Africans have been urged to rethink tribalism not as a force for division, but as a catalyst for collective development and progress. Speaking at a virtual lecture on Nigeria’s historical evolution and prospects, organised by The Think Tank For Sustainable Development, the Regional Director for Ford Foundation West Africa, Dr. ChiChi Aniagolu-Okoye, argued that for Africa to unlock its full developmental potential and assert global leadership, it must deconstruct the stigma surrounding tribal identities and reimagine them as a vehicle for unity and progress rather than division.
Aniagolu-Okoye, who spoke on the topic “Reinventing Tribalism to Work for Africa’s Development,” argued that many of Africa’s systemic challenges were ultimately traced back to tribalism. She explained that the debate around the issue had produced two dominant ideologies: some speak passionately in favour of preserving tribal allegiance as the bedrock of identity, while others believe tribalism should be completely eradicated to build modern nation-states that transcend ethnic sentiments.
What Does “Positive Tribalism” Actually Mean?
Aniagolu-Okoye urged Africans to embrace what she described as “positive tribalism,” emphasizing that tribal identity should not be rooted in hatred for others, but in love and responsibility toward one’s own people. She cautioned against attempts to completely erase ethnic identities, noting that such efforts often backfire.
The distinction she drew is significant. Her argument was not a defence of tribalism as it is most commonly experienced across the continent, as a tool for political exclusion, nepotism, and division, but a call to separate cultural and communal identity from the destructive political weaponisation of that identity.Earlier in his remarks, the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Professor Eghosa Osaghae, argued that ethnicity and tribal affiliations should be recognised as legitimate components of civil society within an African context. He urged policymakers to reconsider conventional assumptions about tribalism, emphasising its potential role in strengthening community resilience and fostering development.
A Long-Standing Battle Between Tribe or Nation
The arguments advanced at the lecture sit within a debate that has occupied African scholars, politicians, and citizens for decades. Tribalism has historically been blamed for some of the continent’s most damaging political outcomes: the exclusion of qualified candidates from leadership positions in favour of ethnic loyalty, the fuelling of conflicts in countries from Nigeria to Kenya to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the erosion of merit-based governance in favour of patronage networks built along ethnic lines.
At the same time, a body of scholarship and commentary has increasingly pushed back against treating tribal identity itself as the problem, arguing instead that the issue lies in how that identity is exploited by political elites. Proponents of this view note that strong communal bonds, properly channelled, have historically underpinned mutual aid, local governance, and social cohesion across the continent long before colonial borders imposed artificial divisions between related peoples.
Aniagolu-Okoye and Osaghae’s remarks represent a contribution to that second strand of thinking: an argument that the goal should not be the eradication of ethnic identity, an effort that has been attempted by several post-independence African leaders with limited success, but its responsible redirection toward nation-building and community development.
Whether that reframing gains broader traction will depend on whether it can be translated from an academic and policy argument into a political culture that has, for decades, used tribal identity for the opposite purpose. The debate, as the speakers themselves acknowledged, remains far from settled.
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