Chief Obafemi Awolowo wrote in Path to Nigerian Freedom, published in 1947, that Nigeria “is a mere geographical expression.”
In a popular line in her book 'Half of a Yellow Sun', Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said "I am Nigerian because a white man created Nigeria and gave me that identity. I am black because the white man constructed black to be as different as possible from his white. But I was Igbo before the white man came."
Not to be misconstrued, it is perfectly acceptable for someone to be proud of their ethnicity; yet, this raises the question of how citizens see civic and ethnic nationalism.
The reality that there is ethnic prejudice in almost every part of the nation is not negated by this either.
It is well known, that many Nigerians would like to identify primarily with their ethnicity rather than their nationality. But now, this is more than just an identifying issue—it's a national one. Nothing is held against someone who takes pride in their ethnicity unless it becomes a source of contention for a nation's unity.
Numerous discussions, issues, and difficulties that require unity have resulted in shatters due to ethnicity. Political misdemeanists have discovered anti-ethnicism as a highly effective tool for diverting courses raised against their odds; they portray the problem as one of ethnic interest or aspiration rather than the national agenda that it actually is.
There are hardly any trends or topics on social media these days that don't touch on ethnicity. Thus, the question of how much the average Nigerian believes in civic nationalism arises.
In states such as the United States, one is considered to be from Indiana if they were born there. Your state of origin is determined by your place of birth, even though your parents may be from Alabama. While not being necessarily in favour of it, it encourages civic nationalism among individuals of different ethnic backgrounds and helps one become impartial when making decisions that affect the country.