INTRODUCTION: Nigeria is made of about three hundred tribes. However, there are three major tribes where others can be subsumed. Nigeria is a home to one-fifth of every black man. Let me define the key words for proper understanding of this thesis. Nationalistic (an adj) this is an inflection from NATION. Another inflection from NATION (a noun) is NATIONALISM (a noun) and another word for NATIONALISM is PATRIOTISM which means a feeling of love for and pride in your country, or a feeling that your country is better than any other. Nationalistic is an adj which qualifies the person who engages in Natioalism. Hence, it means having very strong feeling of love for and pride in your country,so that you think that it is better than any other. Detribalised - this means causing members of a tribe to lose their tribal cultures. Tribe - a socially, ethnically, and cohesive group of people. From the above definition, we can infer that to be Detribalised is to deemphasize ethnicism. And doing same encourages Natioalism. Obviously, one cannot be wrong to say that Nigerians lack spirit of Natioalism. Now, let us examine the three major tribes in Nigeria to ascertain which of them is the most nationalistic. We will arrive at conclusion by their antics in relation to NATION building. The major tribes are: lgbo, Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani. As l said earlier, other tribes can be subsumed in these three major ones. The first is home to South East, the middle lives in South West while the latter is found in Northern hemisphere. Hausa/Fulani- the Hause/Fulani tribes are migrant and itinerant tribes. These people could be found in all nooks and crannies of Nigeria. Their major occupation are farming and cattle rearing. They are mostly called herders especially those that tend cattle. These herders are notorious for damaging food crops by grazing in someone's farm land. And if the owner raises their voice these herders instead of apologizing, fight and even kill them for challenging and condemning them. Yoruba - the Yorubas don't cherish living in other regions of Nigeria. They mainly live in their homeland. Though many of them reside in advanced nations. However, civil service takes some of them to other regions. And also a negligible number of them could be found hustling in other parts of Nigeria. And frankly, most of them who are married don't migrate with their families.
Igbo - this is an adventurous and an enterprising tribe. They hunger and hanker after success. No lgbo man believes that he is stymied or disadvantaged in any manner. Even those of them that were born with one handicap or another don't believe that they have lesser advantage of succeeding in life. Even some of them achieved more than those without any form of deformity. These people travel and reside in all parts of Nigeria with their nuclear and even extended families. This has been acknowledged by other tribes that they say if you go to any part of Nigeria and you don't find an Igbo man, you should run away bcs the place devours strangers. Igbo people when outside their region feel free in other parts of Nigeria. They marry women from their host community. They negotiate with natives and acquire land paying them handsomely what their tribeman cannot pay. They believe that "ebe onye bi ka ona edozi" that means where one lives he nutures and harnesses. An lgbo man does not believe in living in a squalid environment or if l may borrow Donald John Trump word "shit hole." Igbo people cherish beauty. Thus, they live in beautiful houses, wear nice clothes and others apparels. So in that environment where they live, they develop it even when they had not erected a beautiful structure in their native homeland as required by tradition. Conclusion. In the light of the above, an unbiased observe no matter their tribal or ethnic affiliation will acknowledge that the most Detribalised and Nationalistic tribe in Nigeria is Igbo tribe. So Nigerians should appreciate their liberal nature. They have lit the darkest part of Nigeria because they believe so much in Nigeria which an lgbo man championed even when other tribal/ethnic leaders were advocating for independence of the regions. Round-up: Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe stood his ground and got independence for Nigeria. And even during the civil war he never supported Biafra. If he did, Britain would have listened to him/Biafra. The lgbos believe in Nigerian project. And if other tribes join hands, Nigeria will take its place in comity of nations. Hurray Igbo! Keep up your cosmopolitan nature! Read, like, share and comment to encourage the writer.