This may sound rather perverse because it has always been argued that our strength lies in unity and that tribalism is the bane of our nation. This brings me immediately to the difference between ethnicity and ethnocentrism. Ethnicity is the fact of the ethnic group. It poses no danger to the nation. Ethnocentrism can be combated.
Ethnicity is permanent.
It came about as a result of the disastrous rivalry and the chase for colonial aggrandisement of the great Powers at the end of the 19th century. It was always a mere geographical expression. It is a mere geographical expression. This is not surprising. Since the Amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914, we have been trying to do the same.