A look at Ghanaian, Nigerian psychology
Ghana and Nigeria are two countries lying on the west coast of Africa. Both countries were colonised by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the 19th Century.
Advertisement
Indeed, Ghana and Nigeria were founded by the British. In 1901, the British amalgamated the Gold Coast Colony (a string of tribes along the coast), the Northern Protectorate (northern territories of the land) and Ashanti, in the middle of the country, named it the “Gold Coast” and admitted it into the British Empire as a nation-state.
For Nigeria, the British amalgamated the Southern Colony and the Northern Protectorate, made up of splinter tribal and religious groups, into one country, named it “Nigeria”, after the River Niger, and admitted it into the British Empire in 1914.
The land mass of Ghana is 92,456 square miles or 229,460 square kilometres. Ghana’s population was 25,009,153 in 2013. The tribal groups of Ghana are Akan, Moshi-Dagomba, Ga-Adangbe and Ewe.
Some 62.5 per cent of the Ghanaian population are Christian; Islam, 32.2 per cent. Nigeria’s land mass is 256,669 square miles or 923,768 square kilometres. The population was 178.5 million in 2014.
Nigeria has 389 tribal groups. The Hausa-Fulani, Nukpe, Tiv, and Kanuri people of the northern part, occupy two-thirds of the land mass of Nigeria.
Other tribes of Nigeria are the Yoruba of south-west and Igbo, Efik, Ibibio, Anang and Ijaw of the south-east. Most of the people of Northern Nigeria are Muslim, and in the south, the majority are Christian.
What has the afore-mentioned to do with the psychology of a nation? Psychology is the study of the human mind and how it influences behaviour.
There are mainly two ways of determining the psychology or the state of mind of a nation or a person.
The psychoanalysis approach seeks to probe the subconscious and the super-conscious minds of a person or a group of people to have a fair idea as to the nature of their character and mental disposition.
The humanistic method is another approach. The study of the environment, culture and the acts of a person or a group of persons can throw some light on their character and mannerism.
The natural environment and surroundings can influence the psychology of a person or a nation and vice versa. The study of a nation’s history and national symbols can also provide knowledge about the nature of the national mind or psyche.
Ghana’s main national symbol is the eagle. The eagle is the symbol of strength, far-sightedness and courage. The eagle is also a symbol of spiritual strength.
Nigeria’s main national symbol is the horse. It is a symbol of speed, agility and smartness of body and mind.
There are positive and negative sides to a nation’s psychology. An abuse or non-use of strength, far-sightedness and courage of character and spiritual endowment, for example, can make a person lazy, dovish and charlatan.
Likewise, an abuse or non-use of speed, agility and smartness can lead to “scumminess”, “crookedness” and other misdemeanours.
In an article, “19 things I learnt about Nigeria’’, published online, the author, Tim Urban, wrote: “When it comes to corruption and scumminess, Nigeria has a bad reputation for a good reason.”
“For its entire modern existence, Nigeria has had a problem with crookedness. It spans top to bottom of society,” he stated.
According to the writer, a study by World Value Survey found Nigeria to be the world’s happiest nation. Gallup polls of 2010 and 2011 also found that Nigeria is the most optimistic nation in the world.
“Optimism has long been linked to happiness in psychology and Nigerians turn to believe that though things may be bad, they are looking up,” Tim Urban wrote.
The Nigerian is hardworking and could do any type of job to create wealth no matter how small it is.
Nigerian movie makers produce 240 films in a week – far more than what is produced in Hollywood (US) and Bollywood (India).
The richest man in Africa is a Nigerian, Dangote. He is a multi-billionaire. Yet, a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report of the middle 1990s indicated that one out of every two Nigerians did not have access to good water, electricity and education.
More than 45 per cent of the Nigeria’s populations are below the poverty line. Ghana is the first nation south of the Sahara to fight for and gain independence from British colonialism.
Ghana has served as a beacon of political liberation and the political Mecca of Africa. In political, economic, cultural and sporting matters, Ghana has been among the best in Africa and continues to be.
However, according to Dr Akwasi Osei, the Chief Psychiatrist and Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Mental Board, a study by Yale University, USA, has shown that 41 per cent of Ghanaians suffered from psychological distress in various degrees. Dr Osei made the disclosure at a sensitisation forum on the Mental Health Act in 2014.
In 2003, Dr Robert Akuamoah-Boateng, the Head of the Psychology Department of the University of Ghana, asked Ghanaians to change their attitude to work, time and unproductive ways.
In the middle of the 1990s, Dr Abbey, a medical officer, wrote in one of Ghana’s newspapers that 95 per cent of the country’s population suffered from some kind of mental problems.
And in the early 2000s, Prof. Lamptey of Pantang Hospital said on the airwaves that 98 per cent of Ghanaians had some sort of psychiatric problems.
Personality disorder can manifest in many forms – from severe, moderate and mild to negligible. Ghanaians have been noted for telling pathological lies or pseudologia fantastica which is a psychological problem.
In Ghana, even though a politician may not have the requisite track record, he or she can be hopeful of winning an election “one-touch.”
The Ghana Fair Wages and Salaries Commission has migrated more than 600,000 public servants on to high salary-scale levels without matching wages and salaries to productivity and the capacity of the national economy to absorb the astronomic increases.
