People, culture and Nigeria

What you need to know

• Socialisation: family first, then school, religion, peer group, media. That is how a child learns the rules of the group.
• Culture: language, food, dress, belief, art, technology of a people. Culture changes; it is not a museum.
• Nigeria’s major ethnic groups include Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo, with hundreds of others. Unity is a job, not a given.
• Norms are expected behaviour; values are what the group says is good; a sanction is the reward or punishment that follows.
• Extended family: uncles, aunts, cousins sharing duty. Nuclear family: parents and their children.
• A role is the behaviour attached to a position (teacher, prefect, daughter). Role conflict is when two roles pull against each other.