home. I was always somewhere, in some friend’s house (Nigerians, Americans, Asians, French or whoever). I and my siblings had this list we prepared ahead of time(which would be approved by Daddy and Mommy if we did well in school, completed our homework and did not get into trouble) of wherever we wanted to go and spend the weekend.
Of all the Nigerian’s we met with, the idea of someone being Northern, Southern, Western / Eastern never crossed my mind, even if it was to be an extreme thought. Through all the years we were abroad, I never used any of these tribe affiliated words “Yoruba, Igbo/Ibo, and Hausa, etc/whatever” in a sentence.
Arriving in Nigeria, I was informed that I was a Yoruba boy at the Muritala Mohammed Airport. The immigration officer looked at my documents and asked me “what state are you from?.” I answered “DC”. He then went “where in Nigeria are you from?”. I looked at my green-white-green as if it was enough evidence of my being Nigerian and what warranted additional details. Narrating the shock to my dad on the way home, he smiled when I asked him: “dad, which part of Nigeria are you from?”
I was again informed I was a Yoruba boy at the NYSC Camp. This information was more concrete than the one at the airport. I felt as if someone was trying to confine me in some prison-part of Nigeria-big-picture. It was like a knife that cut me into multiple parts, tearing me apart from the “NIGERIAN” that I thought I was.
Worse, when fellow-corpers started introducing themselves as being from one part of the country or the other, I was thrown into more confusion. Worse, when someone invited me to some Yoruba corpers association, it was as if my heart was torn out. I just couldn’t imagine that I wasn’t a Nigerian and I was now a Yoruba man. No, I didn’t join the Yoruba association, I rather joined the association of foreign-trained graduates. Our supervisor said everyone had to join an organization. But it really bothered me that Nigeria and Nigerians were still in the stone age of tribalism even though I was in the midst of University graduates – the assumed hope of Nigeria’s tomorrow.
Since then, Ive always found it repulsive, especially when some Nigerians decide to relate with you / distance themselves from you immediately they know which part of the country you are from. Even the officers of the law are tribalistic, for example, the Nigerian Police make decisions on whether or not to deal with you or give a soft-landing, especially if the officer in charge is/is not a statesman. I have thus concluded that the average Nigerian’s name and state of origin unfortunately define who he is / is not.
In Nigeria, people weigh their potential benefits and disadvantages in every situation and decisions are based on the more profitable of the two. What an unfortunate conclusion. Most times, Justice is trampled upon, fairness and honesty is thrown to the wind just because of tribalistic mindsets. Unfortunately Nigerians are predominately Christians and Muslims; we have the same God, and we don’t drink alcohol. After reading both the Bible and the Quoran, tribalism isn’t a supported idea anywhere.
question: Are Nigerians tribalistic? yes. When is tribalism going to stop, I don’t know.
I have since gathered many more information about Nigerians and Nigeria and discovered that there are more Nigerians than the most popular Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo which the whole world knows about.
Its one great heap of confusion, here are some examples:
- What is the difference between Ibo and Igbo? Who are the Igbos/Ibos and who are the Delta Igbos? Are calabar people Ibo/Igbo?
- I have a colleague who says he is from Ibadan, and that they are the original Yoruba’s.
- The North is not left out, coz once Nigerian northerners are gathered together, they are no more Hausa. They become Kano-people, Fulani’s etc. I also heard that the original Northerners are those in Sokoto, and every other kind of Northerner is mixed.
- I have a Niger-Delta colleague at work who says he is from Benin and not an Igbo/Ibo person. Meanwhile someone else says Benin is part and parcel of the Ibo/Igbo people.
- I also heard from friends/colleagues about the Igbo/Ibo Jewish-Hebrew connection. I laughed as it was related to me, but the idea is similar to this comment: read this.
- I have another colleague who says he is Kwara and not Yoruba; meanwhile another who claims to be Fulani said there are two types of Kwara people: Kwara Yoruba and Kwara Hausa and that some of those classified as Kwara Hausa are Fulani’s.
- Ive also learnt that in Lagos state, not all Lagos indigenes are Yoruba. So Lagos is Lagos, and other tribes keep to themselves.
- another colleague from Abia state says Abian’s are not Igbo/Ibos.
- and adding a little religion into this issue is some information that Northern Islamists think they are superior to Yoruba Islamists – as such the core-Islamic leaders in Nigeria are Northerners; assuming there are no Igbo Muslims.
Please note, I do not mean to make fun of any tribe Nigeria, its just that the differences in information and ideas is overwhelming.
Just imagine seeking the same information from two people from the same geographical part of the country, and you have them telling you two conflicting things about their individual identity, and each claiming to have the correct information.
Perhaps, I could get someone who studied Nigerian History to comment on this post.
Yes, I understand and accept that Nigeria has a long history mixed among many tribes. I would really like to find out about Nigeria’s history as far as people and tribes are concerned.
I want to find out, using the list below, what would be the present-day / default tribal classification of every state in Nigeria: Yoruba, Hausa, Ibo, Delta, whatever.
1. Abuja
2. Anambra
3. Enugu
4. Akwa Ibom
5. Adamawa
6. Abia
7. Bauchi
8. Bayelsa
9. Benue
10. Borno
11. Cross River
12. Delta
13. Ebonyi
14. Edo
15. Ekiti
16. Gombe
17. Imo
18. Jigawa
19. Kaduna
20. Kano
21. Katsina
22. Kebbi
23. Kogi
24. Kwara
25. Lagos
26. Nasarawa
27. Niger
28. Ogun
29. Ondo
30. Osun
31. Oyo
32. Plateau
33. Rivers
34. Sokoto
35. Taraba
36. Yobe
37. Zamfara
So please just kindly leave a comment with your answer.
If for example you think that Rivers state indigines are Ibo/Igbo’s, you can leave your answer as: 33. Rivers- Ibo/Igbo; or perhaps if there is a combination of tribes in a state, for ex:33. Rivers- Ibo/Igbo, Yoruba.
Are you Yoruba, Hausa, Ibo, or…… let us know. Your comments and opinions are welcome.
Tomi
May 27, 2011
I guess it depends on how you were brought up. I have no qualms saying I am yoruba! The problem comes when you make decisions based on where the other fellow comes from and that is a huge problem in Nigeria. I love being Nigerian- I have cousins from every part of the country seeing inter tribal marriage is something my relations do really well.
Being part of a tribe gives you a feeling of belonging. I have lived in several parts of the country-the east, the north, the west, the south-south and being yoruba made me stick out. In any part of the country I have been I have tried to blend in (tough job) dressing like them and learning to say a few words in the prevalent language. I guess I have lived in Nigeria for too long to appreciate the difficulty you faced coming to terms with people identifying themselves as belonging to a particular tribe. The only time this becomes a problem is if discrimination occurs. We should learn to celebrate our identity as Nigerians and our differences which makes us such a unique country.
Typing this at 1.30 in the morning so if my thoughts are jumping all over the page, its because I need to drop off to sleep! Nice article!
shunom
May 28, 2011
I’m from kaduna state and i’m not hausa as a southern nigerian would be quick to say i am cos he/she does not have a proper knowledge of the north. Funny enough there are about 20 tribes in my state, to name a few, like; jaba(my tribe), kaje, kanuri, ninzom….etc. Majority of Kaduna indigins are christians.
Ojuju
May 31, 2011
The identity issue is a numbers game: Like lowest common multiple and highest common factor. When you’re abroad, you identify yourself by the highest common factor: in some places being the “Nigerian”, “African” or “Black” guy is enough to describe you. But when amongst any of these groupings, you need to nuance your identity even further to address the various subsets within the groups. But I do like and applaud the idea of being “just Nigerian” abroad. A united front stands firm.
4. Akwa Ibom : The major ethnic groups are the Ibibio, Anang and Oron.
BTW: can we reconsider using the word “tribes” to describe our geo-cultural groups in Nigeria? There are probably more Yorubas than Belgians, yet we don’t them a tribe…
MyPenMyPaper Admin
June 1, 2011
@Ojuju,
your comments are highly appreciated. True talk about the lowest common multiple / highest common factor.
But you know, the lowest common multiple is often used as the decision maker in Nigeria, and results in a lot of problems. It would have been nice if we(Nigerians) could pull together our highest common factors for the good of the entire nation.
Thanks for the info about Akwa Ibom. 37 more states to go.
Beautiful Mic
June 9, 2011
Why must tribalism be a bad thing. If there were no tribalism, surely and slowly, Nigerians would loose their cultural identity. Nigerians would not be Nigerians, but dark skinned Westerners. It’s bad enough that Africa has become Westernized, but then you want your country men to totally separate themselves from their root identities? Why the self hate?
MyPenMyPaper
June 9, 2011
hi Mic,
its not about self-hate, its just that the “tribalism” idea has not done anything good for Nigeria as a country, and for Nigerians as a people interacting and living with themselves.
For example: why should a Policeman#1 decide to release an arrested armed-robber just because he(police officer) discovered that the miscreant and himself(police) are from the same state / village in Nigeria. Does this decision stop the miscreant from committing another crime?
What do you expect Policeman#2 to do? do the same as his colleague, and so, the cycle of injustice goes on and on.
Emeka
August 16, 2011
With my own veiw, i discovered long ago that Nigeria is not just one, from the yorubas in Lagos are just full of tribalism i dont know about any other states in the western region. If i may suggest there should be division in rhis countru, even in the church Yorubas still discriminate, i was born there and all my life i sept in yoruba land, sincerely they hates igbos so much. We need a change. Thanks
Sabanus A. Dabbason
February 16, 2012
Iam very happy for your effort in write out some people’s culture and history.
I would be very grateful if you can send some information about ninzom tribe and their origin in Sanga Local Government area of Kaduna state .
Thank you
S. A. Dabbason