The follow-up question I always get from foreigners who vaguely know a thing about Nigeria is always, what tribe are you from?
I just want to have you know that that is the most ridiculous, illiterate, and condescending question anyone can ask. That would be the same as me asking a British person what tribe they were from, would come off illiterate, wouldn’t it?
Except, Nigeria is exactly like the UK, a multiethnic nation, yep, multiethnic not multitribe. A multiethnic nation with many ethnicities. The only difference between the two is that while the UK has only four distinct ethnic groups, Nigeria has much more.
It is also in your best interest to refrain from the urge to make statements like, “but you’re all tribal over there, aren’t you..” That doesn’t make you look as good as you think it does either.
But as we’re on the topic, I will have you know that a tribe is a social group usually smaller and less centralized than a state. Its size ranges from a few hundred to a few tens of thousands, never hundreds of thousands or millions. Tribes exist solely within ethnic groups, and the appropriate order would be clan → tribe → ethnicity → nationality.
For instance, in Cross River, of the several languages spoken there, I only understand Efik and a good amount of Oron. Also, in Akwa Ibom state, of the several languages spoken there, I understand three and a good amount of Oron.
I, for instance, speak Ibibio, and that’s only because I left Calabar from age six and lived in Uyo and Abak for most of my life before leaving home. And in between all that moving, I did speak Efik and Annang before the Ibibio stuck. To help you put things into perspective, that’s like speaking British, American, and Australian English.
In regards to Oron, that’s more like Ukrainian and Polish, or Azerbaijani and Turkish. So if you speak Efik, Ibibio, or Annang, each spoken by millions of people, or even Ekid, it would be a lot easier for you to learn Oron than it would be for someone who speaks Igbo or Yoruba.
So you see, it isn’t all that complicated at all. Yet colonial writers did continually downgraded African societies to “tribes,” regardless of their complexity.
For example, the Ashanti Empire, with its kings, armies, taxes, and bureaucracy, was called a “tribe,” while European states with similar structures, such as Scotland or Bavaria, were called kingdoms or nations. Even smaller European groups like the Celts or Basques, which never had centralized states, were still described as “peoples” or “nations,” never as “tribes.” Africans were linguistically diminished, while Europeans were elevated.
For the longest time, “tribe” became shorthand in literature for primitive, backward, fragmented groups. Which is why loads of old textbooks used “tribal wars” instead of political conflicts, or “tribal elders” instead of statesmen.
Still, don’t argue “But many Nigerians don’t mind being asked what tribe they are from” either. Because that would be the exact same as expecting you to drink from the Ganges River just because some locals do the same. But I bet you wouldn’t do so, would you.
Like my grandma used to say with her very thick Annang accent: “gengen ami, kpek nkpo jak afon o, jak adi ufok adi kpek ajin.” My grandchild, study hard and well so you’ll come back and teach it to the rest of us. Thus, I’ve grown up believing that once any person attains any sort of enlightenment then it is never meant for them alone.
In my mind, if you’ve attained enlightenment in any field, then that is the universe passing you a mantle, and that mantle should shine so bright that it does not only lead those who cannot see properly to you, but also lead them towards the right direction.
Therefore, it does not do the world any good if you keep perpetuating harmful misconceptions just because that’s how it’s always been done, or because some people who may not know better tolerate it.
We should all aspire to do better. And if you know better, then you must absolutely do better. Because as someone once said, ignorance repeated is not culture, it is just ignorance handed down. And the utopia we would like to achieve in this world would never happen if we continually hold on to and perpetuate ignorance.
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