“SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE
BEAUTY OF CULTURAL CONVERGENCE”
(THE LAGOS CASE STUDY)
BY
BOLAJI OLANIBA
One of the important factors that lubricates
and checkmate the frictions inherent in multicultural societies is the presence
of social development; which entails the establishment of adequate and
sustainable infrastructures and the availability of equal opportunities for members
of every ethnic, cultural, religious groups present in that society to access
and move up the rungs of Socio - economic Ladder via the societal/lawfully
prescribed way without restrictions of any kind. It is of no doubt that many
Nations are plunged into this phenomenon, while some have chosen to see and
live with it from a “Rainbow perspective” and work with it as such, with
fruitful results and sound social development becoming the aftermaths, others
have seen it as an unfortunate taboo that must be revoked; thereby leading to
the creation of War situation and destruction on the assumed basis of inequality
ridden - multicultural society.
Nigeria
fortunately is a multicultural Society (one where more than one cultural,
ethnic, racial or religious groups coexist together as a political, economic
and social unit) patched together in the hands of weavers called ‘fate’ and ‘chance’,
and since the seemingly artistic fusion succeeded in its craft, Nigeria has undoubtedly
struggled to see its self from the “Rainbow perspective” because of perceived
marginalization from all cultural angles that form the entity called ‘Nigeria’.
However, there have always been exceptions in every gloomy situation, a dim
light striking through the middle of a tunnel to show there is greater light at
the other end if the train keeps moving. I flashed back in time to my child
hood and adolescent stages as an individual born on the sands of the ‘Niger –
area’, in the state called ‘ Lakes’ as named by the Portuguese in 1472. I
reminisced on the common struggle that woke men up by 4am; Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba,
Tiv, Ighala, Mada, Fulani, Igbira, Edo, Idoma etc all striving to survive in
the heated up race, jamming and beating ‘go – slows’ (term for traffic jam in
Local parlance), solving daily issues and problems and various challenges
together with co – residents and hustlers within the same geographical and
sovereign state. Oooh, how I never knew that Nneka, Ridwan, Audu, Sadiq, Chuks
and co ( my primary and secondary school mates in Lagos) where so much
different from me as a Nigerian by virtue of heated up murmurings and marked
out differences oozing from their respective Hometowns and geo – political zones. Arrgh!!!! but we prayed together; Christian and Muslim prayers
joyfully and playfully, we shared our foods together without recourse to ethnic
or religious differences, visited ourselves at home, and our parents rolled
together. But then when I got the opportunity to navigate other parts of
Nigeria by the Grace giving to me by GOD ALMIGHTY, from North central to the
North east and my concurrently developed capability to garner daily news and
events on issues spanning all regions of the Nation, I began to see that the
first point of call for an individual’s identity was his/her ethnic and
religious identity rather than the National one. And now, the Nigeria I got to
know of became so profound and complex to my youthful grasp. But then I got to understand
that so many regions are slow paced in development than others, education is not
largely embraced and seen as a means to a joyous end and a light in some
regions of the country in contrast to the way it is seen in other parts. I got
to understand that despite the industry and will of the people across many
regions of the Nation, Crude oil and its gains however catches the fancy of the
political actors across all fonts of political representation in many parts of
the country, so many contrasting situations here and there.
Now let’s make Lagos a model of the
rainbow nation we ought to be and want to be, despite the early damning report
released by ‘the Economist; a popular world reporting journal and business news
agent, which ranked Lagos as one of the least livable cities in the world.
*smiles; be it as it may, we still have hope in that city/state as it is one of
the fastest developing cities of its kind not only in Africa but pan the world.
The Lagos model shows that ceteris paribus; the presence of sound social
development encompassing favorable governmental policies, responsible
leadership, equal rights, equal platform for self development, and a land of
beaming opportunities, clears out even the tiniest manifestation of any marked
differences among the people. a place where Mallam Audu, Baba Chinonso and Baba
Shakiru strike it out as wonderful neighbors even more than Baba Shakiru would
have hoped for in Baba Kunle, Lagos has shown that when people gets the
platform to strive together for their own common benefit, ethnicity and
religion go for hide and seek sessions. And because this is not the situation
in majority of other parts of Nigeria, heated up murmurs and grumbling against
one another comes up, dies and resurfaces again, more still because we have a
political leadership train that doesn’t understand the beauty of a
multicultural society and the need to bind cultures together by virtue of Sound
Social Development. The USA is a testimony of the beauty of a multicultural
society, and its status as the world power may stay longer than we envisaged
because the United State is a coalition of persons form almost all national, racial
and cultural fonts, living and working together with indigenes for the
Greatness of one nation called the USA with the idea of creating a viable
environment and Prosperity for all - invoked from Hard work and individual
talent.
We only need to take a cue from
several nations who are there and who have been there, the city of ‘Lagos’ as a
model of a multi cultural society is working, Nigeria as a multicultural nation
can also work, we only need responsible and inclusive Government officials pan
the Nation, Leaders who will make the people willing , leaders who will make
available; viable environment that promotes tolerance, Leaders who will also teach the people to be
tolerant by their own actions and example and Leaders who will make Social development
a uniform characteristics of every region in Nigeria. GOD bless Nigeria!!!!!!!!!!
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