Nigeria, Nigerians, and Tribalism

(By Lucia Edafioka - Sabinews) - Lagos is full of tribalism o 

Tribalism is to Nigeria what Racism is to America.

Majority of Nigerians are oblivious as to how tribalism works, especially the ones who have never left their regions; think of the Yoruba man who has never left Western Nigeria, or the Igbo who has never left the East.

They don’t really care about tribalism and their only insight into tribalism would be the hate/distrust people have for each other which they hide under statements like, “Yoruba people are like this…”

But for members of ‘minority’ tribes in Nigeria, tribalism is something you “eat” every day, especially when your state or local government area is too small to contain you, and you drift to the other people’s side because we are one Nigeria. You’ll experience it in little ways, from school, market, church, on the road etc.

People will treat you different because you are not one of them.
In Lagos, the most obvious form of this nonsense is in markets. I was haggling with a woman over bananas once when another girl joined us. She was in a hurry so I allowed her buy first. The woman insisted on N200, even though I didn’t think the bunch was worth N200.