What has Ethnicity got to do with business survival in Nigeria?

Nigeria is a beautiful country in West Africa, The country is special for so many reasons; our culture, our language (very diverse by the way), our people and most importantly our great business acumen. Every Nigerian is business minded, we all have big and small dreams of succeeding in life and that's where our business drive comes from.

One important factor that takes the front seat in our businesses is ethnicity. I have heard about how the whites are racist and all, but when it comes to running a business in Nigeria, there is a form of racism in every tribe, you might want argue this, but before you do, please take a day off you busy schedule to visit the popular Balogun Market in Lagos, or the Trade fair Market in Alaba, or better still you could go to one of those popular markets in  Abuja for a brief research on how ethnicity plays a role in our businesses. You will be amazed at how we respond to our customers based on their ethnicity.


The instances where you would see ethnicity being played out in businesses are not limited to the market circle. For ages, getting a job in a Government establishment has been based on silent but ravaging kind of quota system , I mean if you are not familiar with that set up, then you must have heard of how a Northerner from so and so community is the next person to be a governor of so state or how the ministerial nominee have to come from a particular ward in a particular state.
And if you think this doesn't happen in the private sector too, then you must have been out of Nigeria for too long, and you need to come home fast to be in tune with the environment. Just like we have the quota system operating in the government sector, those in the private sectors practice similar method. In some private companies, you would notice that if the head of a particular unit is from a certain tribe, he gives special preference to applicants from his tribe before considering others. In some cases on a particular applicant's file, you will see a note minute to the HR of such organization saying (MD's candidate, please treat).
As a community, we have failed one another in the sense that we don't give priority to the most qualified any more, we now give priority to mediocrity.


I listened to Mr Common Sense recently, and he said in the 80's Nigerian Airways(our national carrier ) had more than 15 or so aircraft and at that time United Arab Emirates had just three aircrafts, but fast forward to 2017, Nigerian Airways is no more, while the UAE has more than 300 Aircrafts, (national carriers to be precise).How has UAE managed to grow as a country in such a such time becoming a major tourist country in the world, UAE has survived in every kind of business they engaged in. The concept of Free Trade Zone was adopted in UAE merely 5 years before the establishment of Free Trade Zone in Nigeria, but up till date Nigeria is still struggling to grasp the concept of FreeTrade Zone, while the UAE has gone on to flourish so well in that area . In the UAE, their leaders tend to sort for professionalism from every where in the world to come and invest, develop and turn around their economy.


How did Nigeria go from having their own National Carrier to  having nothing? The answer is very straight forward and pretty simple, Mismanagement! You ask me how? Do you know that employing people to run a business based on ethnicity and not professionalism leads to mismanagement?  When qualified professionals are been given the opportunity to work in a conducive environment, which is free of tribalism, then what you get is an  effort of a team focused on bringing out an expected result.
You still wonder why America is the king of sustainable businesses in the world? Americans are very aware of socio-cultural factors in the business environment, they have their expectations and values of what constitutes good work ethics. In America, things like favoritism in getting a job or a promotion is strongly frowned at, also the culture of bribing to get a political appointment or a contract is uncommon in their society. If you see an American in a position you can be sure of one thing, he got there based on merit, and not because he comes from a certain community or a certain culture. A good example of their ethics was displayed when former President Barrack Obama became the first black president in the history of America, mind you he got there as a result of a free and fair election process. There was no god-fatherism involved and no tribal influence whatsoever. Have we as Nigerians purged ourselves of bribery, corruption and tribalism?
For Nigerian businesses to grow, we need to shut down cultural differences completely, and begin to give the right people the opportunity to run our businesses and public offices. How many businesses do you know of in Nigeria that have been around for many decades? How many stores like Walmart and the likes do we have that has survived? Kingsway comes to mind but unfortunately didn't live till the end of the nineties.


Don't get me wrong, this article is not trying to say ethnicity is the only factor for business failure in Nigeria, but rather,to enlighten the public on one major silent factor that is left unspoken for too long.
As Nigerians, let us begin to see ourselves as one, regardless of tribe or ethnic group. Let us learn to love and promote each other, so that we can all grow together. The Ethnic war is so strong these days that even on blogs, the comment section oozes a lot of tribal war. Let us put an end to this epidemic eating up our society before its too late.