This kind of friction--educated versus uneducated--is not new. In 1953 the Yoruba party called for independence after three years. The Ibos supported the demand, but the Northern group opposed and defeated it, well aware that independence in 1966 would mean economic and administrative subservience to its more developed neighbors.

The propaganda arms of the Ibo and Yoruba party labelled the Hausa traitors and stooges of the British, while in the North rioting between the feuding groups broke out.

In 1953 the British mediated the feuds; after independence they were unchecked. The Hausa government elected in 1964 amidst cries of foul play was topped by an Ibo-led coup in January, '66. The new government which had seized power to "clean up the country" did so with a vengeance, and the deaths of former Hausa leaders sparked riots and unrest in the North.

Then came the July coup, when Hausa officers struck back and installed a Tiv tribesman, Yakubu Gowon, as head of the military government. Some say that Gowon came to power because he was regarded as a man with an even temper and no strong personal ambition. Others said that in the tribal politics of Nigeria, Gowon held an ace, for his tribe dominates the artillery corps.

Whatever the reason, the compromise candidate could not hold Nigeria together. He tried. After the Ibo massacres, he offered concessions, but whatever he did was interpreted by Governor Ojukwu as one more sign of duplicity and hatred. On the one hand, it seemed, Gowon offered friendship, while on the other, the people he governed murdered Ibos. Gow- on was caught. Only punishing the Hausa mobs involved in the riots would have placated Ojukwu, but to punish Hausas when the bulk of the army was Hausa would have been political suicide.

Gowon also has to deal with Hausa-Yoruba feuds that even the war emergency has not laid to rest. Observers, some with government jobs and official contacts, have said that when the Ibos seceded, the Yorubas would have gone with them, but Yorubaland was quickly occupied by the Nigerian army.

Government printing centers publish enormous amounts of propaganda, most of it directed against Ojukwu, but a recent broadside from the Ministry of Information in a northern city attacked the pretentious inellectuals of southern groups (Yoruba and Ibo).

It reads: "Events have always proved these 'intellectuals' not only wrong, but blind and ignorant tools of prejudice. They still masquerade about in Universities brandishing intellectualism which they equate with Ph.D. but do not prove by thinking properly."

Looking at Nigeria's history, particularly the past twenty years, the outbreak of war isn't surprising. That same broadside which criticized "southern intellectuals" admitted that the country had been divided for a long time: "It is clear," the article said, "that the 'Nigeria' which was forged by the British was a purely artificial creation comprising three main groups which had very little in common apart from their dark skins."

Yet everywhere there is a feeling of indignation and surprise that the Ibos had actually seceded and started a dirty civil war. It was irrational. It must have been the work of a madman, many Nigerians feel, and they blame Ojukwu. The press often compares him to Hitler.

Just how many government officials really believe this version of events is impossible to tell. However, it is a very dangerous line of thinking, for it implies that all evil will disappear once the devil is gone. With that idea, the army presses on, and people look to the surrender or death of Ojukwu as the end of Nigeria's troubles.

Peace will, of course, just mark the beginning of Nigeria's real difficulties, because instead of waging a relatively easy war, the government will be facing staggering problems of redevelopment, relocation, rehabilitation. And the old spectre of triablism will draw strength from the inflamed passions of war.

Yet, when you walk the streets of Lagos, you have to look hard for signs of war. True, between radio and T.V. shows sinister-sounding announcers say, "Challenge anyone doing anything suspicious. Save precious lives. Save Lagos from destruction." But everyone has heard those lines so often that they've become the butt of innumerable jokes.

At 7 p.m., traffic in and out of Lagos State is closed by soldiers at checkpoints. Originally, the measure was intended to cut the flow of infiltrators. Traffic within the city goes all night, though, and Lagos night-clubs are uninhibited.

Lagos is a cosmopolitan city, and like any growing capital, the new and old exist side by side. In one of the open-air markets you bargain; in one of the big department stores you pay a flat rate for a sundae or a sweater. Just a few miles outside the city, the University of Lagos is literally rising out of jungle forest.

The war is far away to the east, and so life in Lagos goes on as usual, apparently. Even young men have no worries, for the federal army is entirely voluntary. In fact, government propaganda points to Ojukwu's use of conscription as one more sign of his evil nature.

But there is a conflict in the West. It's quiet and personal.