On-the-attractiveness-of-africa-and-the-need-for-african-leaders-to-take-advantage-of-it
September 7, 2020 | News
ON THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF AFRICA AND THE NEED FOR AFRICAN LEADERS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT
It is no news that the African continent has been massively exploited for as far as many can remember. While some have linked Africa’s underdevelopment to the exploitation suffered in the hands of capitalist Europe and North America, which is still very much alive today but in different dimensions of imperialism and neo-colonialism, others like us however, are of the view that the destiny and future of any nation or continent, squally rests on the hands of its people. This includes both the political leaders and the masses. Regardless of a continent’s or nation’s past/unfortunate bad experiences, what matters is how the people of that continent/nation are able to rise above such bad experiences to become what they ought to amongst the league of nations.
We can start by asking pertinent uncommon questions, and seek answers that can be used to our advantage in the scheme of things. For instance, have we ever wondered why Africa is so attractive to the rest of the world in all these past decades and centuries? Why have we not taken advantage of this attention towards Africa by other foreign lands, to our own advantage, advancement and development? Not quite long ago, the most renowned African anti-corruption crusader of our time, Prof. Patrick Loch Otieno (PLO) Lumumba, in another of his well circulated video when delivering a speech, asked this throbbing question that should be food for thought for Africans.
In his words: “Why is Africa so attractive? Throughout the ages, it has always been attractive. It was attractive to the Portuguese and the Spaniards, but I am not going to say that. It was attractive to the Arabs but I am not going to say that. It was attractive to the Jews but I will not say that. What I am going to say, is that it is attractive again. It is so attractive that every two years, the Japanese call our leaders to Japan. That is how attractive Africa is. They call them to Japan in order to discuss how Japan is going to work with Africa for the benefit of Africans; I do not believe it. It must be for the benefit of Japan.
“It is so attractive that the Chinese leaders call African leaders to Beijing every year. The 54 of them. They call them to Beijing and they say this is how China is going to work for the benefit of Africa. But I refuse to believe them. It is must be that there is something that is being done for the benefit of Beijing because if I was Chinese, I will do that which is in my best interest, not the best interest of Africans. It is so attractive that the Russians called our leaders only a few months ago in Sochi. And when they invite you, they invite you to the best places. It is so interesting. So, that the Russians can work with Africa for the benefit of Africa. That is how attractive Africa is. It is so attractive that the Germans also invited our leaders to Berlin. It is so attractive that even the Arabs are inviting them to Doha. And that is how attractive it is. But have you ever heard the Latin Americans being invited? I did not hear.
“Have you ever heard the Arabs being invited? No! It is only Africans who are invited. That is how attractive Africa is. Is it a bad thing? Depending on what you think. We can use it to our won advantage, or we can allow them to use it to their advantage. You know, when I look at Africa, and I look at her in the context of how attractive she is, another word that to my mind is called ‘globalization.’ When we talk about globalization, we talk about globalization as if it were new. It is not. Africans were once globalized as a commodity in the slave market. We were sold everywhere in the world. That was globalization. Then we were globalized again through Colonization. Then we were globalized again through neo-colonialization. Now, we are again being globalized in the context of opening our markets.
“It was Julius Kambarage Mwalimu Nyerere who once said, when I hear the Europeans say that we should open our markets in the name of globalization, and they say that the rules are the same. I laugh, Mwalimu said. And he said, it is like a boxing match. The rules are the same. But you do not put a heavyweight boxer and a lightweight boxer and say the rules are the same. It is murder! Allow me to be melodramatic. You, imagine the United States of America with a GDP of anything between 14 Trillion and 15 Trillion, is now entering into a bilateral arrangement with Lesotho with a GDP of 2 Billion. And you say the rules are the same. It is a joke. It is murder because the revenue that is generated by the city of Los Angeles alone in one day. Is more than the GDP of Lesotho. So we are being told to open our markets, and when we open our markets, so what happens; our textile industries die. The textile industries we knew about in Kaduna in Nigeria – died. Our cotton industries die. Our sugarcane industries died. Our Water, even our water…”
The truth is, Africa has not been able to develop as she ought to because majority of its past and present political leaders have refused to/or they do not see the need/or they do not understand the importance of; investing in its people to have “a collective contribution” towards economic growth and development. Political leaders and Governance failures are what have been driving Africa backwards. Are the ‘Asian Tigers’ endowed with the sort of rich minerals we have in some countries in Africa? How about countries like Taiwan? How did the United Arab Emirates (UAE) convert desert lands to tourist destinations of the world? How did they do it? If African political leaders are serious, whatever these countries have done to be where they are today, is what they should be emulating. Sadly, that is not what many African countries are doing.
African leaders, especially those in Nigeria, must realize that these developed countries do not really want us to go beyond where we are as a people. The truth is, if Africa gets to attain a full development status to be reckoned with across the globe, who will the developed super-power nations like China, UK, US, etc., ‘exploit’ for their own continuous growth? As hard as this may sound, that is the bitter truth. Why did the slave trade era succeed? Amongst other factors, it is ‘primarily’ because these foreigners are parasites, they really do not have anything concrete in terms of natural endowment like we do have here in Nigeria, and other parts of Africa. These developed nations are nothing but parasites, who live on the blood and sweat of their host. Why do we think all the politically-exposed persons who have, one time or the other, stolen public funds from Nigeria are usually left to starch their loot in the banks of these foreign countries, and even allowed to roam and walk free? They only raise an eyebrow and pretend to be helping us recover/repatriate some of the stolen funds, after they must have used such funds in their banks for the benefit of their economies.
Africans and its political leaders should open their eyes and realize that this is “international politics” – where every nation for itself first, in seeking for its ‘interests’ before any other thing. So, they really do not care about Africa’s development as they claim to portray. It is all ‘pretense’. Nigerians for instance, should not be under any illusion that these foreigners from China and the rest want us to succeed as a nation. No, they do not want us to succeed because if we succeed who are they going to exploit? This is international politics. So, we should not trust these foreigners because they really do not like us, they do not want us to settle. They want Nigeria to continue having security challenges so that they will keep having somewhere to sell their guns and weapons of war? They want our health sectors to remain in a comatose state so that our people will continue to patronize theirs in overseas.
These foreigners want us to continue importing refined tomatoes, which we have in abundance here. They do not want our electricity to work because they want us to keep buying their generators. Today, Nigeria’s economy is generator-driven. If Nigeria should have stable and efficient power services, we are very certain that Nigeria would no longer import generators from China and other foreign developed countries. And so, with everything; Nigeria will no longer go and do shopping in their countries - we will no longer buy their clothes, shoes, canned foods, industrial and safety materials/equipment, etc.; Nigeria will no longer send their children to study in foreign countries; Nigeria will no longer patronize their hospitals; Nigeria will no longer export her crude oil and natural gas at a cheaper international-market-determined rate and then buy refined petroleum products at a higher price, and import commodities produced from crude oil and natural gas as well. We can see that the developed countries are seriously feeding fat from Nigeria and Africa. Why do we think that China and the rest are investing so much in Nigeria and Africa? To them, Nigeria is their number one market in Africa. If a new car is produced and advertised today, within a few weeks, we would see the fleet of the same newly manufactured car imported into the country’s automobile market. In other words, these foreign countries, largely depend on Nigeria in the sales of their commodities.
It is therefore foolishness for African political leaders and its people to think that the advanced countries will help us to grow our economy. These developed countries know very well that if we become developed like them, we will become an economic threat to them. That is why, despite the fact that the developed countries are seen to preach against racism, segregation, division, anti-sematic, and all kinds of names they give them, they are still the ones practicing these things in high degrees within and outside the countries, especially when dealing with Africans/Nigerians. It is all pretenses.
For Nigeria, the problem we have here is Tribalism. This will now allow Nigeria to develop. A Northern Leader will never appoint the best brain in a sensitive position from other tribes in Nigeria. The South East Leader will do same, the South East Leader will do same. A situation where performances and expertise are not recognized, then the country is doomed. And that is what is obtainable in other African countries. The NNPC employments in all categories of staff are purely based on tribalism, to favour the Northerners. No country can develop with this.
There is no better time other than now, for Africans to wise up and start making the necessary changes they urgently need to make to turn things around for good in this country. We really do not have the luxury of time on our hands to think that the world would wait for us to wake up whenever we like. Every nation is speeding up ahead and overtaking those they can, in the race of development and economic domination, prominence and recognition. We have reiterated the fact that no foreign country can, and will develop Nigeria and Africa for us. That onerous task, can only be achieved by us. The earlier we realize this fact, the better for us and the continent.
Zik Gbemre.
December 17, 2019
We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
It is no news that the African continent has been massively exploited for as far as many can remember. While some have linked Africa’s underdevelopment to the exploitation suffered in the hands of capitalist Europe and North America, which is still very much alive today but in different dimensions of imperialism and neo-colonialism, others like us however, are of the view that the destiny and future of any nation or continent, squally rests on the hands of its people. This includes both the political leaders and the masses. Regardless of a continent’s or nation’s past/unfortunate bad experiences, what matters is how the people of that continent/nation are able to rise above such bad experiences to become what they ought to amongst the league of nations.
We can start by asking pertinent uncommon questions, and seek answers that can be used to our advantage in the scheme of things. For instance, have we ever wondered why Africa is so attractive to the rest of the world in all these past decades and centuries? Why have we not taken advantage of this attention towards Africa by other foreign lands, to our own advantage, advancement and development? Not quite long ago, the most renowned African anti-corruption crusader of our time, Prof. Patrick Loch Otieno (PLO) Lumumba, in another of his well circulated video when delivering a speech, asked this throbbing question that should be food for thought for Africans.
In his words: “Why is Africa so attractive? Throughout the ages, it has always been attractive. It was attractive to the Portuguese and the Spaniards, but I am not going to say that. It was attractive to the Arabs but I am not going to say that. It was attractive to the Jews but I will not say that. What I am going to say, is that it is attractive again. It is so attractive that every two years, the Japanese call our leaders to Japan. That is how attractive Africa is. They call them to Japan in order to discuss how Japan is going to work with Africa for the benefit of Africans; I do not believe it. It must be for the benefit of Japan.
“It is so attractive that the Chinese leaders call African leaders to Beijing every year. The 54 of them. They call them to Beijing and they say this is how China is going to work for the benefit of Africa. But I refuse to believe them. It is must be that there is something that is being done for the benefit of Beijing because if I was Chinese, I will do that which is in my best interest, not the best interest of Africans. It is so attractive that the Russians called our leaders only a few months ago in Sochi. And when they invite you, they invite you to the best places. It is so interesting. So, that the Russians can work with Africa for the benefit of Africa. That is how attractive Africa is. It is so attractive that the Germans also invited our leaders to Berlin. It is so attractive that even the Arabs are inviting them to Doha. And that is how attractive it is. But have you ever heard the Latin Americans being invited? I did not hear.
“Have you ever heard the Arabs being invited? No! It is only Africans who are invited. That is how attractive Africa is. Is it a bad thing? Depending on what you think. We can use it to our won advantage, or we can allow them to use it to their advantage. You know, when I look at Africa, and I look at her in the context of how attractive she is, another word that to my mind is called ‘globalization.’ When we talk about globalization, we talk about globalization as if it were new. It is not. Africans were once globalized as a commodity in the slave market. We were sold everywhere in the world. That was globalization. Then we were globalized again through Colonization. Then we were globalized again through neo-colonialization. Now, we are again being globalized in the context of opening our markets.
“It was Julius Kambarage Mwalimu Nyerere who once said, when I hear the Europeans say that we should open our markets in the name of globalization, and they say that the rules are the same. I laugh, Mwalimu said. And he said, it is like a boxing match. The rules are the same. But you do not put a heavyweight boxer and a lightweight boxer and say the rules are the same. It is murder! Allow me to be melodramatic. You, imagine the United States of America with a GDP of anything between 14 Trillion and 15 Trillion, is now entering into a bilateral arrangement with Lesotho with a GDP of 2 Billion. And you say the rules are the same. It is a joke. It is murder because the revenue that is generated by the city of Los Angeles alone in one day. Is more than the GDP of Lesotho. So we are being told to open our markets, and when we open our markets, so what happens; our textile industries die. The textile industries we knew about in Kaduna in Nigeria – died. Our cotton industries die. Our sugarcane industries died. Our Water, even our water…”
The truth is, Africa has not been able to develop as she ought to because majority of its past and present political leaders have refused to/or they do not see the need/or they do not understand the importance of; investing in its people to have “a collective contribution” towards economic growth and development. Political leaders and Governance failures are what have been driving Africa backwards. Are the ‘Asian Tigers’ endowed with the sort of rich minerals we have in some countries in Africa? How about countries like Taiwan? How did the United Arab Emirates (UAE) convert desert lands to tourist destinations of the world? How did they do it? If African political leaders are serious, whatever these countries have done to be where they are today, is what they should be emulating. Sadly, that is not what many African countries are doing.
African leaders, especially those in Nigeria, must realize that these developed countries do not really want us to go beyond where we are as a people. The truth is, if Africa gets to attain a full development status to be reckoned with across the globe, who will the developed super-power nations like China, UK, US, etc., ‘exploit’ for their own continuous growth? As hard as this may sound, that is the bitter truth. Why did the slave trade era succeed? Amongst other factors, it is ‘primarily’ because these foreigners are parasites, they really do not have anything concrete in terms of natural endowment like we do have here in Nigeria, and other parts of Africa. These developed nations are nothing but parasites, who live on the blood and sweat of their host. Why do we think all the politically-exposed persons who have, one time or the other, stolen public funds from Nigeria are usually left to starch their loot in the banks of these foreign countries, and even allowed to roam and walk free? They only raise an eyebrow and pretend to be helping us recover/repatriate some of the stolen funds, after they must have used such funds in their banks for the benefit of their economies.
Africans and its political leaders should open their eyes and realize that this is “international politics” – where every nation for itself first, in seeking for its ‘interests’ before any other thing. So, they really do not care about Africa’s development as they claim to portray. It is all ‘pretense’. Nigerians for instance, should not be under any illusion that these foreigners from China and the rest want us to succeed as a nation. No, they do not want us to succeed because if we succeed who are they going to exploit? This is international politics. So, we should not trust these foreigners because they really do not like us, they do not want us to settle. They want Nigeria to continue having security challenges so that they will keep having somewhere to sell their guns and weapons of war? They want our health sectors to remain in a comatose state so that our people will continue to patronize theirs in overseas.
These foreigners want us to continue importing refined tomatoes, which we have in abundance here. They do not want our electricity to work because they want us to keep buying their generators. Today, Nigeria’s economy is generator-driven. If Nigeria should have stable and efficient power services, we are very certain that Nigeria would no longer import generators from China and other foreign developed countries. And so, with everything; Nigeria will no longer go and do shopping in their countries - we will no longer buy their clothes, shoes, canned foods, industrial and safety materials/equipment, etc.; Nigeria will no longer send their children to study in foreign countries; Nigeria will no longer patronize their hospitals; Nigeria will no longer export her crude oil and natural gas at a cheaper international-market-determined rate and then buy refined petroleum products at a higher price, and import commodities produced from crude oil and natural gas as well. We can see that the developed countries are seriously feeding fat from Nigeria and Africa. Why do we think that China and the rest are investing so much in Nigeria and Africa? To them, Nigeria is their number one market in Africa. If a new car is produced and advertised today, within a few weeks, we would see the fleet of the same newly manufactured car imported into the country’s automobile market. In other words, these foreign countries, largely depend on Nigeria in the sales of their commodities.
It is therefore foolishness for African political leaders and its people to think that the advanced countries will help us to grow our economy. These developed countries know very well that if we become developed like them, we will become an economic threat to them. That is why, despite the fact that the developed countries are seen to preach against racism, segregation, division, anti-sematic, and all kinds of names they give them, they are still the ones practicing these things in high degrees within and outside the countries, especially when dealing with Africans/Nigerians. It is all pretenses.
For Nigeria, the problem we have here is Tribalism. This will now allow Nigeria to develop. A Northern Leader will never appoint the best brain in a sensitive position from other tribes in Nigeria. The South East Leader will do same, the South East Leader will do same. A situation where performances and expertise are not recognized, then the country is doomed. And that is what is obtainable in other African countries. The NNPC employments in all categories of staff are purely based on tribalism, to favour the Northerners. No country can develop with this.
There is no better time other than now, for Africans to wise up and start making the necessary changes they urgently need to make to turn things around for good in this country. We really do not have the luxury of time on our hands to think that the world would wait for us to wake up whenever we like. Every nation is speeding up ahead and overtaking those they can, in the race of development and economic domination, prominence and recognition. We have reiterated the fact that no foreign country can, and will develop Nigeria and Africa for us. That onerous task, can only be achieved by us. The earlier we realize this fact, the better for us and the continent.
Zik Gbemre.
December 17, 2019
We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes