USA is wat it is now cos of the different people from different race there. Nigeria is not an exception, but this big problem down here.

Do you think our different ethnicity is an asset to us or a liability?

...

I'm not sure that America is the best example of ethnic diversity, however:

The different ethnicities in America were allowed to fuse together naturally, at their own pace.  Nigeria is an artificial construct with people forced together by an ignorant and self serving power; 'Nigerians' were united in their distrust of the British, rather than their love for one another, once the British left what was left

The different communities in the America, have a lot in common for the most part (with the exception of African-Americans)...They are all descendants of immigrants or immigrants themselves, who left their homelands to seek a better life. They sought to free themselves of the oppression that existed in the 'Old world'. The emphasis is/was on economic development and freedom of religion.

There is also the fact that for the most part most of the US population is of European stock with a common Christian based ethic, if not religion, Nigeria is far more diverse.

an asset. But like everythig else in the country, it isnt utilised well

@exu they also speak a common language. each of the major nigerian languages has populations of more than 30 million speakers(conservative estimate) and thats more than the number of people who speak swedish. To add to the problems, we fought each other before the british came so remnants of earlier disputes still resurrect once in a while like the Afonja dispute in Ilorin recently between yorubas and fulani.

Asset, and Fulani's are not even Nigerians, they cam to Nigeria from Chad. We Nigerians can fight one another at home, but once are overseas we seems to come together as Nigerians, funny eh. I am Yoruba but my best friends here are Igbo and Hausa, we don't even classify each other, we are Nigerians, we should adopt this doctrine WE ARE NIGERIANS no matter if you eat rice or OGBONO soup or TUWO.

Here's the deal: our diversity has to be contextualized before we can better understand ourselves and know who the real 'enemy' is. Personally, our diversity could be both an asset and a liability, depending on how we define ourselves as a people. There are times when we have put any divides behind us and united as a common entity for a common goal. Take football, for instance: I've not heard of anyone causing trouble over what ethnic divide 'owns' the Green T-shirt. But petroleum resources are a different matter altogether: the country is still much divided on that subject.

Perhaps, what we might be more concerned about is how to best utilize our diversity as a people to bring the best out of ourselves. There's no other African nation I know with such a rich collection of cultures; dogged determination to fight against all odds in daily survival; outstanding human resources; and a wealth of other fascinating issues that make us unique in the African continent. Yes, someone might hola about the humongous corruption and flagrant human rights abuses, etc. But for me, Nigeria is UNIQUE inspite of all else that weight against us as a people.

The other day we were lightly chatting away when someone teased that there's no place on planet earth where Nigerians have not been to. . . even up to Iceland sef, Nigerians have been there and back! On holiday to Sweden in 2005, there was this Arab chap in an open market that kept yapping "Okocha! Okocha!" in poor English to show his respects to us Nigerians in the sporting arena. Of course, being black among whites is not simply "Nigerian", but as we haggled away, I was amazed that this guy being an Arab remembered more Nigerian sports name than I did back then - to my 'civilized' embarrassment! His mate smiled to impress us, and gave us a roll-call: "Hakeem Olajuwon, Rashidi Yekini, *Stephen 'Musa' (instead of 'Keshi'), Mike Okpara, Atanda Musa, . . !" I was amazed (of course, he was 'tripping us babes).

That said, the problem with our diversity could have far-reaching consequences. How many of us have forgotten Dele Udo who was killed by the police at a checkpoint in Lagos in 1979? He was a visiting athlete from the USA who had come home to participate, but alas!

We could do much better than marking time on talking about our multi-faceted problems. Maybe it's time we started making informed suggestions as to how to deal with our problems as a common people. Afterall, as the saying goes, 'na only Nigeria we get - another one no dey!'

exu:

I'm not sure that America is the best example of ethnic diversity, however:

The different ethnicities in America were allowed to fuse together naturally, at their own pace.  Nigeria is an artificial construct with people forced together by an ignorant and self serving power; 'Nigerians' were united in their distrust of the British, rather than their love for one another, once the British left what was left

The different communities in the America, have a lot in common for the most part (with the exception of African-Americans), They are all descendants of immigrants or immigrants themselves, who left their homelands to seek a better life. They sought to free themselves of the oppression that existed in the 'Old world'. The emphasis is/was on economic development and freedom of religion.

There is also the fact that for the most part most of the US population is of European stock with a common Christian based ethic, if not religion, Nigeria is far more diverse.

Its so true that in the presence of foreign powers, we were united-but that begs the question-even without being diverse, we would still have being united against the foreign powers.
So far our diversity has been a liability. The "asset" part, if their is there's any, is lost in the dark recesses of its liabilities. I dare anyone to say otherwise.

Extreme liability.

An obvious liability, where it matters.

.