Fruit salad : how has it fared?

Fruit salad : how has it fared?

Diversity is a good thing and beautiful especially in the ideal sense of it. In most advanced nations with solid structures and institutions already in place, diversity can be really enjoyable. Otherwise, diversity can be a major hindrance to development and progress in the other nations in question. There are different kinds of diversity and this includes ; people diversity, viewpoint diversity, idea diversity and so on. However, I am going to concentrate on people's diversity.

In my home country Nigeria ( for example) , there are 36 states which have been split into different geo-political zones. The diversity is quite a lot and from the result so far ( as a nation) , it makes you wonder whether  diversity is good and the beauty of diversity is even applicable to Nigeria. This can be worrying and really baffling! The major challenge amidst this diversity is tribalism and this consequently results to favouritism and ethnicity, more or less.

On the global scene, diversity still has plenty of pitfalls and some  people still have challenges accepting it. I guess it is just an attitude problem probably. In the western world, non acceptance has often translated to racism with its many negative ripple effects. In the US, there has been several instances of police killing innocent black folks and amidst several efforts to combat this challenge, it still happens often now and then. The intimidation on black folks got so bad that it inspired an up rising that gave birth to rap music. Consequently, rap stars have gone on to tell stories of police intimidation on them. Ice Cube is a typical example when he sang : Fuck The Police! ( here's the link , please enjoy : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5fts7bj-so)

In Nigeria, ethnicity and tribalism has almost become the order of the day. In the just concluded elections, the results clearly demonstrates this : the North voted heavily for the All Progressive Congress while the South voted for the People's Democratic Party.  Diversity doesn't seem to work! Quite a lot of issues seems to be associated with diversity in Nigeria.

The Biafran people are currently pushing for separation to become a different country : Biafra. Even if this happens, will it translate into good governance? The challenge even translates into division amongst people from the same state and may be same local government. Even if the division occurs and Biafra comes to realisation, some people have argued that there  will still be division and non acceptance of differences that might exist. Nationally, there are still misconceptions all around the country and this has furthered contributed to the challenge. For example, it is said that : Igbo people like money. Hang on, who doesn't like money? * smiles *. While this might create trust issues among individuals dealing with Igbo people, I would like to point out that there are cunning and untrustworthy people scattered all over the world. So the issue of someone liking money ( or any other generalisation) applies to most ( if not all of us especially when it comes to money) in my opinion. So far...so bad for diversity in Nigeria I guess * smiles *

Perhaps, the issue isn't with diversity  itself. It Probably comes down to  individual attitude and the general orientation we have as individuals. Just may be, diversity isn't meant for every nation? Just may be, the advantages and disadvantages of diversity should be accessed locally. After all, all business is local! However, if a system can be created to put everybody in line, the beauty  of diversity can come to fruition probably. Just may be, if there can be a way to look beyond our differences and focus on what we can do as a team, then the beauty of diversity might just come to fruition. Personally, I quite love the spice that diversity brings to the board . While I absolutely love diversity, I think that if it isn't working, then we could probably look at other alternatives,  to at least limit it's disadvantages and just may be , we could find a silver lining.

Finally, I close with this : " Defeating racism, tribalism, intolerance and all forms of discrimination will liberate us all, victim and perpetrator alike"...Ban Ki-moon. Please remember to send in your stories at mygpland@gmail.com. Please share, subscribe and comment please. Have a great week ahead!