Nigeria: Blame Not Ethnicity for Nigeria's Failures

23 August 2013
opinion

IT was in the days that followed the January 1, 1966 coup that the young officers that took the reins of leadership started making some slogans popular. These slogans included: "No Nepotism", "No corruption", "No ethnicity ". All types of "isms" filled speeches from these young military leaders, and thus, ethnicity became one of the major problems of Nigeria.

Is ethnicity the problem of Nigeria, or is it Nigerians that chose to abuse ethnicity for their individual and group selfish interests? The period after Nigeria's independence in 1960 saw a very healthy competition between the major tribes in Nigeria, with cocoa leading in the economic growth in South West, groundnut and cereals in the North, with palm produce and root crops in the South East.

...

AllAfrica publishes around 400 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.