Introducing “Beyond the Three”! A Special Spotlight on the Beauty of Nigerian Ethnic Groups

Nigeria is a country with over 200 ethnic groups. It is a huge melting pot of diverse cultures sorely in need of unity. Widespread knowledge of our cultures and values is important for progress. A lot of negative stereotypes are perpetuated because of lack of information.

There are also preconceived biases which come from our lack of exposure. Parents have passed on their biases to their kids and this further fuels the flames of disunity. We strive to help overcome all this help preserve our cultures. We have so many beautiful tribes and cultures in Nigeria, so many people that we don’t know enough about. We should recognize, love and celebrate all Nigerians. This is why we’ve conceptualized this series.

Beyond The Three is a new series on BellaNaija where we celebrate and spotlight every tribe and ethnic group that is NOT Yoruba, Hausa or Igbo. We invite ALL BellaNaijarians to be a part of this initiative.

Structure:
The series will be in interview format. We’ll talk about a few things about the culture, names, food, language, naming ceremonies, marital rites, funeral rites. We’ll talk about the geographical location of your home town; if you know any particularly interesting quotes or folklores that are indigenously yours, please share.  We want to know what kind of leadership structure you have; what do your kings and queens wear? Do they have chiefs/council of elders? Share the beautiful, the not-so-beautiful and more importantly, the things that you personally hold dear.

Eligibility:
Every Nigerian except Yorubas, Hausas and Igbos. Sorry guys, you have to sit this one out.  There’s already so much of these three ethnic groups in the news, in films, everywhere you look. We love y’all but it’s time to actually let’s hear from some of the other 200 ethnic groups in Nigeria. Cool?

How to participate:
Please send an email to features(at)bellanaija(dot)com with the “Beyond the Three” in the subject line. (This is very important, so the email isn’t sent to the spam folder)
In the body of the email, please state the name of your tribe and the city and state it’s located in. Tell us two things about your culture and why you’d like to share your culture with the world. If the story piques our interest, we will send you the questions to proceed with the feature.

If you’d like to share photos, please feel free to do so. High resolution images, without distortion is welcomed. Pretty photos make pretty features. We want to see what outfits are unique to your ethnic group.

Photos are also optional, so don’t feel compelled to send any.

We encourage all participants to be as honest and factual as possible. We’re hoping that it will not only be a fun feature but an enlightening one as well. We also enjoin the commentators to be polite and respectful.

If you have a suggestion on how the feature can be improved, please leave a comment below. This is happening, guys! Let’s recognize each other and realize the beauty in our diversity.