Searching For the Nigerian Dream

Nigeria is my country and despite how sad and disgruntled I may seem about the way we live, it is my home, the only home I have ever known and will be a part of me no matter where I find myself.
According to Nigeria Fact Sheet published in 2012 by the US Embassy in Nigeria, the country has an estimated population of 160 million people and a total of 250 ethnic groups. For my friends who live outside the continent of Africa, the term "ethnic group" may not ring a bell to you but in Africa, it is common place to have countries categorised by ethnicity. Nigeria, being the most populous country within the region has quite a lot of them and each of these ethnic groups identify through traditional practices and language.
My name is Belemo and I am from the Ijaw ethnic group[1]. It is the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria and we are predominantly located around coastal areas. It is where our forefathers decided to settle because they loved the waterways and "lived with the fishes". It was a masterstroke in hindsight, we have the best terrain for agriculture, farming and most importantly, are located at all the crude oil deposits. This is all just numbers, stats and figures, the reality is sadly much different.

In an article by NNPC(Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation), it was stated that crude oil was discovered in 1956 at Oloibiri in the Niger Delta after half a century of exploration(Secertly being explored by the British Colonial masters that came to "help us" I presume). This is probably the most significant day in Nigeria's history, even more significant than 1st of October, 1960 because most of the events that led to the struggle for our independence was about oil, even though the politicians deny it until this day.

A few years after the Brits left, the damage had already been done. Many years of living in divided settlements being ruled through the "divide and conquer"[2] principle culminated into an all out war that engulfed most of the country.

Nigeria was soon embroiled in a bloody civil war. On May 30, 1967, Igbo leader Colonel Emeka Ojukwu, unilaterally declared the independent Republic of Biafra in the south-east of the country.
The oil-rich region of the Niger Delta was within its boundaries. But Nigeria's other ethnic groups would not let this region go without a fight. Aljazeera Publication

By the time the war was over in 1970, over 1 million people had died through fighting and famine in the south East of Nigeria, but what caused the war? Well, the people in the South East of Nigeria, predominantly of Igbo ethnicity and representing the 3rd largest ethnic group of the lot decided they didn't want to be part of the entity called Nigeria that Lord Lugard forced upon them the region in 1914 through the amalgamation act, it is probably the first thing you're taught in school as a kid in Primary school but I digress.

From my point of view, one of the reasons for the the war was is because of an outsider's decision to "unite" the Northern and southern protectorate. These were completely different set of individuals that weren't quite ready to mix. The Nothern protectorate is dominated by the Hausa-Fulani ethnicity while the south was shared between the igbo of the South east and Yoruba of the South West and sandwiched in between these two other Ethnic groups was the Ijaw ethnic group, my people. We were not important, actually, we're the Fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria but relatively have the least political influence in the country. What we had, however was a rich terrain. A terrain rich in oil, the hot cake that the british found and then left us to our own devises. They yet again, dangled the proverbial carrot.

“On some issues, it will be an apparent insult to expect one not to be emotional about it, not to be prejudiced or side one's kit and kin.
On issues as deep and as touchy as the Nigerian civil war and its consequences to the easterners, till this present day, to ask me not to cry, not to mourn, not to discuss it, is reduce me to a robot and ask of me a miracle, I am no TB Joshua(A popular Nigerian Pastor).
I may not discuss it often, but in truth, it was a regrettable and sorrowful experience, for any people at all!” ― Magnus Nwagu Amudi

The South Eastern Statesunder the umbrella of their separatist nation called Biafra assumed it was only right that since this oil rich region is right beside them, they would also fall into their separatist nation and sent military forces to hold selected areas (including Oloibiri where Oil was first discovered) but in doing so they were doing to my community what they assumed the Nigerian society did to them.

My mum was a prisoner of war; she often narrates how the Biafran soldiers stormed into what is currently [Bayelsa State]( . She was a kid then and her notion of the situation was told to her by the older people available then. She depicted an event where she was locked up in a school andanother hostage told her that the Biafrans are the bad guys, that they're trying force them into a bad union. She held on to that notion for most of her childhood and only knew it was a slightly different situation as she grew older.

The Civil war ended in 1970( lasted from 6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970 (2 years, 6 months, 1 week and 2 days [3]) and I really believe this is when should be termed our "Independence day". Sadly, we haven't learned from the events of the past and even until today, we are still divided by ethnic, religious and a host of sentiments too numerous to mention that have held us back from achieving our true potential and get to the heights that we should truly be in.

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I don't know what the Nigerian dream is but wherever it is, I feel like it is dying, buried in a rubble of sentiments, hate and misunderstandings. I am part of the new generation of Nigerians that want to look beyond these, I have seen the mistakes of my fathers and I intend to study them. I intend to interprete them and find a way to live peacefully and happily coexist within the bounds of this great Nation. I intend to be a Nigerian but at the same time, be an Ijaw man. I will not look down on another man's cultural or religious practice. I'm looking to the future and hopefully build a future where my kids will be free to express themselves as Nigerians, as ijaw people and most importantly, as humans living in a dynamic and understanding society. I don't know what the dream is or if it is still alive. I'll keep dreaming

References

1. http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/mmt/mxp/speeches/mxa32.html
2. http://thepointernewsonline.com/?p=38648
3. https://nigerianfinder.com/history-of-nigerian-civil-war/