Nigeria is the result of colonial intensions directed from the United Kingdom, and it began with the quest for potential slaves to work the sugar and cotton farms of the Americas, then referred to as the new world. It brought the English and her European cousins, the Portuguese, Spanish and Italians to Africa. Inordinate greed for profit motivated the crudest form of barbarism, which the system rationalized by deploying pretentious, a trend that pervades modern day exploitative global spectrum. Since the beginning of time, human intellect has focused on differences, and crated artificial boundaries where no clear-cuts existed, as environment circumstances influenced the character, shape, and colour of human species. The colder environments engendered aggressive characterizations while the warmer global zones encouraged the more benevolent disposition, therefore global problems anchor on the failures in factoring humanity’s common denominator. Europe, therefore exploited Africa’s benevolence, rather than reciprocate the friendly reception, their greed perceived an easy prey and unintelligent people.
The British appropriated the north and south protectorates of current day Nigeria after the roguish partitioning of the African continent at the Berlin conference also known as the Congo; 1884 to 1885. This conference arrogantly formalised Europe’s claim to territories in the African continent, and launched the brutal colonial exploitation that evidently denied the continent of its valuable content as the roguish system fooled the world by pretending to improve the lot of the continent and its people. Western media drummed this hypocrisy and made heroes of roguish exploiters whose statues mark strategic locations in Europe’s big cities because they abused and raped the African continent. It is sad that the trend sustains today in the form of prejudice, racial bigotry, and economic subjection, and African leadership is not the wiser. They are yet to project African’s significance, so she remains the object cynical mockery, especially among the ignorant of the world.
The amalgamation of Jan. 1914 was never intended to unite the Nigerian nation, rather it was contrived to consolidate the space as a dumping ground for finished products from the UK, and the source of raw materials for British and European industries. Economic emancipation in the territory would undermine or terminated the unidirectional flow of benefits to the UK, therefore colonial authorities deployed divisive tact to stall such trends, the North against the South, Christians against Moslems, in the inherent complex ethnic diversity. Indirect rule in the North placed power in the already establish Islamic oligarch which kept its population uneducated. The northern sector largely lacked schools even as the European missionaries built and operated schools in the southern protectorate which in time, supplied workforce required to run the establishments in the North. Northern elites resented southern presence in their domain but would not hold the oligarchy accountable for neglecting human capital development. By 1952, thirty-eight years after the amalgamation northern politicians regarded southern workers in the North as intruders who should be resisted. Nationalist agitations grew in the South, but British colonials preferred the docile northern leadership and manipulated the system to their advantage and planted religious sentiments to nurse mounting suspicions in the approach to independence.
The north was educationally disadvantaged, because colonial authorities contrived a situation that limited such benefits to a privileged elite, alongside the existing religious tradition that frowned at western education. As a result, southerners occupied key civil service positions in the northern administrative structure and fuelled resentment among northern nationalists. It planted mutual suspicions that later focused on differences and ignored common heritage in the protectorate’s ethnic and religious diversity. The feudal oligarch of the northern caliphate blamed the southern leadership for this disadvantage and deployed it to promote the myth of federal character and quota system in federal appointments. The guidelines instituted to render a practical application were blatantly ignored by those in authority and have naturally created existing disparities in the social system. The trend pitched the majors against each other; Hausa-Fulani in the North, Yoruba in the West, and Igbo in the East, as political parties emerged out of these majority ethnic roots and neither possessed a true national base. The sectors sought parity from the colonial administration which derived satisfaction from divisions it engineered and administered to put Nigeria’s independence on hold indefinitely. Northern leadership, by its hesitant disposition to political freedom, secured colonial empathy which effectively manipulated the emerging system to enable the north advantage dictate Nigeria’s political agenda. By this, the colonial authorities effectively retained political and economic control of Nigeria through and after independence. There is presumed sympathy for colonials who supposedly sacrificed so much in coming to Africa to establish rule of law, and none analyses the progressive imprisonment of the African mind in the collusion of colonial and missionary alliance. Northern leaders adored the British which in turn, loathed the nationalist movements in the southern protectorate and persecuted its leadership, while nurturing political trends in the North.
British attitude in Nigeria portrays fascism in the premeditated destruction of democracy at birth, by the manner the authorities conducted and supervised Nigerian’s independence elections in which the favoured party won in a coalition fixed to disable the south eastern ally and perpetually keep the Southeast and Southwest divided against the north. Independence did come but it only had a face value, because it was a scam in which Britain effectively handed Nigeria back to herself, since the leadership remained under effective colonial supervision and control. The leadership of Western Region took advantage of the limited regional autonomy to initiate free primary education and practicalized its nationalist convictions; The success of the project simultaneously annoyed and shamed the colonial authority which had initially frowned at it and felt slighted that the project had not been abandoned. Some means had to contrived to subdue the apparent insubordination, and in time, this leadership ended up in political incarceration on allegations of treason, after a highly publicised trial in 1962. This loss of democracy infuriated western liberals; colonial machinations destroyed democracy under British supervision, because the colonial authority failed to exercise the required neutral parity, but it excited no interests, since the rest of the world had seen it, as Africans doing it to themselves. The British, being too honourable to such dirt; it did not matter that they supervised it.
Democracy-destroyed, ushered a stagnated Nigeria that perpetually stooped to the dictates of White Hall and succumbed to colonial desires at no cost, save the manipulation the leadership. Unfortunately, most saw, and still see themselves defending parochial ethnic and sectional interests with little consideration for wider national objectives. It is time for Nollywood to screen Nigeria’s development and graphically dramatize the role of colonialism, so that all may appreciate the reasons for Nigeria’s current state and hopefully trigger a recovery from the trauma of mind slavery, deployed to perpetrate neo-colonialism. In effect Nigeria’s independence was stalled and her leadership confused into an unnecessary civil war that further crippled the already enslaved minds and left losers on either side. It left the military in politics to polarise a divided nation and the only winner has been colonial interests which continue to benefit from the unidirectional flow of economic advantages.
This is in line with developments elsewhere in the African continent and the world at large, wherever there has been an incursion from Europe. In America, North, Central, and South, the effect of colonial experience has been the same; intruders decimated indigenous populations, took their resources as empowered by the Papal order to all who did not embrace the Christian church; no different from ideas deployed by Islamic Jihad. Adventurers first came from Portugal and Spain, followed by Britain France, Germany, and Italy in the scramble for Africa. There is no single success stories of all the former colonies, and it is not because indigenous people are lacking in capacity, but under colonial manipulation, they constantly failed to recognize relevant value in determining their own choices. Until they free their minds from the shackles of slavery, they must continue to see their own nation through the eye of colonialism.
African nations, as colonized entities hardly do business with each other, since they require prior approval from colonial authorities to enter bilateral agreements and open the necessary communication links, so it is difficult to establish trade links that bypass Europe. To make matters worse, the African elites believe that their own wealth has no value without links to Western sources, so they empty their national coffers and deposit same in the safe tax havens offered by western financial labyrinths of London, Zurich, Paris and New York. This way, the West sucks the continent dry and blames her corrupt leadership, but Africans put themselves where they are and it is up them to snap out of the slumber that enslaves their minds.
In history, slavery drew different interpretations according to cultural values in respective environments, and in all, European Christian forms constituted the most distorted applications of the old institution necessitated by communal and political hostilities. In these, freedom was redeemable over time since it was never a condemnation to a life of hopelessness. European commercial version however reduced humans to material commodity, used like machines and disposed of at will. Outside this perspective slavery engaged references to temporary conditions imposed by passing circumstances, that did not necessarily condemn any to perpetual slavery by law, as was evident in Western Europe. Greed motivated the joint European scramble and sustained it for more than three and a half centuries, until the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when global conscience eventually forced abolition. The evil institution sustained in the form of neo-colonialism, with ignorant mind-sets promoting racial prejudice expressed by white supremacist religious groups. It sustained neo-slavery manifested in human trafficking, social inequalities, and racial prejudice which collectively pollute human interactions with abominable dirt. None can dig sufficiently deep in the quest to justify the trending ignorance.
In the most troubled societies of the world, institutions promote disadvantage for the oppressed, and brand them to justify the denials deployed to subject them. For example, in the West a non-Caucasian wins recognition only if he becomes the brightest of the bright and even then, his ideas are often stolen and credited to the undeserving but privileged members of that society. Any action in favour of the under-dog is unfair. If therefore the under-privileged consequently become less successful in the academics or in business, the same repressive system quickly brands them lazy and unintelligent to fit expectations.
The black African, despite subjection to harsh climatic conditions, genocidal persecution, discrimination, and stigmatization of the worst order has survived centuries of institutionalized derogation. European intruders preyed on African benevolence, like the common thief that comes under cover of darkness, they deployed Christian religion to cover the evil intentions of colonialism for Africa, stole the continent dry and manifested tremendous wealth in Western Europe. Western institutions celebrate the stollen wealth of Africa and without remorse, ascribe credit to white intelligence, as the enabling factor and will not recognize that Africa’s friendly and accommodating nature was the key. Western Europe manifested blatant avarice and deployed colonialism to obtain the bread and knife and reserve all but the crumps for herself. This selfish trait has fashioned global interactions that render human beings less capable of being humans.
African must revalue her status and unite under the Pan-African movement to regain her past glory which colonialism deliberately erased. A continent which had reckoning in early history transformed to a dark and backward enclave in less than two thousand years, and European historians refer to it as third world. First, it was under-developed, then it became the developing entity before being lumped up the third world group. Now we have the western world comprising Europe and North American as the first, China and Southeast Asia as second and Africa and South America as the third, so-called. The northern hemisphere replenishes itself with proceeds of the southern hemisphere, so to say. The western world dismissed China with a wave of the had up to the mid-sixties in the last century; the media painted derogatory images of Chinese leadership, but today they queue to negotiate with China because she identified her needs. Once Argentina dared to claim the Falkland Islands and Britain moved in war ships but when China claimed Hong Kong the story played out differently. Africa must raise the Pan African flag and play down the differences planted by colonialism and religious bigotry to identify and promote the common African heritage. This is the only way to restore her dignity and enhance the strength of her beauty which the west continues to abuse.
It may pay to bring home the global scenario and compare with interactions among African nations within the continent and among the ethnic groups that make up respective national populations. Colonization transformed the nations to the African extensions of the colonizing European authority, i.e., French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian. Among the nations of Africa, it is difficult to agree on that which is good for Africa if any of the former colonial governments opposes the idea. Within the African nations. Citizens are more European than the Africans they should be, and when they do fall back on Africanism, ethnic affinity overshadows national interests. National sovereignty means nothing to the African, brain washed as it were by divisions inflicted by colonial interests. Africans relate outside the continent but antagonize each other within; in the same manner, national citizens tend to forget ethnic roots outside national borders and return to be antagonists within. The solution to this state rests with the re-evaluation of ethnic and regional relevance in Afro-global considerations.
Africans must distance religion and ethnic affinity from politics to clearly distinguish between national, continental, and global relevance in plotting Africa’s position in global marketplace. This state permits objective evaluation and submission to the necessary sacrifices that will enable growth and render Africa visible in positive light. If African nations trade effectively within, reliance on external input will reduce to a bare minimum and their economies would be healthier and less dependent on so-called western aid which undermines development and self-reliance. Past colonial alignments must give way to a Pan African orientation, able to deal externally on Africa’s terms on all platforms and command the respect of the global community. Nearer home in Nigeria, nationals must identify with national interests and stem the negative effects of ethnic and religious bigotry. It is time to convert the nation’s political eulogy to positive action, e.g., ‘The giant of Africa’, ‘Land flowing with milk and honey’, and ‘Unity in diversity’. Only true loyalty to the national cause can make this possible.
To conclude, it appears that traditional values have totally faded into the background as foreign religious concepts take over the scene. It should be remembered that colonialism primarily erased traditional values which rooted individual essence and rendered the African pliable. The result was that he abandoned his essence and started to imitate European attitudes to the extent that his traditional links slipped by unnoticed. Today he is neither African nor European, his values somewhere between African traditional and European Christian or Islamic projections; he is totally delinked from his essence. For this an entire continent id groaning from the pain of colonial manipulation, perpetrated to feed man injustice to man.
African leadership has not helped matters because it derives from the delinked stock lost to African identity, because of colonial brainwash. This group feeds western financial institutions with loots from their national treasuries and returns to the same, only to keep African nations perpetually indebted to institutions that impoverished the collective, subjected to betrayal under a brand of democracy that appears to undermine Africa’s sovereignty. Her leaders are more loyal to the colonial sovereignty and practice a trend that presumes the proficiency in the colonial language fashionable. Besides the exemplary leadership of Madiba of South Africa, there is really none worthy of emulation, and contemporary political leadership in Africa lacks appreciation for Madiba’s philosophy with regard to regards Africa’s posterity, given that her current political systems favour government by the rich for the rich, as opposed to by the people for the people. In this country, the rich are innocent and must be proven guilty, but the poor are guilty until proven innocent. Justice has converted to a commodity available to those who can afford it This delinked valuation also manifests in the entertainment and fashion industries, currently manipulated to favour lighter skin Africans, and hair that is other than African. Therefore, the average African woman spends her entire savings on Indian, Brazilian, or European hair, and goes the extra mile to tone her shin in response to trending fashion, or even procure blond hair to enhance compliance. A practical admission that to rejecting her natural endowments, yet European fashion perpetually downgrade African features despite the beauty they radiate. The blond straight hair on an African only has relevance in Halloween’s comic applications, away from fashion and respectable looks, where desired. The African must promote his essence in a system preoccupied with downgrading African values.
The polity pretends survival on controversy as the nation suffers sure death, consequential upon the uncaring attitude of the ruling elites. It has been impossible to build a prosperous democracy from the evident chaotic eco-system, despite existing positive indices because the necessary change of heart and drastic socio-economic reforms have been missing since independence. Leaders ignore national relevance and go the extra length to sacrifice national benefits in the bid to focus attention on themselves. This explains why political operatives politicize on-board issues to promote self-interests. For example, a professional association withdraw an invitation for a state executive to speak at its conference on account of inappropriate responses to social disturbances in that state. Suddenly, splinter groups of the association emerged from the state in question, and such others as nursed similar religious affinity to pressure the national association to rescind its decision. One may suppose that the executive in question has used the splinter group leaderships to push his own agenda. For such flimsy excuses, clauses that encourage underage sex and criminal sexual abuses are retained in the nation’s criminal code for religious expedience despite the casualties of Vesicovaginal Fistula (VVF) so far recorded. For this reason, various forms of sexual abuses go unreported, allowing the impunity exercise by perpetrators. The trend encourages religious predators who subject the population to an unending siege of the mind, in a system that parades inconsistent political values, and we wonder that development is sluggish at all levels. Government cannot be about religion, but about the people, the geographic space and national development; therefore, policies should only seek to promote advantages in the existing diversity without dabbling in religion. We should worry that religious influence tends to overshadow national objectives.
Two important examples of government policy formulation biased to accommodate religious obligations are in the protocols applied to religious pilgrimage and issues concerning underage sex. First, pilgrimage is an individual obligation of the faithful who can afford it and government only needs to ensure that the bilateral agreements with respective destination nations are strictly observed to guarantee the safety of participants, Muslims or Christians. It should not be a tool for exploiting the will of the people in exchange for political advantage, instead of availing participants the joy of belonging. In the same manner, the legislative arm of government ought see underage sex as an abuse of minors, in or outside marriage; but the system deploys religious obligations to cover criminal carnage evidenced by prevailing incidents of VVF. This political posture engenders unhealthy competition among religious groups, even as vested interests sustain recurrent past mistakes.
Laws protect the public, and should in no way, fan the influence or private objectives of a privileged few, as appears to be the case with Nigeria, if not in the nation’s best interests. This nation has therefore been going round in circles, pursuing elusive development objectives in the socio-economic environment. Little wonder that she has remained poor, despite being richly endowed. At a point in the immediate past, the nation’s administration preferred to import petroleum products after abandoning her four refineries for years, as if to provide business opportunities for party compatriots with interests while in oil importation. A suppose oil expert shamelessly proclaimed before all who cared to listen that petroleum product importation was preferable to keeping the refineries fully functional. The author of that proclamation failed to consider that the refining infrastructure could enable self-sufficiency in the oil sector, generate foreign exchange for the nation as well as reduce unemployment. The refineries are now moribund, and government of the day blames this state for the removal of subsidies applied to encourage importation which constitutes a burden to product consumers as marketers smile to their various banks. There are rumours that petroleum products are now imported from Niger Republic; it may be on account of a subsisting bilateral agreement between these two neighbouring nations. After all, it fulfils ECOWAS objectives.