government-centred social re-negotiation and acceptance of ethnicity, what we call the tribe, as a part of our lived reality. The failure by our governments to accept the existence of different ethnic (tribes) that make up our countries has not been helpful for the broader state developmental project in postcolonial Africa. In particular, on resource distribution and exploitation of natural resources; including access to power and state governance as a very important resource. The existence of different tribes in a country must be celebrated as part of a broader pluralistic engagement of cultural particularities that as a natural resources can be harnessed for the good of the nation, instead of criminalising it as ‘tribalism’, when politicians later turn on them using the media to valorise them and instrumentalise them for their stay in power. As we all know, in most of Africa, a safe politician is one who has the support of the majority ethnic group. Also what we have in most of Africa is a hypocritical conjecture of denying the existence of the tribe, including deploring it, as a ‘five letter word’, but then turn to accept it as tribal/ethnic violence, when it manifests itself in negative terms. I therefore, propose that instead of ‘dipping our heads in the sand’ we accept the tribe; its existence and work towards harnessing its potential as a natural resource. I wish to proffer that we need clearly defined communicative structures, especially media policies that allow for minorities to have a voice. This acceptance of the reality of our tribes has to be reflected in our legal frameworks, in particular constitutions, not merely as footnotes in our Bills of rights. There has to be a clear acknowledgement of the different ethnicities, including their languages. As we know, Language carries the culture of a people. And so, anyone who possesses a language possesses the world view and cultural particulars contained in that language as a structure of communication. As a result the protection of