According to Punch, notable historian, Prof. Toyin Falola, has warned that Nigeria will not develop fully with the continued sentiment its citizens attach ethnicity.
According to Falola, ethnicity has become “a well-entrenched bias” expressed by many Nigerians.
Falola, who teaches History at the University of Texas, United States, stated this while delivering the 50th anniversary lecture of the History department of the University of Lagos.
In a paper entitled “Ethnicity: Its Organ and Intestine”, the academic noted that ethnicity had become embedded in the psyches of Nigerians that it would be difficult to wipe it out from their consciousness.
An average Nigerian, according to him, sees himself more as first belonging to his ethnic cleavage before being a Nigerian.
The historian, who said that the development was affecting the nation’s development negatively, noted that it had also affected its resource distribution and power equation.
He added, “In Nigeria, contestation for power by political gladiators in the nation’s political space has further accentuated the problem associated with ethnicity. The choice made by voters is mainly driven by the concern for how a given political party will serve the interest of a given ethnic nationality rather than the collective good of Nigeria. This trend presupposes that the electorate will most likely form, organise and identify with any political platform that tends to accentuate and perpetuate their quest to dominate others.”
The Head of the department, Prof. Olufunke Adeboye, who spoke to journalists on the sidelines of the lecture, noted that the department had, in the last 50 years, adapted to the reality of global trends in carrying out its mandate.
She said, “You don’t expect that we have to be where we were 50 years ago today. We have adapted to the reality of global trends in the way we carry out our mandate. For instance, we had to change the name of the department from being Department of History to Department of History and Strategic Studies to cope with global trends which emphasis the need to bring a diverse focus to the study of history.
“Owing to the improvement in the course module for the areas of studies that we have had to focus on, the calibre of students that come to study here range from security agents to policy makers who have fund the courses very attractive thus enriching the pool of our alumni base.” (Credit: Punch)