After the remarkable victory of Nigeria’s Dream team at the Atlanta ’96 Olympics, the streets of Lagos and other parts of Nigeria were agog as Nigerians regardless of tribes and tongues trooped out en masse to celebrate their incredible win in a victory parade.
It was a show of togetherness and oneness as no one cares about their individual differences, language, or culture.
Worthy of note is the composition of the dream team, which comprises of players selected from different parts of the country based on their competence. At the Olympics, they all carried one identity – Nigerian.
The nationwide protests against police brutality in Nigeria in 2020 epitomized a collective voice for change that transcended tribal and linguistic barriers, echoing the themes of unity and solidarity found in the national anthem.
Despite the diversity of Nigeria’s populace, the protests symbolized a shared commitment to justice and reform, uniting people from various ethnicities and language groups under a common cause.
The aforementioned instances depicts how we have explored the strength and beauty of our diversity as a nation.
Nigeria, the largest black nation on earth, is popularly known for its richness in ethnicity and diverse languages.
The country has over 300 ethnic groups and about 500 indigenous languages.
This pluralism nature is a product of the amalgamation of Southern and Northern protectorate in 1914 by the British colonial masters.
As a diverse nation, Nigeria’s strength lies in its cultural richness, innovative workforce, and adaptability.
These present opportunities to foster creativity, economic growth and prosperity, and tourism attractions.
However, Nigeria has a complex leadership history. The journey, marked by significant challenges, has affected the nation’s development.
The military takeovers and political instability have posed challenges along its diversity line. Issues such as perceived marginalization of the minority, reduced autonomy of state and local governments, neglecting regional diversity, human right abuses, economic disparities, lack of equal representation, and mistrust have hindered the nation’s progress.
Though Nigeria has enjoyed twenty-five years of unbroken democratic rule since 1999, the nation still suffers from several issues along its diversity lines.
While the democratic system has solved some of the problems caused by the military, it faces myriad of ethnic and cultural challenges, posing threat to national unity.
This largely can be blamed on leadership and ineffective governance systems. Issues like insurgency, farmers-herders clashes, agitation for secession, communal conflicts, poverty, etc, have become order of the day. Despite Nigeria’s potential to thrive on the wings of diversity as a strength, poor leadership and corruption have caused a great setback.
These corrupt practices, nepotism, favouritism, misappropriation, and embezzlement of public resources cause resentment and mistrust among diverse groups reinforcing stereotypes and creating tensions.
Nigeria is yet to achieve full potentials of democracy. Communities in rural areas often lack access to dividends because there is no effectiveness of local government.
A lot of these communities have suffered neglect and could not have a fair share of the federal allocation of resources needed for development.
This causes marginalization and make them feel excluded. Ordinarily, no human will feel safe where their interests are not protected.
More reason why groups from various parts of the country have been calling for secession owing to claims that their interests are no longer safe in the country.
Also, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah said at the 21st convocation ceremony of the University of Abuja that, “when people do not feel a sense of being equal before the law, then differences become manifest”.
Embracing inclusion in all facets of Nigerian society is essential for effectively managing the country’s diverse cultural landscape.
We must rejig and redesign our educational system entirely to celebrate and promote our cultural values.
For instance, only the indigenous languages of major tribes are taught as subjects in schools. Moving on, provisions must be made to include the indigenous languages of other minority groups in school curriculum and should be taught to interested students.
This will give these tribes a sense of relevance, preserve culture richness, and promote value.
While the federalism system of government is crucial in promoting national integration and unity, it has been observed that the system has attracted too much concentration of powers to the centre.
In a democratic society, power belongs to the people. As such, Nigeria must decentralize power as a way to promote inclusion, effectiveness, and solve diversity issues by reintroducing regional government and local government autonomy.
During my conversation with the King of Apado kingdom, a town in Ilorin East of Kwara State, he explained that power must be decentralized as a solution to dowse tension of ethnic-related crises.
He further cited that the development witnessed under the old regional government was a result of good resource management and allocation. It gives a sense of belonging and drives citizen participation.
The resultant effect is that nobody will feel left out, resources will get to the locals, and interests are protected.
To further strengthen cohesion and unity, the government should give more recognition to minority and marginalized ethnic groups through sports and tourism development.
Cultural heritage sites and artefacts should be developed and protected as national assets.
Our National Sports Festival should include more indigenous sporting activities, especially those of the minorities.
Conclusively, it is important that every citizen embrace one identity regardless of our different language and tribe.
As noted earlier, the individuality of the Atlanta ’96 winning team did not carry their various ethnic identity to the Olympics but a single national identity.
This, we must emulate to build a nation of our dreams. The effort to manage our diversity must be an intentional and a concerted one.
Through national orientation, good leadership, legislation, and policymaking, Nigeria can harness the strength of its diversity to propel the nation towards a future where tribes and tongues harmonize in a symphony of progress and prosperity.
Stephen Olabode writes from Abuja, Nigeria.
olabodestephen1211@gmail.com
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