We often talk about countries doing things.
(a) Tensions rise between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
(b) Rwanda invades DR-Congo.
(c) Nigeria wins the 2012 Nations Cup.
We know what we mean when we say these things, but if these statements are taken literally, it is as if we are saying:
(a) Tensions rise between 85,000,000 individual people and 5,000,000 individual people.
(b) 11,000,000 individual people invade 71,000,000 individual people.
(c) 120,000,000 individual people win the 2012 Nations Cup.
It doesn't make sense, does it? When we speak of entire nations "doing" something, we are really referencing the specific decisions and actions of a micro-minority of that country's overall population.
It is not pedantic. It is actually quite important, especially in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Far too many of us Nigerians tend to hold EVERYONE in an ethnic/regional/religious group responsible for the decisions and actions of a micro-minority of members of that group.
Far too many of us Nigerians treat the statements and actions of the unelected (and often self-proclaimed) "leaders" of ethnic/regional/religious as though these statements and actions ipso facto represented the thoughts, desires, wishes and intentions of everyone in the groups these "leaders" claim to speak for. In particular, I am sick and tired of the Nigerian news media imbuing the words of "apex sociocultural/geopolitical groups" with a credibility they do not deserve and have not earned or proven.
Like all Nigerians, I too am part of an ethnic community, a regional community and a religious community. The thing is, when the publicly-claimed, so-called "leaders" of my specific groups open their mouths, NOTHING they say reflects anything I have ever thought, hoped, wished, desired or intended in my entire life ... yet the media treats them as if they are my leaders, as if what they say reflects my opinion ... and depending on where I am in Nigeria when crises break out, I could actually pay with MY LIFE when youths from another sociocultural group attack me to punish me for being (in their minds) complicit in decisions by men I don't even like, and for supporting (as far as they are concerned) actions that I in fact had opposed from the start.
It doesn't make any sense.
We are so powerless as citizens that we do not influence anything. We are like spectators in our own country. Yet we keep blaming each other for stuff none of us are in control of, rather than joining our forces together to fight for ALL OF US to finally be in control of our individual and collective destinies after thousands of years of being puppets in our own land.
PS: If you are wondering what prompted this post, well, I was privy to a conversation involving a group of Nigerians, the majority of whom believed that sociocultural groups benefit from having "one of their sons" in political power. A corollary to that argument is the insistence that the sociocultural groups whose "sons" are not in power are "marginalized". The reality is ALL OF NIGERIA is marginalized, has been marginalized and will remain marginalized deep into the future because we the ordinary people are too busy treating each other as rivals and enemies to work together to end our collective marginalization. Raise your head up and look around; not only are we marginalized in our own country, but are country (inasmuch as it pretends to be an African "giant") is thoroughly marginalized in strategic world power politics and the ever-more-complex global economy.
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