Why Africans/Nigerians are so hateful?

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Jan 21, 2014, 10:48:18 PM1/21/14
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Look , folks, except we accept our inadequacies in leadership abilities in modern times or we believe the forgers of the highly heterogeneous foreign societies such as USA and Canada are aliens, we don’t have any excuse for not operating as one people with a common destiny who should respect each other and have regard for one another to muster the synergy to build our society and advance our people in the contemporary global village. Take care. JUI
 

JUI:

True; true; true!

As well meaning as they might be, those amongst our educated elites who approach
each and every Nigerian cultural, social and economic issue with a skewed and myopic
'what is in it for my people only' are grossly mistaken. They have not evolved their thinking
beyond those of our ancestors of several centuries and millenia ago.

The concept of who is a stranger or and who is not a stranger in any given locale
has eveolved significantly from the time of our ancient ancestors. During their days on
this earth, the stranger was the a person from the next village which might be only two to 5 kilometres
away with whom they might have little or no contact due to poor transportation
and communication infrastructures..

With easier transportation and communication modalities today the stranger might no longer
 a person from the next town or city. Our sense of commonality has broadened
to the extent that the stranger might be one who does not speak our language.

Even our ideas of what constitutes an ethnic or subethnic group has not been static
c over the past centuries or millenia. If we keep on pushing the time line backwards
we would definietely get to a point in our ethnic lineages and familiy trees from where
all or most Nigerian ethnic groups with distinct languages and or dialects diverged
from one another.

According
to genealogists, geneticists and archeologists  the first human beings first stepped
onto this plant about 167,000 years ago in East Africa
 -from which locus our original human ancestors and their successors
have migrated  to populate all the continents on planet earth.
So if we accept the fact that all human beings are genetically related i.e. that we are one family
of human beings--why do we still
hang on to this idea that our own ethnic group must be so special, because the
Amighty God created us the way we are and we have always lived in our current
locations.

The answer to the question posed by my esteemed younger brother Dr Akin Awofolaju
about who we Africans and Nigerians are so hateful can be traced to our historical and behavioral trajectory since
the time of our ancient ancestors.

The answer probably also provides the clues about why
we Africans are so distrustful of one another both on personal, societal
basis and why we are the most economically under developed
peoples in the world ranking much ower than 25th percentile on every
criterion on the human development scale.

Why are things the way they are:

There is a controversial theory from some academics that promises to shed some light regarding why
with some exceptions we Africans are who we are:

The theory:

If we take a look at the map of the world with regards to ancient human migratory patterns
we would find the following:

a) the less developed a region of the world is the more distinct languages and dialectal variations
we would find when compared to better developed areas of the world and the fewer the languages
are in any given area of the world the better developed the human beings  in that region of the world are.

b) Africa has the highest concentration of languages in the world. India has a population of
over one billion, yet it has one main language--Hindi--which is spoken and understood by almost
every Indian citizen as well as few regional languages.
In contrast to India, China and almost every other  European country, Nigeria with a population of
only 170 million has anywhere between 250 and 450 distinct languages many with
mutually intelligible or unintelligible dialectal variations.

c) How did this proliferation of languages occur and what as its purpose.
Why are there more branches
on the family tree of African languages than anywhere else in the world and how does
this relate to the much lower level of human development in Africa.

The answer again is not only in our genes it is also probably in our ancient history.
According to this theory are  ancient ancestors had a much higher level of inter-personal and societal
mistrust
with one another when compared to the ancestors
of today's Europeans. This high level of mistrust amongst the people led to people frequently
migrating to other regions. As soon as they arrive at the new locations the migrants
slowly develop (both consciously and subconsciously)
new dialects of the original languages which are specific to and are only intelligible
exclusive to them whilst being unintelligible to those they left behind. This mistrust
was not only common amongst the migrants in their new homes, it also persisted
amongst those they left behind.

Our African ancestors could cope on their own without need  much cooperation with any
other group they might consider as strangers which now include their former kins who have now
migrated to new locales. They could survive alone and provide all their needs either alone
or in small groups.

nature was very kind to our ancient ancestors just as its still much kinder
to the majority of today's Africans, with the exception of episodic famine
in some regions.
Since the land was fertile, water was close by and the weather was mild our ancient ancestors
who were mostly hunters and gatherers faced much less challenge from nature than those
of the ancient ancestors of today's Europeans who had over several millennia migrated away
to the temperate climetes where the climatic conditions were not only much more inclement
they also had to fight off into extinction the remaining few hundreds of thousands of Neanderthals
they met in these regions.

The unparalleled and onerous challenges faced by the ancient Europeans spurred the need to innovate.
They had to either innovate or die. They were forced to cooperate with one another in otherr
to increase their odds for both individual and common survival. This need for cooperation for
the sake of innovation required a level of trust that would make the exchange of ideas
much easier. In short, the ancestors of the Europeans needed to trust one another;
they had to work together--hence the need for much fewer distinct and unintelligible languages
as they need to work together in much larger groups.

Nigeria has more distinct languages and dialects than the sum of all languages and
dialects in all European countries.

This need to keep secrets persists up till today in African countries even within academia.

How did the ancient science of alchemy metamorphose into today's ever braodening pharmacopea
whilst the principles behind the 'science' of our own native medical practitioners remain largely
rudimentary and unknown? Why do most of  our native healers still die and take to their graves all the wisdom
from their decades of healing fellow human beings. Beyond their meager attempts to pass on their
skills to their children and a few apprentices, the principles of their healing methods remain
largely unknown to the general public.

The contrast in Europe, even before modern science was much different, There weremuch more frequent
exchange and sharing of ideas. With modern science came, scientific conferences as well as conferences
in all disciplines of knowledge known to man.

Even today in our own academia, Professors hide the knowledge gained from their research from
their peers--because they are afraid that their colleagues might steal their ideas and publish them in a scientific
journal before they do.

As you can see from the above we are not that different from our ancient ancestors. A fruit does not fall far
from the tree that bore it.

Nigeria is about to hold a national confab in the next few months, Each ethnic and sub-ethnic group is strategizing
in secret about what to bring to the table as its demands and possible concessions without sharing
any of this information with those the other ethnic groups it would be negotiating with.

In Europe and other parts of the world there would have been be pre-conference exchange of ideas--such that by the time
the conference is inaugurated the positions from all or most quarters are farely well known--regarding what is negotiable
and what is not--which would go a long way in facilitating the conference and making it a win win win solution
for all concerned.


Solutions:
\
How do we unshackle ourselves from the chain of ethnio mistraust that has been handed over to us over the
multiple generations through the millenia.

I will provide possible solutions in the next installment!

bye,

Ola

Work beckons!






---- Original Message ----
From: 'Segun Olude <segun...@me.com>
To: africanworldforum <africanw...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: naijaintellects <naijain...@googlegroups.com>; Joseph Igietseme <jb...@cdc.gov>
Sent: Tue, Nov 12, 2013 1:11 pm
Subject: Re: [africanworldforum] RE: [] Why Africans/Nigerians are so hateful?

JUI,

I have long come to the conclusion that we love filling cracks in the wall, rather than look at the wobble in our foundation, which would require, steady concerted effort to fix. Meanwhile, we are creating wider cracks in the pretext of trying to fill them, but we leave them bare, like open sores and go on to the next crack. 

It is very tiring because each time you think people are serious and you join in the effort, you realise that only a one or two are actually interested in fixing the problem permanently. Non of the problems of Nigeria can be fixed without long-term commitment. 

May we have wisdom and the sincere desire for real change.

‘Segun

On Nov 12, 2013, at 11:55 AM, Igietseme, Joseph (CDC/OID/NCEZID) <jb...@cdc.gov> wrote:

This is a classic case of Nigerian antipathy for taking on difficult societal problems, running away from seeking solutions, and resorting to escapism when confronted by complex situations; Nigerians should QUIT this tendency for convenient quick fixes to challenges instead of mustering bold and courageous moves, applying the massive intelligence, skills and hardwork in the society to resolve societal problems.
Dr Akin Awofolaju has tickled our minds on the various time-wasting and energy expending exercises we frequently indulge in in cyberspace; instead of us to seek serious, lasting solutions, such as why some people wont address subject-matters but would rather attack the writer or use expletives, disparaging or condescending comment, we are suggesting that Nigerians misbehave or disrespect each other because we are different or forced together as a country?
Excuse me……..is it not a FACT that the communities that make up Nigeria are neighboring African ethnic groups who frequently inter-marry, reside in each other’s villages, fetch water from the same rivers and even have several common words in their languages and dialects? How is that arrangement compared to the creation of some of the most stable democracies in modern times whereby different people from distant geographic locations meet in a foreign location to build and new societies as compatriots. Look , folks, except we accept our inadequacies in leadership abilities in modern times or we believe the forgers of the highly heterogeneous foreign societies such as USA and Canada are aliens, we don’t have any excuse for not operating as one people with a common destiny who should respect each other and have regard for one another to muster the synergy to build our society and advance our people in the contemporary global village. Take care. JUI
 
From: africanw...@googlegroups.com [mailto:africanw...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Okechukwu Okonjo
Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2013 12:15 PM
To: africanw...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [africanworldforum] Why Africans/Nigerians are so hateful?
 
This should help explain why: People who are different in too many ways are forced to live together

See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL_ila9vgYM&list=PLzWEs4f49XocNYmC1ejBBBG4kPuzuaTU0
 
On Tuesday, 12 November 2013, 16:28, Publisher Diasporascope <diaspo...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello Mr. Akin,
 
How are you? Thank you for this insightful article.
 
We will like to publish the piece on our blog if you do not mind. http://www.diasporascope.com/ is a site that focuses primarily on Nigeria/Africa Diaspora affairs.
 
Hope to hear from you.
 
Thanks,
Diasporascope team.
 
 
 
On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 10:31 AM, <Awof...@aol.com> wrote:
 
 Why Africans/ Nigerians are so hateful?
 
Sometimes I wonder, Are Nigerians so jobless? spending  their enormous valuable hours on yahoo groups trashing each other 24/7 especially in a country where people are been paid heavily per hour their jobs,  what gets into an average African/ or Nigerian's head?  So hateful, disrespectful  and resentful of one another for no reasons but showing off narcissistic effects and staged realism,  why Nigerians are always filled with rage, angers, bitterness and sometimes prefer to abhor ethnical indifferences of their past to move reclusively to their future to nowhere. I have watched this forum religiously for over 9 yrs, what are the benefits though beside the mastery arts of bringing each others down? History is a great thing but you can't allow it to define  and rewind your presence and live rent free in your head day by day be it Biafra or Wetie . Sometimes I appraise the passion that comes with it but you cannot be carried away with it absentmindedly. You cannot make a tea party omelette without expecting to  break some eggheads along with it. When an account on history is to be made, they will be mistakes irredeemably made from both left & right and there is nothing to it, either move on or let it bury you. Some Nigerians with good hearts likes Dr. Ola Kassim, Gen. Ishola Williams, Ozodi, Ogbonna, Adejuwon, Chuks, Otunoye, Aduba, Pastor Emeka Egbe, Aluko, Igietseme,  Odumakins  and so on (just to mention a few) are been slaughtered and castigated for no just cause while majority seating and hiding in despair behind their keyboards enjoying the unjust tirade. What are we made of ? A collection of brilliant minds or grumpy old men that have no regards for sanctity of life. What you do today becomes history tomorrow, Do you ever think in 10 years to come, someone ( your sons and daughters) might be interested in reading all these hateful and tribal bigotry threads on web  simply searching goggle on their project on Nigeria and suddenly stomped on your hateful innuendoes , and there you have it ? Do you want them to pick it where you left it off? Old man? As  ignorant as some of us might be, anything you write on Internet are permanently archived, www make it permanently on the web as a  record. There are a lot of ways to get lost in Chicago, being Nigerians is one of it. When you are angry with someone, he lives rent free in your head for years as long as that anger remains in your tiny little souls, you are the victim not the other guy, you probably don't know it. Why do we worry so much on what we do not have control on ? Oduah gate!!!!, Fani-Kayode Palaver!!!!, Ogwuonye Watergate!!! or on cat fight of who owns Lagos or Abuja rigmarole? it's sad, when some of you cannot even claim ownership of your own father's compound!!!   It bothers me when people still deliberate on Ojukwu & Awolowo takes on Biafra to date, for all I care,  when did you see children  of these two great individuals, who probably will never remain poor from their generation to generation, coming out here to your gathering of disintellectual  satire group and fight this loosing web battle, an average Nigeria is a loose cannon, on a boat with a senile captain, with no destination on lost voyage. Why is issue of unfortunate Biafra war, that many innocent people lost their souls both sides becomes a laughing stocks of other heartless cliques, this is not ways to consecrate the deads on unfair Nigeria/ Biafra civil war of 1967 -1975 that separated families, children without fathers, uncountable widows, who benefits more   besides bunch of web big-mouthed culprits, tyrants like you folks who are jobless orchestrating hatred, and woe  24/7 while seeking undue popularity on the web, advertently  hidden but cowardly behind keyboards,  or sometimes throw invisible punches on your faceless yahoogroup fora enemies. Now you folks probably  drawn Dr. Valentine Ojo to hypertensive stage, he shows up no more on your gossip suya fora, you beginning to clamoring for his comeback, how retarded?   Do we ever reset? Look back and watch Chinese or Indian Diaspora creatively adding values to their fatherland? How long do you want to remain victim of Biafra, Awolowo, Sardauna circumstances before you get it right?  What does it takes? When you are six feet under?   What have you individually contributed to add value or make changes to Nigeria inadequacies adding value wise? If you want to be recognized adequately, you have to develop self restraint, naked aggression or name calling  is a sign of weakness and it makes you look pugnacious. Don't get me wrong though, I will not be politically correct to say the least that there is "No good discussion or moments" that sometime ensued on this forum, but one will expect it is the right atonement to follow not otherwise. When the only tool you have is hammer, every problem you encounter looks like nails. We need to deconstruct ourselves from our perverted tribal egos, or from morally emptiness, with undue conception of what is not a true sense bearer of Nigeria identity.  I know many good Nigerians, ivy leaguers or non ivy leaguers, entrepreneurs in their own rights, corporate counterparts, straight intellectual shooters that work 24/7 with creative thinking looking for better ways to make landmarks in sand of time, good example will be a good friend likes of  decent, Phil  Emeagwali an internet guru. It takes a creative mind to develop a nation. I'm in view of our intellectual dishonesty, evidenced by our self contradiction everyday on the fora. When you wrestle with a pig, you get dirty and pig laugh back at you because he enjoy it and you dont. What makes evil men to succeed is for few good men to remain silent. when is enough, enough? Commonalities can be a big common problem if unchecked.
 
Akin Awofolaju,PhD
New Jersey
   
 
 
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