Uniqueness of Nigeria Culture

Culture can be defined as the total way of life of a particular group of people in a society.

TYPES OF CULTURE

1. Material Culture
2. Non-material culture

Material Culture: – These are tangible materials we can see physically produced by a society to meet people’s needs.  Such include cloth, cooking utensils, houses, food, artworks and crafts, hoes, cutlass, knives, spoons, etc.

Non-material Culture: – These are non-physical aspects of a society’s culture.  They are intangible things that can not be seen but felt.  Examples are beliefs, values, languages, music, religion etc.

Characteristics of culture

1. It is dynamic – Nigerian culture is never static it changes as people living in the society change. Our dress, music, religion and so on are examples of a dynamic culture.
2. Culture is common to all societies – There is no society without culture this shows the uniqueness of culture.
3. Culture is learned – A child learns the culture of his society right from birth it could be through observation, imitation, participation etc.
4. It is adaptive – A Hausa man who finds himself in Edo can eat Igbo dress and so on because he tends to adjust and adapt to Igbo’s ways of life.
5. It differs from society to society: – Each tribe has its own culture which makes them unique and peculiar.  Differences in mode of dressing, beliefs, food, language and so on.

Cultural Similarities and Differences in Nigeria.

Similarities

1. Religion: – Nigerians practised and worship many gods such as non-living things, animals, stones, iron etc before the advent of the missionaries and the Islamic religion.
2. Respect for Elders: – This is very common away tribes in Nigeria.  They teach their young one’s how to greet and respect people around them.
3. Marriage: – Payment of bride price is common among all Nigerian tribe
4. Family Culture: – Most Nigerian’s tribe encourage polygamy because of farming activities and sees it as a way of expanding their family,

Differences

1. Language: – Each Nigerian tribe differs in language and dialects
2. Dressing: – There are differences in the mode of dressing in all tribes in Nigeria.  Yoruba men wear buba, agbada, dansiki, and file abetiaja while Igbo men wear buba and Iro with their sticks and hat.
3. Marriage: – Different tribes have different ways of conducting their marriage ceremonies and payment of dowries.
4. Food: – there are differences in the types of food to eat pounded yam and egusi soup, akpu with ogbona and okporoko soup among the ibos, while tuwo is very common among the Hausa.
5. Adornment: – Each tribe has different tribal marks which helps in identifying their people.

Evaluation

1. Define culture.
2. List the two types of culture.
3. State 3 characteristics of culture
4. Highlight 3 similarities and differences in Nigerian culture.

Assignment

Nigeria’s culture is unique. Explain with typical examples two things that make Nigeria’s culture unique.

See also:

Abstinence II

Abstinence I

Ways of solving common social problems in Nigeria

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