Which way forward?

See ba,

Every single day, I pray that God removes the spirit of tribalism from Nigeria and Nigerians.

This thing has become a cancer to that nation. You go online, and every day it's so sad to see what our young people are being exposed to in the name of tribalism. Slowly but surely, it is definitely moving offline as well.

Among the countless things our parents’ generation really dropped the ball on, one of the most painful is the fact that they ingrained this devilish culture in so many members of my generation. Unfortunately, I can’t even say it's getting better because, despite all the education and wokeness, it’s still being passed down and getting more deeply rooted than ever.

Since I can remember, and at four-year intervals, this tribalism rubbish escalates and becomes worse as politics and politicians weaponise it in a bid to get elected. And it becomes a vicious cycle as bigotry becomes normalised from the top. Of course, when public figures, people elected or appointed to represent millions, could publicly speak ethnic hate and suffer no consequences, it only follows that their sheep naturally follow. Meanwhile, over the years, it flares up in real time and shows its ugly side in normal interactions. 

Social media has made this thing soo much worse.

There’s this recent advert of a young woman promoting a supermarket and making a very derogatory reference to a particular tribe as cheats in the street markets, which sparked this post.

The worst part is that it’s not one-sided by any means. All parties and tribes regularly take turns to use ethnic slurs and derogatory words to each other without thinking of the consequences online and offline.

Truth is, even at my own level, it took education, exposure, and lots of intentional unlearning to drop most of these preconceived notions. But how many others can say the same?

At some point, I  just shake my head in despair and pray for that country,