Racism, Tribalism, Sexism and All the Isms In-Between in Nigeria

I watched a TikTok video last week which spoke about the 10 most racist countries worldwide, now I don’t know where the statistics were gotten from but my country Nigeria was on the list which made most people outraged and even I initially was shocked but after sitting back and thinking on it, I realized that it may actually be true.

Over the years, I have noticed that Nigeria is a country with a lot of isms, and most days as an individual you would most likely experience one or the other and it has become part of the norm. Most people would say “black people” cannot be racist so to avoid the argument I get to do almost daily, I am not going to speak much on racism.

While going to work today, there was a dispute between drivers and immediately one chose to call the other by the name of a terrorist group just because he was from a certain tribe and everyone laughed in the vehicle and at that moment, it dawned on me how prevalent certain isms were in Nigeria i.e. Tribalism and sexism. Most families would even tell their children not to marry from certain places in Nigeria because of certain stereotypes and I had always wondered about what prompted these thinking patterns and when I would ask people what was the idea behind this logic, I usually would get the silliest response.

And don’t get me started on sexism in Nigeria because there are so many cases of women in this country not being able to pay for bail, speak out in public, and even not being able to rent an apartment without “a husband or male figure”, there are even ladies who are tagged as properties of their fathers and husbands to do as they please and even though people would joke and around and say that Nigeria isn’t as bad as other countries, I would beg to differ because there is nothing worse than having a sickness you do not know you have.

I as a Nigerian has had multiple experiences with sexism, tribalism, and colorism, and the sad part of all this is that while other countries are evolving and trying to fight these problems, I don’t think that Nigeria would be changing anytime soon because these problems aren’t spoken enough about and are seen as non-existent and it is crazy because most of our societal disputes spring from issues of tribalism and segregation.

The isms are deeply rooted in our society and one way or other most people have participated in fanning the flames that burn bigger daily knowingly and unknowingly and I do not believe that this problem is going to change anytime soon.

What do you think about this topic? To the Nigerian, have you had any experience with tribalism or sexism, and to those who aren't Nigerian, do you think Nigeria deserves to be in the top 10 most racist countries?