Comments by "" (@orboakin8074) on "Zeihan on Geopolitics"
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@atheistbushman Hi friend. Sorry for the late reply. As to your questions, ethnic relations here are far from perfect but they are much better than in the past and, especially, compared to some other countries in Africa. The socioeconomic rifts between the north and south still exists and even within both regions, inter-tribal schisms can linger but over the decades, civic nationalism and a more conscious National identity has been taking root here. Hausas and Fulani have their issues. Same with Igbos and Yoruba but for the most part, most people get along well. The main things causing tribalism to flare up are the economic problems brought on by poor policies and decisions of our current ruling party since 2015 and this leads to other secondary issues being brought due to this.
Regarding our military, yes, northerners who are mainly Hausa and some Fulani (Fulani are not nearly a large segment of our population as people think) do constitute a large portion of it--followed by Yoruba and Igbo people--but this is mainly due to demographics, not some tribalism issue. The same reason why the US army is made up of largely white people since they are the largest segment of America's population. For the longest time, our armed forces have been established as secular and national, not regional/tribal. Even our constitution and various military edicts forbid any religion or singular tribe from using our military as a proxy.
Finally, on the Biafran war, it is not forgotten but it is also not as majorly focused on these days. The fact that Igbo people still emigrate and settle successfully in other regions/states in Nigeria in the north and south-west, is proof of this. There are still secessionists elements in the south-east (as they are in other parts of Nigeria like Yoruba separatists and Haus/Fulani separatists) and while they call for separation and frequently use the civil war as a rallying cry, they are a loud minority and not supported by the majority of Igbo people on that topic. The fact that some of these groups like IPOB and ESN tend to use extortion and criminal/terrorists acts against their own people in the region, sours many against them. They are basically like the radical Sikh separatists of the Punjab. There are still legitimate issues facing the south east, especially economic ones but these are due to political inaction and ineptitude within their own region rather than discrimination from the federal government.
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@AboSaad-q8n firstly, thanks for the kind words for me and my country. Appreciate, friend. Also, as to the population issue, I don't see it as a major thing cause Arab-Israelis already live in Israel and have high birthdates but also are fully enfranchised citizens and contribute positively to Israel. This could also be done for Palestinians so long as they drop the radicalism. Also, the white guilt thing is unlikely. That mainly tends to be in regions and countries with very little existential threats and the weird postmodern leftist ideology that promotes it. I mean, in Nigeria, my ancestors of my tribe, and those of others, had history of war, enslavement and conflict with other tribes yet none of us has any "white guilt" sentiments cause it's something all our ancestors did and we also real issues and problems here to dwell on the past. so the ideology has no root here.
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@mr.takethingstooseriously honestly, it is really not as difficult as we think. India achieved their federal and democratic system mainly for a few reasons: They had the sociocultural and political foundation laid by the British during colonialism, same as we have. They even had previous instances of ethnic tensions and schisms like the Sikh-Hindu clashes similarly to our own civil war but due to the aforementioned sociocultural foundations, they worked to reestablish national unity rather than expunge the side that lost, same thing in our civil war happened. They also had a growing economy and increasingly young nationalist population that identifies more with India than their individual tribes. Finally, there is inertia and conscious effort to keep India united. The elites and populace there are to dependent on the economic security and political stability that a unified India brings and most want to maintain this. They might be problems but not enough to undermine the nation. They will simply work to improve their issues by necessity. This is the same that we also see in Nigeria. We already have a growing national identity and language. Many of our institutions, like the military, are becoming secular and avoiding divisive agendas. I mean, it is forbidden to classify our military as Muslim, Christian, or tribal. It is Nigerian. Most of us want to maintain our union, especially the elites. Even the secessionists in the North, South, West, East etc, don't have much weight anymore and most of us depend on the economic security and political stability Nigeria affords us.
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@mr.takethingstooseriously well, friend, I can't argue with that. Nigeria's success is indeed Africa's success. Also, the thing about democracy is that it is very malleable and can be modified in various ways but it tends to maintain some core aspects. Democracy in France, after their revolution and Napoleon, was and is still unitary i.e majority rule while in America, it is Republic democracy (the kind of democracy we are trying to establish here) which is not the kind of democracy that was in the west for a long time. Britain still has Parliamentary democracy. So, western democracy is not one simple thing and democracy can be applied to any place, not just the west. That is why when Botswana gained independence, they kept democracy and other things from Britain mainly because their culture had similar systems like consensus building, chiefs being elected, property rights etc. Democracy can, and has, worked in Africa because it can adapt and change easily.
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