Nigeria, through the lenses of Hausa/Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba

Records have it that there are over 300 ethnic groups in Nigeria making the country the fourth most diverse in the world after Indonesia, India and Papua New Guinea.

But none of the countries mentioned have three large and most distinct ethnic groups as Nigeria.

In Indonesia by far the largest and most dominant ethnic group are the Javanese who constitute up to 45 per cent of the total population of the country. In India, the Hindustani make up about 40 per cent of the total population of India dwarfing the Punjabis, Bengalis and the Kolkatas. In these countries the dominant culture and ethos are influenced to a very large extent by the largest ethnic groups invariably.

In Nigeria however, the three largest ethnic groups do not have the sufficient numbers to claim full dominance over the country and between themselves. The Hausa/Fulani have about 25 per cent, Yorubas 21 per cent and Igbos 18 per cent of the population of Nigeria and this means that between them there is a fierce competition over who will exert the most influence in the Nigerian political, social and economic space. To a very large extent much of Nigeria’s history since colonial times to date has been shaped by this very factor.

For these three large ethnic groups can very much in their own rights, be countries by themselves. It is both a plus and a minus to have three huge, perpetually squabbling potential countries existing within the same space.  If Nigeria is often likened to a pressure cooker, this is what makes it so in many respects.

So how do these ethnic groups see Nigeria and how do they try to exert their claims to a ‘’living space’’ within the geographical area called Nigeria?

Let us start with the Igbos. Of the three, it is the Igbos who cannot claim to have a history of pre-colonial spatial expansion through conquest and domination. There are no historical records of a dominant Igbo empire or Kingdom that conquered other Igbo or non-Igbo entities and brought them under its control before the advent of colonialism.

Igbo scholars attribute this to the fact that Igbo societies being ‘’Republican’’ in construct where clans were the structure, did not allow for a dominant state to rule over them.

So, when the British colonialists came to set up their structures, they did not have to ‘’negotiate’’ with any potentate over the establishment of colonial rule in Igboland. But in context it turned out to be an advantage in that the Igbos became the most mobile ethnic group in colonial Nigeria. When the colonial authorities needed to build the colonial infrastructure, it was to the Ibos they turned because they did not have to seek the ‘’cooperation’’ of a ruler for that.

So as the Igbos built the colonial railways, the telecommunications, the electricity grid, the ports etc they were also building the new Nigeria politically and economically. This took them to the nooks and crannies of Nigeria in great numbers and in due time Igbos became the single most influential ethnic group in the country controlling not just the political and economic structures in their region but competing favourably in the Western and Northern regions as well as the federal level.

Up until the civil war in 1967, the dominant position of the Igbo elite in Nigeria’s political, economic and social life was unassailable. Igbos not only saw themselves as of right and by their achievements, the unchallenged leaders of the Nigerian political firmament, but of Africa as a whole. This was the political philosophy espoused by Igbo political leaders like Nnamdi Azikiwe and cascaded down to Igbo ordinary folks in daily life even to this day notwithstanding the civil war and its aftermath.

What about the Yorubas?

The late Attorney-General of Nigeria Bola Ige was quoted to have said ‘’Yorubas are the most educated and sophisticated ethnic group in Nigeria’’. On the basis of historical records this claim may well be true in the context of modern Nigeria. Although the coastal states of the Niger-Delta could lay claim to the record of being the first to come into contact and influence of European states dating back to the fifteenth and sixteenth century, it was in the Yoruba areas that Europeans first set foot as Christian missionaries, traders and adventurers. This brought great social developments in the form of education and other forms of awareness that led to changes in Yoruba land which was lacking in other parts of Nigeria. Lagos and Abeokuta for instance, played host to these developments and as far back as the second half of the nineteenth century there were Yorubas who were in contact and hobnobbing with Europeans.

From these contacts Yorubaland, Lagos especially, became the hub of ‘’modern’’ ways and ‘’sophistication’’ in terms of education and social awareness. Many Yorubas some of whom had returned as liberated slaves and had been educated abroad added to this development. Thus, it came as no surprise that Yorubaland produced the first Nigerian Lawyer in the person of the Ijesha born Sapara Williams in addition to many firsts in other professions in Nigeria. And today Lagos and Yoruba land, to a large extent, lays strong claim to being the pacesetter in educational advancement and standards of social awareness, modernity and urbane sophistication.

The Hausa/Fulanis believe that the Igbo and Yoruba claims are largely superficial. They believe that claims of superiority and sophistication by Igbos and Yorubas in Nigeria are not based on originality. A top northern personality I spoke to on this subject said that Igbos and Yorubas are basing their claims on their historical connections and contact with Europeans. In this regard he asked a rhetorical question ‘’What were the Igbos and Yorubas before the advent of the British? Did they have any civilization based on established administrative structures? The Yoruba Oyo empire had disintegrated and the Igbos had no known state. But in the North, there was a functioning entity which predated the British and which covered what is northern Nigeria today. Indeed, the British learnt administration from us and without this they could not have ruled Nigeria effectively. The Igbos and Yorubas cannot claim what they did not build originally. If the British did not come, what would they show as their concrete claim to civilization and achievement?’’

The contesting claims to who is more influential and who by extension should be the bellwether in Nigerian affairs between the three has become a subject of serious national debate. Most often one hears statements like ‘’We are the ones that can make Nigeria great’’. Other times we hear statements like ‘’Without us Nigeria can never be great’’ or so and so are dragging Nigeria down.

Despite all this claims no part of Nigeria stands as model of development fit to speak of. Nigeria still remains at the bottom or near bottom of indices of underdevelopment despite all the resources available to it.

The truth is that until these three ethnic groups eschew bitter and meaningless competition for power and influence between them and find a common ground to face the necessary task of national development, Nigeria will continue to atrophy to the utter and everlasting disappointment of all Nigerians and people of African descent the world over.