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Tag: Africa

  • An image of Africa : Between Achebe and Conrad

    There is a fascinating edition of a collection of the works of the late Chinua Achebe simply titled ‘An Image of Africa’. It is published in the Penguin series of great ideas that features such great minds as Chuang Tzu, Epictetus, Niccolo Machiavelli, Rene Descartes, John Stuart Mill and Charles Darwin among several others. The first part of this book contains what Achebe considers as nothing but sheer racism in Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’. In his clinical dissection of Conrad’s novel, Achebe contends that “Heart of Darkness projects the image of Africa as ‘the other world’, the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization, a place where man’s vaunted intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality”. Achebe continues: “In my original conception of this essay I had thought to conclude it nicely on an appropriately positive note in which I would suggest from my privileged position in African and Western cultures some advantages the west might derive from Africa once it rids its mind of old prejudices and began to look at Africa not through a haze of distortions and cheap mystifications but quite simply as a continent of people – not angels, but not rudimentary souls either – just people, often highly gifted people and often strikingly successful in their enterprise with life and society”.

    Even though he was immensely successful as an individual writer, thinker and intellectual, it is highly unlikely that Chinua Achebe died a fulfilled and contented man. This is because Africa, his beloved Africa, despite its immense human and material endowments, still lies in the throes of poverty, impunity and underdevelopment. It would appear to me that if Joseph Conrad were to resurrect today and write a novel about Africa, he would still characterise the continent as the ‘heart of darkness’. From all indices of human development, Africa lags pathetically behind – in education, health, infrastructure, poverty, disease, ignorance among several others. Ironically, the second part of this Penguin collection of Achebe’s work comprises of his seminal short essays simply titled ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’. Although these essays were penned over three decades ago, they are ever so still relevant to contemporary Nigeria. It would appear to me that Achebe’s ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’ confirms Conrad’s deprecatory disposition to the black man.

    Nigeria is the most populous black nation on earth. She harbours natural and mineral resources beyond imagination. She is blessed with abundant human genius. In his last characteristically well written but controversial work ‘There was a Country: A personal history of Biafra’, Achebe documents how the British colonialists ran an impressive and efficient public administration in Nigeria . All that has gone to the dogs. As Achebe bluntly put it over thirty years ago, “Nigeria is not a great country. It is one of the most disorderly nations in the world. It is one of the most corrupt, insensitive, inefficient places under the sun. It is one of the most expensive countries and one of those that give least value for money. It is dirty, callous, noisy, ostentatious, dishonest and vulgar. In short, it is among the most unpleasant places on earth!” Our severe critic is not finished with us yet. According to him, “It is a measure of our self-delusion that we can talk about developing tourism in Nigeria. Only a masochist with an exuberant taste for self-violence will pick Nigeria for a holiday; only a character out of Tutuola seeking to know punishment and poverty at first hand! No, Nigeria may be a paradise for adventurers and pirates, but not tourists”.

    Are these the words of an incurable cynic who hates his country for no just cause? Are they the musings of a mind incapable of loving his country, warts and all as a true patriot should? No, I believe these words are borne of genuine affection for the fatherland, a deep desire that an otherwise well -endowed country achieve her full potentials. They are words of truth and truth, all too often, is a bitter pill to swallow. Three decades after Achebe’s words, the infrastructure across the country has decayed abysmally. The public education sector is comatose at all levels. Public health care has virtually collapsed. Kidnapping, armed robbery and suicide bombing have become commonplace across the land. Poverty has worsened. Corruption has deepened. The Nigerian state is clearly on the verge of collapse.

    I believe that Achebe despaired that our generation of Africans, by our actions and inactions, were actually confirming the inferiority tag implicit in Joseph Conrad’s depiction of the black man. Take the scale of corruption in contemporary Nigeria for example. Privileged officials siphon billions of Naira of pension funds into their private accounts. Yet, pensioners who have spent the best part of their lives serving their country die of exhaustion on endless pension ques. Before now, the norm was to steal thousands and then millions of Naira. Today, the fashion is to guzzle billions of Naira or even dollars. As Achebe put it three decades ago, “We have become so used to talking in millions and billions that we have ceased to have proper respect for the sheer size of such numbers. I sometimes startled my students by telling them that it was not yet one million days since Christ was on earth. As they gazed open-mouthed I would add: not even half a million days!” Yet, see how things have worsened. The inimitable Chinua Achebe no doubt today walks tall among our ancestors. He was an icon of integrity. He was a wordsmith of incomparable clarity. But then, we must heed his words of wisdom and mend our ways or else things will irreversibly fall apart and the great man would have to apologise to Joseph Conrad if their paths cross in the great beyond.

     

  • Lady Thatcher and Africa

    Lady Thatcher and Africa

    SIR: The late Lady Margaret Hilda Thatcher who died last week in Britain at the age of 87 years will be remembered for a very long time in British political history. From a humble background as a grocer’s daughter, she became the first female Prime Minister in Britain. Added to this unique achievement, she had the distinction of being the longest serving British Prime Minister in the twentieth century. Although not known to be a political tactician in the mode of leaders like Wilson Churchill and Harold Wilson, she achieved what these two leaders cold not achieve by wining three consecutive general elections.

    The actions of the late Lady Thatcher when she was in power were felt not only in her country but throughout the world. Her domestic policies were based on her rabid disdain for socialism. She revived the comatose British economy and many of her admirers said that she put ‘Great’ back into Great Britain. She led Britain against all odds to regain Falkland Island from Argentina and won the hearts of many people by pruning the power of the unruly British Trade Unions. On the other side of the coin she created inequality and polarized people of Great Britain.

    On the world stage, she earned the title of ‘Iron Lady’ from the Russians because of her bellicose stand on many international issues. She was unapologetically pro-America and supported Ronald Reagan on many international issues. In Europe she was an irritant to many of her fellow heads of government because she liked to force her views down the throats of others.

    Despite the adulations and praises heaped on her after her demise, many people especially in her own country had nothing but odium for her memory. There were jubilations in many towns in Britain when her death was announced. This is the first time the death of any leader in Britain is celebrated. This is reminiscent of the jubilations that followed the death of Sani Abacha in Nigeria in1998.

    In Africa, although there were no open celebrations of her death but many people will no doubt have a sour memory of her because of her unhelpful policies on Africa when she was in power. When she became Prime Minister in 1979, the independence of Southern Rhodesia and the liquidation of the heinous apartheid regime in South Africa were the intractable problems facing African leaders.

    She showed unbiased sympathy towards the minority white settlers. Instead of recognizing the genuine nationalists, Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe, she aligned herself and her government with Ian Smith/Muzorewa scheme in which the puppet Muzorewa would be the Prime Minister while the real power would still remain with white minority.

    To her eternal shame, she did everything within her power to prevent the dismantling of the heinous apartheid regime in South Africa. She considered the genuine leaders of South Africa including the revered Nelson Mandela as terrorists. Her greatest damage to the struggle against apartheid was her persistent and vocal opposition to the imposition of economic sanctions against South Africa. In 1985 she vetoed the proposed European Community sanctions against South Africa.

    Like her stand on Southern Rhodesia, she was isolated from the rest of the world because of her romance with apartheid regime of South Africa. Despite her support of the heinous apartheid regime, the regime collapsed like a pack of card even when she was still the Prime Minister of Britain

    Most writers on the political life of the late Lady Thatcher agreed that her defining characteristics as a politician was a need for enemies. She chose these enemies and demolished them as she did to Ted Heath her former boss, Arthur Scargill the leaders of the Miners Union and the woolly form of socialism practiced in the sixties by the British Labour party, The late Lady Thatcher tried to have her way on Southern Rhodesia and South Africa but she was flatly defeated as a result of the concerted efforts of the rest of the world

     

    • Prof. Olabode Lucas

    Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti

  • Entries open to Africa, Middle East agencies

    Once again entries are open for the region’s most prestigious advertising and brand communication awards. Works produced in Africa and the Middle East are eligible for entry into the Loeries.

    The entry deadline is May 31, 2013 and all work must be produced between June 1, 2012 to May 31, this year.

    DDB Mozambique and Squad Digital are also positioned for first and second place in the official rankings for agencies from Africa and the Middle East. On being top of the rankings, Cristiana Oliveira, Strategic Planner Director at DDB Mozambique says: “Being first place means we are on the right track to become a reference in our region, if not one of the most creative agencies in Africa. Winning Loeries has a huge impact for us, because it puts us on the map not only for international but also regional clients.”

    Managing Director, Squad Digital, Guarav Singh said: “Squad is a young agency, but has high aspirations to become a thought leader in the digital marketing communication space. Prestigious awards like Loeries are very important for agencies, it not only puts credibility to the agencies credentials but also helps to attract and retain talent.”

    The Africa and Middle East category is open for entries in communication design; PR communication campaigns; digital and interactive communication; live events; print communication, outdoor and collateral media; radio; TV, Video and Film; and integrated campaigns.

    The week will culminate in two awards evenings on September 21 and 22, where delegates will discover the most innovative concepts from Africa and the Middle East across radio, design, media, PR, digital, direct, events, print, outdoor, TV, Film and Video and Integrated Campaigns.

    Events will kick off at Cape Town’s City Hall on Monday September 16 with the Loeries judging week. Finalists for each category will be announced at the end of each day. The judging will round off with the International Seminar of Creativity, also to be held at City Hall.

    Other events will include the Judges Wrap Party, Student Portfolio Day, Media Brunch, and The Official Party.

  • Retrogression and paralysis in Africa and Nigeria

    Retrogression and paralysis in Africa and Nigeria

    Less than a decade after most African countries got their flag independence, some of their leaders became acutely aware of the corrosive effects of neocolonialism. To counter this problem, they attempted a cocktail of cultural, economic and political policies to neutralise the negative effects of colonialism up to as far back as the curse of the Berlin Conference of 1884-85. Leaders of Africa’s independence movements knew, and to some extent accepted, their limitations in trying to redraw the debilitating maps drawn arbitrarily by the Berlin conferees, but they didn’t entirely give up. They were not only passionate about their countries; they were also largely well-educated, cerebral and innovative. To supplant the destructive impact of colonialism on the African mind, these leaders promoted the ideals of pan-Africanism in order to give the continent an identity, instil confidence in young Africans, and give them a reason to look forward to a greater tomorrow where they could stand tall and equal with the young of any other continent, especially Europe and America.

    Barely half a century after independence, however, all hope of a greater tomorrow has virtually evaporated. Not only are the continent’s current leaders half-educated daydreamers and cannot, therefore, tell the difference between colonialism on one hand and neocolonialism on the other hand, they are simply too desensitised to the dangers of harmful external influences to care what happens to the continent or how its peoples are regarded by the rest of the world. It wasn’t too long ago that great minds walked on the continent, minds like Julius Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah, Tom Mboya, Amilcar Cabral, Kenneth Kaunda et al, but their walk was both too brief and sometimes inexpert to help create enduring ideological and institutional legacies for Africa’s freedom and economic independence. Yet, for all their faults, it was never said of them that they were too stupid not to comprehend the denigrating impact of foreign influences.

    In contrast today, there is hardly any African leader with the depth of understanding, political ingenuity and moral fortitude needed to galvanise the continent away from the looming apocalyptic path of recolonisation. West Africa has become a barren landscape of short-sighted leaders who can’t tell the difference between leadership and feudalism. Even when a few honest leaders come along, they lack the rigour to reclaim and promote the visions of past continental leaders. Ghana’s present leaders, for instance, are the beacon for the sub-region, but beyond offering their country technocratic competence, there is precious little else. Whatever they call vision today can’t hold the candle to Nkrumah’s vision. Both Sierra Leone and Liberia fought senseless civil wars, in spite of their poverty, and Cote d’Ivoire and Mali needed their former colonial master, France, to restore stability and order. And self-destructive Nigeria is, of course, boiling with largely self-inflicted and man-made sectarian cum socioeconomic revolt.

    Southern Africa was a hotbed of apartheid, but when they finally emerged from servitude one after another, only Nelson Mandela exhibited the character of a leader. Sam Nujoma had to be pressured not to amend Namibia’s constitution to serve tenure extension, and geriatric Robert Mugabe has become a burden greater than apartheid upon his people. Successive leaders of Angola and Mozambique have also not been too inspiring, while Central Africa is probably the worst served by incompetent leaders. Since Britain’s MI6 plotted the death of Patrice Lumumba using the façade of Belgian, French and local forces, the hapless country has grappled with a succession of inept rulers, including the two Kabilas, Laurent and Joseph. Central African Republic (CAR), which is embroiled in non-ideological, distasteful and interminable rebellions, has not fared better.

    While ethnic groups in Rwanda nearly exterminated one another, and Uganda reels under rebel attacks, and Burundi stagnates, it took spectacular incompetence, as Mo Ibrahim observed, for Sudanese leaders to infuse religious dogmas into their country’s body politic thereby destabilising and fragmenting it. East Africa is also entrapped in rebellions and poverty. Ethnically and religiously homogenous Somalia is just emerging from state failure begun in 1991 and orchestrated by local rebels, Ethiopia and Libya working in concert. And Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti at the horn of Africa oscillate between pointless wars and horrifying famine.

    The retrogression in Africa is so numbing and so nearly complete that whispers are beginning to be heard in many European capitals that what is needed is a complete takeover, a recolonisation. (See Box, and note the factual inaccuracies). The consequence of the massive retrogression is that future generations of Africans will become humiliatingly less globally competitive than their European, American and Asian counterparts. The gap is widening into a chasm, and it is only a question of time, if things are left unchecked, before active calls for recolonisation receive favourable attention in many key world capitals. Except the continent puts behind it the effects of the trans-Saharan slave trade (which are factors in the Mali turmoil), the even greater evil of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the most crippling effects of colonialism that virtually distorted the economy, culture and thinking of the colonies, the continent’s problems will worsen and predispose it to recolonisation.

    Indirect rule made it difficult for Britain to retain a strangulating hold on its former colonies. It consequently could not actively pursue the establishment of military bases in Africa as successfully as France has done in more than half a dozen of its former colonies. But it nevertheless has advisory presence in Kenya and Sierra Leone. France’s colonial policy of assimilation facilitated the insidious subjection of its former colonies. From Central Africa to West Africa and even to the Horn of Africa and the Maghreb, France has sustained its military presence and bases, and intervenes when the need arises. The relationship between France and its former colonies goes beyond military, however. In foreign policy and the economy, the former colonies still look up to France. China is doubtless elbowing its way in. But many analysts suggest that the disturbances in Mali, CAR and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and especially the promptness and assertiveness of France in those trouble spots, could not be detached from the rising economic profile of China in many African countries.

    During the Cold War era, many African countries were cajoled into taking sides with the Eastern or Western bloc. In the Berlin Conference, which was chiefly triggered by the quest for raw materials to feed European industries, Africa had no say on how its internal borders were drawn. The fresh campaigns for the recolonisation of Africa can also not be detached from economic reasons. For instance, all seven French West African countries are connected to the French Central Bank. The fall of former Ivorian leader, Laurent Gbagbo, was partly a consequence of his dispute with France over Cote d’Ivoire’s external reserve. Niger is as important to France economically (supply of uranium) as Nigeria is important (oil) to the United States. France, Britain and the US are now engaged in strategic military cooperation involving deployment of drones. On another side, China is also steadily and aggressively pushing in into Africa for raw materials to feed its massive industrial complexes and huge population. To facilitate this push, China deploys financial and other kinds of assistance to needy African countries. It may not be too far-fetched to say that China and the West have begun a new scramble for Africa, as the September 2011 election in Zambia proved, and as the creation of the US African Command (AFRICOM) is also indicating.

    If the creeping recolonisation of Africa is not to become a fait accompli, Nigeria must experience revolutionary changes in order to offer the leadership necessary to reclaim Africa from its local and foreign oppressors and reposition its peoples for greater competitiveness in the coming decades. If things remain as they are for much longer, the image of the continent will be battered and its chances of securing a glorious future compromised. Fundamental changes must come to Nigeria, for it is the only country with the potential to offer that leadership, not South Africa, not Ghana, and not Egypt. Sadly, in spite of the momentous events happening around it, Nigeria has remained silent, phlegmatic, inept and docile. It lost confidence in handling the Mali conundrum, ignored the CAR troubles, and has said little on DRC. It is high time visionary and ideological African leaders emerged, leaders who have the depth, intellect and passion to create and drive technological advancement, cultural renaissance and new and sustainable democratic paradigms.

    The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cannot midwife the necessary fundamental changes Nigeria and Africa need. On its part, it is anticipated the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) will whittle down its ideological purity and political idealism to stand a chance of birthing a new party (say, the All Progressives Congress) capable of beating the PDP. I am, however, not too optimistic that within the existing Nigerian political structure and given the nature of party politics, the changes the continent desires and deserves can be achieved.

     

  • Kenya: Saved from the cliff

    Kenya: Saved from the cliff

    It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything – Joseph Stalin   

    In a few days, Uhuru Kenyatta is to be sworn in as President of Kenya. He is coming to power exactly thirty five years after the death of his father Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, the founding father of the country. He was in his teens when his father who led the country to independence died in 1978. His rise to power has struck a first in the continent; he becomes the first sibling of a former president who comes to power through a free and fair election.

    Although his victory was contested by his rival, Raila Odinga, the victory has been affirmed by the country’s highest court as “free and fair” thus aligning with the verdict of the international observers who had earlier given the same verdict.

    Kenyatta’s victory over his challenger, Odinga brings to mind the bitter rivalry which hallmarked the rule of his father and his arch-rival and the father of Raila. Oginga Odinga was like a thorn in the flesh of the older Kenyatta. Students of history would remember that the duo were the arrow heads of the fight for the country’s independence in the same way that the late Joshua Nkomo and President Robert Mugabe were for Zimbabwe.

    However, a combination of ethnic majority and intrigues led to bitter rivalries as it is wont in Africa. The older Kenyatta who came from the majority ethnic group of Gikuyu was able to subdue any threat from the older Odinga who was a Luo. It is perhaps the same ethnic rivalry that led to the present scenario.

    Before the March elections, tension had risen around the world and many had feared that the unfortunate 2007 violence that trailed the election was going to replay itself. In fact, the fear was so palpable that many had already fled the country, in search of safe havens. The 2007 after election violence caught the international community unawares because the East African country, despite its hiccup democratic credentials had been an oasis of peace on the continent. The 2007 violence shattered all that reputation.

    It was therefore not surprising that the international community’s attention was focussed on the country so much that months leading to the election many had appealed for calm and called for a free and fair election. And as if the country was aware of the importance of the election and the need to redeem its image, it made sure the election was conducted as freely as practicable. This was demonstrated so much that even when some unexpected glitches came up the electoral body quickly made up and conducted the election fairly well.

    However, as Kenyatta assumes office, he becomes the second African head of state to be indicted by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). He is joining this unenviable class with President Omar El-Bashir of Sudan who has been indicted for war crimes. Kenyatta’s indictment is in connection with the 2007 election violence. He is in this boat with his Vice President-elect William Ruto.

    How this would affect his reign and his relations with other heads of governments around the world is of interest to this writer. Would he be able to visit some countries that are signatories to the ICC treaty or would he be an isolated president as El-Bashir is gradually becoming?

    Whatever happens Kenya must be saluted for their determination to rescue their country from a cliff-hanger situation. They have been able to tell the world that elections may be factitious and laden with acrimony, but that they are capable of making up with themselves. This is a lesson for the rest of Africa.

    Africa is rising.

     

  • Rest well, great son of Africa

    I am heartbroken, really broken. Chinua Achebe, that illustrious pan-African writer of Nigerian parentage, is no more. It is a very dark day for Africa, darker for those of us who were raised on the staple of literature, foundationally English, transformationally African.

    And to speak of African literature was to begin with Amos Tutuola and his Palm Wine Drinkard. What a short beginning for Africa, unlike Daniel Defoe, the father of the English novel who detains you for quite a while.

    The African writer started with a dither, expectedly so, what with a new language, a new genre and an anaemic and amorphous reader. But before long, you would realise Tutuola is in fact being polite, immodestly consigning himself to a small desert that swiftly courses down the throat, making way to a real big, tasty dish gingerly tackled from the margin, like hot pepe.

    And Ah, what a dish, from the brewmaster, Chinua, son of Achebe! You began with Things Fall Apart, hurry too forward to No Longer At Ease, before realizing you skipped that key juncture where the rain began to beat us as Africans. So you pulled back, retreated to Arrow of God, that fiesta of African wisdom overflowing the brim of the English bowel, itself too shallow to contain, let alone carry bounty African thought.

    In Arrow of God, you feel pity for the English language, you hear its creaks, see it pitifully get prostrated by the master’s artful stretching of a language the British Queen so mistakenly took to be her own. In spite of its finicky brittleness, its rule-laid fastidiousness — phonetic and syntactical — this Igbo prodigy was able to bridle this English language to womanly submissiveness.

    In Achebe’s darning hand, English spectacularly lost its imperial mastery, traded its much-vaunted majesty for pimpish coquetry. Achebe harnessed and humbled it, thereby giving all of us the first line of imperial defeat. Before losing colony, England first lost her tongue. And Achebe led the assault.

    Master polemicist

    You moved on, reconnecting with the interrupted sequence. A Man of the People followed. Then Anthills of the Savannah. In between Girls at War, Beware, Soul Brother, The Sacrificial Egg and Other Stories, Chike and the River, The Flute, The Drum — all these marking a huge mind in a playful interlude, between, before more huge tasks.

    And if you are cerebral, quarrelsome like Manheru, you sought and found satiety in his most engaging polemics: the seminal Morning Yet On Creation Day. The waspish powder keg, The Trouble With Nigeria. Or the granary of polemical thought, Hopes and Impediments which carries Achebe’s most celebrated, choicest harvests over his long career.

    Carries the giant yams the size of a man’s head. Oh Chinua! Of course I will not leave out Conversations with Chinua Achebe. Then you have what for me is Achebe at his most compelling: “The Education of a British-Protected Child.” It is a narrative which is both historical and philosophical, a narrative with enough barbs to expiate the African cynic, enough of gentle rebuke to show a writer mellowed by time and tribulation, a writer after a harsh altercation with society, now drifting towards a reconstructive mode.

    His latest offering — by this death now turned valedictory — is “There was a Country” published in 2012. Frankly, I did not enjoy this latest offering which points to a rueful Achebe, a rueful Igbo nationalist when in fact I was expecting a disappointed Nigerian, a continental seer angry at African creation.

    In this autobiographical book, Achebe explores and exposes the seething anger of his tribe, clearly showing that it is one wound which wrinkles of time will not fold, which his continental eye will not gloss over.

    True, the Igbos were hurt during Biafra, ironically a post-independence conflict which negatively linked the leader of the Biafrans, Ojukwu, to this our country, then colonially known as Rhodesia. Apparently Ojukwu got arms from Rhodesia, and used them against the newly independent state of Nigeria.

    Whatever his cause, whatever the cause of his people — the Igbos — this transforming of Rhodesians into quartermasters of his cause soiled him.

    It was a foul blot on Biafrans escutcheon, which is why Africa never embraced this secessionist war.

    Although this last offering by Achebe looks at the conflict from the angle of a grieving private citizen caught in the maelstrom of a post-independence bloody experimentation in nationhood, overall it reads like this great man of letters stumbles on one of Africa’s narrowest social foci, indeed doffs to narrow loyalty using a medium, genre that abhors parochialism. For as an art form, the novel is universal. I don’t grieve over this stumble.

    It does not lessen Chinua, merely makes a being of sins, of common foibles that we all are. Go well, rest well, great son of Africa.

     

    •Nathaniel Manheru wrote this tribute for New Zimbabwe

     

  • Welcome to Africa

    Welcome to Africa

    In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges and the foolish build dams. ~ Nigerian proverb

    This column, blog more appropriately here, is not new. At least, not to those who have encountered it in print before. However, for those who may be reading it for the first time, it may be necessary to spell out what it is all about.

    As the name implies; it is a blog about Africa, our continent. In this forum, we are going to take a look at what perhaps from day to day escapes the attention of many of our newspaper columnists and writers. In Inside Africa, our major focus of operation is principally Africa as a continent. Anything we write or ponder about would be strictly about issues that concern the continent. Domestic issues would only be commented upon if in the long run they have any bearing on our role as a country in Africa.

    And because the continent cannot live in isolation, we are only going to be concerned about issues outside the continent in as much as we think such are going to have effects on the continent.

    But let no one think this is a case of ‘Afghanistanism’, a phrase coined by a senior colleague in the nineties when the military was in power. For the young ones who may not understand, the senior colleague coined it when many columnists for fear of arrest decided not to comment on local issues but write about foreign affairs. Hence, he said many preferred to go to Afghanistan!

    But this is not our intention here. No. Our strong belief is that at the home front we have enough writers and columnists who are already dealing with domestic issues. So we should talk more about our continent and not leave it solely to foreign correspondents.

    We are going to talk about elections, politics, corruption and innovations that could make the continent move to the next level and dictate the pace of the new world.

    This is not going to be a tea party or an easy task to achieve. Many have always wondered if there is anything to crow about Africa, a continent that has been stigmatised with the tag of underdevelopment, famine, wars and election violence and all that.

    The recent election in Kenya will not escape our scrutiny or the unfolding crisis in Mali. We are going to give our magisterial pronouncements and weigh in as at when required. This is not going to be a forum to only vilify, we are going to applaud and salute those who lift the name and banner of the continent beyond the current morass.

    As the opening proverb above says, we are going to build bridges through which we shall cross to the land of understanding. Welcome to Africa.

  • Another look at Chinese engagement with Africa

    Another look at Chinese engagement with Africa

    Africa’s relations with China have been the subject of interest for decades. At a deeply personal level, my own first contact with China was almost romantic. My father was Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Peoples’ Republic of China in the early seventies and lived in Beijing, at the time of Chairman Mao and the Cultural Revolution. Later in life, reading the horrific tales from the Chinese and others, of their experiences in those times, it is remarkable how different my father’s impression of China was, and the image he passed on to me as young boy in his early teens studying at King’s College in Lagos. My father adored China. He loved Chairman Mao.

    The Cultural Revolution for him was one in which the black African, seen everywhere else at that time, (in the Arab world, the Americas, Europe and parts of Asia), as some inferior, uncivilised specie, was portrayed as having dignity and being worthy of respect. This was a time in which many parts of Southern Africa were still under colonialism and apartheid. Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), South Africa … a long list of countries trampled under the feet of European colonialists and white supremacists, supported fully by successive American governments acting in the interest of International Finance Capital. Support also came from the old colonial powers like Britain who, for a long time, made token statements condemning the “excesses” of the settlers and the Afrikaans, similar to the faint-hearted criticisms of atrocities committed by Israel in occupied Palestine.

    I tell this story of my father, because it partly grounds the romantic – or romanticised-engagement of Africa with China. Prior to his sojourn in Beijing, he had served as High Commissioner to Canada and Ambassador to Belgium. Given his prior exposure, (Oxford, Exeter etc) he was the typical Europhile, committed to a vision of Africa’s “progress” defined by proximation to western standards of doing things and thinking. After China, he became Permanent Secretary in the External Affairs Ministry under late General Murtala Mohammed and later General Olusegun Obasanjo, and the influence of the cultural Revolution was written all over the foreign policy he crafted.

    Supported by a crop of young diplomats (Adeniji, Fafowora, Waziri) and radical intellectuals (Patrick Wilmot, Bala Usman), the Ministry pursued foreign policy that was perceived immediately as anti-US and anti-West. In Angola, Nigeria led and ensured that African countries supported Agustinho Neto’s Cuban-supported MPLA. This was a slap in the face of the US, which backed Holden Roberto’s FNLA and Apartheid South Africa which armed Jonas Savimbi’s UNITA. The rest is history, leading to the end of colonialism and apartheid in the region. It is, therefore, not surprising that Africans of my father’s generation, and those around them would see China very differently from the view of the West (or even the Chinese). For the African, China represented a country that treated the black man with respect at a time the US was still struggling with civil rights and supporting an apartheid ideology based on the supremacy of white over black. Africans could not be expected to alienate or feel any sense of indignation toward China on account of alleged human rights abuses domestically, or such issues as child labour or currency manipulation. Africa loved China and this love is founded on a romantic view of China as a friend, as a saviour, as a partner, as a model. After all, we all grew up counting China among under-developed, or less developed economies. And let us not forget that China says nothing about corruption in Africa, or rigged elections. Herein lies the danger.

    As Governor of the Central Bank in my country since 2009, I have had cause to think deeply about this view of China. It has been a difficult journey, but I have had to ask the main question; is this view borne out by the reality? Take Nigeria, and let me state upfront that I do not blame the Chinese, or any “foreign powers” for Nigeria’s problem. The British colonized Nigeria officially in 1914 and left in 1960. Nigeria has been independent and governed by Nigerians longer than it was by the British. So we cannot even blame “colonialism” or imperialism” for our woes. We must blame ourselves for our fuel subsidy scams, for oil theft in the Niger-Delta, for our neglect of agriculture and education, and for our limitless tolerance for incompetence and mediocrity in critical functions.

    That said, it is very clear to me that, ceteris paribus, a critical pre-condition for development in Nigeria (and the rest of Africa) is to remove the rose tinted glasses with which we regard China. Nigeria is a country of over 160 million people, a large domestic market, whose industries are shut down, and which spends huge resources importing consumer goods from China that ought to be produced locally. We import textiles, fabric, leather goods, tomato paste, starch, furniture, electronics, building materials, plastic goods, food (processed and unprocessed) etc. The Chinese on the other hand, purchase crude oil, and in most of Africa they have set up huge mining operations in the extractive industries, including a number of illegal mines all over the continent. To be fair, they have also built some infrastructure in Africa, albeit with equipment and labour imported wholly from China without imparting any meaningful skills to the local community. I write here in very general terms as I am sure exceptions can be found.

    China therefore takes from us primary goods and sells us manufactured ones. Africa is a dumping ground for Chinese manufactured exports. But, pray, is this not the whole essence of colonialism? The British only went to Africa and India to secure raw materials and markets. Africa is voluntarily opening itself to a new imperialism. China is not a “fellow underdeveloped economy”. The days of the Non-aligned movement are gone. China is the second biggest economy in the world, an economic giant capable of the same forms of economic imperialism as the West. China is a major contributor to the de-industrialsation of Africa and thus African underdevelopment.

    Three decades ago China had a major advantage over Africa in its cheap labour costs. Economic growth and increasing prosperity mean that China has now lost that advantage. Africa must seize this moment, and move manufacturing of goods consumed in Africa out of China to the African continent. The agricultural value chains (cassava-starch/ethanol; tomato-tomato paste; Skins – leather – leather goods; processed foods; cotton – textiles – Fabric; etc) need to be domesticated. Oil endowed countries like Nigeria need to refine their Crude, build petrochemical industries and use gas for generation of power and gas-based industries like fertiliser. For Africa to finally realise its economic potential, and for the above to succeed, we need four things: first we need to build first class infrastructure (electricity, telecommunications, transportation).

    Second, the infrastructure so built, should service a vision of afro centric economic policies. African nations will not develop by selling commodities to Europe, America and China. We may not compete immediately with the Asian tigers in selling manufactured goods to Europe. But in the short-term, with the right infrastructure, the huge African market is there.

    Third, we must see China for what it is, a competitor who must be “taken out”. Africa must look at trade practices, the impact of export incentives and subsidies and a weak currency, on Chinese exports to Africa. We must not only produce locally those goods in which we can build comparative advantage, but actively fight off Chinese imports promoted by predatory policies.

    Finally, while African labour may be cheaper than Chinese labour, productivity remains very low. Investments in technical and vocational education are critical. These changes would transform the relationship between Africa and China. Africa must recognize that China is not in Africa for African interests. It is there for the interest of China (just like the Americans and Russians and British and French and Brazilians and everyone else).

    The romance needs to be replaced by hardnosed economic thinking. Engagement must be or terms that allow the Chinese to make money while benefiting African development – such as incentives to set up manufacturing on African soil and policies to ensure employment of Africans and skills transfers as well as encouraging equity participation by locals. Africa must take a close look at trade policy and dumping practices, as well as standards of imported products. Being my father’s true son, I must confess to not being able to recommend a divorce between Africa and China. I love China.

    However, a review of the exploitative elements in this marital contract is long past due. All romantic liaisons begin with every partner being blind to the other’s flaws, and seeing him/her through rose tinted glasses. Gradually the glasses are removed, the scales fall off. We see the partner fully, warts and all. We may still remain together, still love each other, but at least there are no illusions and our feet are on the ground. This is what I think is happening, or at least should be happening, in Africa’s romantic engagement with its oriental partner.

    (P. S. Did Cleopatra ever have an oriental lover? I need to research that and it may give some clues.)

     

  • ‘New Pope: Africa not disappointed’

    THE Catholic Archbishop of Onitsha Archdiocese and Metropolitan, Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province , Rev Dr. Valerian Okeke, has dismissed the rumour that African continent is disappointed over the emergence of Pope Francis I.

    Addressing newsmen yesterday, Archbishop Okeke said since the Pope is a universal head of the church, the issue of a particular continent being disappointed does not arise, adding that the church does not belong to a particular continent.

    “The Church does not belong to Europe or any other continent, the church belongs to God and the fact that the Pope came from South America and not Europe shows that God can work with any of his servants and we are all brothers. So, I am not disappointed and Africa is not disappointed because the Pope is a Pope for the whole world”

    He further said “the church does not do quota system, it is not a political system, the Holy Spirit chooses who He wants and it is not a matter of whether it was turn of Africa or any other continent to produce the Pope, the Pope can come from Europe, South America, Africa, Asia, America and so on, it is not a matter of Africa being disappointed.”

    Archbishop Okeke further described the emergence of Pope Francis I as an act of God, noting that the new Pontiff having spent most of his lifetime with the people in pure apostolate will lead God’s flock to the path of righteousness.

    “The new Pope Francis I is the first Jesuit Pope but he has not spent his time with the academia, he spent most of his life among the people as a Pastor and we are having a Pope coming from the area of apostolate. He is a Pastor and we are experiencing many good things,” he said.

    On the age of the new Pontiff who is just two years younger than Pope Benedict XIV Emeritus when he was elected, Archbishop Okeke said the age has nothing to do with the work of papacy and said the work of the Pope is that of a father which requires age and mental maturity.

    “The work of papacy is that of a father and so, the older the better because old age is in the mind and we have no doubts that his age would not hamper his ministry”

    The Metropolitan also described the Pope Benedict XIV emeritus as a great Professor, Philosopher, Theologian and living encyclopedia who has authored over 1000 books and as a man who knows the history of humanity and the church while noting that the new Pope Francis I as an intellectual from the Jesuit has spent his time with the poor.

    Also the Catholic Bishop Of Awka, Most Rev. Dr. Paulinus Ezeokafor, has described the emergence of the new Pope as a welcome development.

    Ezeokafor prayed God to fortify him with good health, wisdom and understanding.

     

  • Tambuwal, Fayemi seek global efforts on insecurity in Africa

    Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal and Ekiti State Governor,’ Dr Kayode Fayemi, have drawn global attention to insecurity in some parts of Africa.

    They said tackling insecurity in the continent requires urgent intervention of world leaders.

    Tambuwal and Fayemi spoke in Brussels, Belgium at the weekend during the opening session of the Crans Montana forum with the theme: “The impact of Sahelo-Saharan crisis on African security, economy and political stability.”

    Tambuwal, who chaired the session, observed that the crises in the Sahelian region of Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Libya and Sudan as well as Boko Haram in Nigeria required global efforts to address instead of reducing them to problems for the affected countries.

    He commended the organisers of the forum for “providing a platform where people from across the world come together to discuss how to make Africa a better place to live.”

    The Speaker said: “Being the emerging economy that we all agree that it is, the security upheavals in Africa, especially the Sahelian region, have to be addressed. We have to discuss and proffer solutions to the problem.”

    Fayemi, who was one of the main speakers at the forum, spoke on the Boko Haram perspective to insecurity in parts of northern Nigeria.

    For Nigeria, Fayemi noted that the Boko Haram menace gained momentum because the government had not demonstrated the seriousness to identify and penalise suspects to serve as a deterrent.

    Fayemi identified the three strands of Boko Haram, which he described as economic Boko Haram, political Boko Haram and religious Boko Haram.

    The governor claimed that out of the three, the economic Boko Haram was more devastating because lack of economic opportunities had made it possible for those with political and religious agenda to exploit an army of idle hands to recruit for their selfish intentions.

    The governor said: “To find solutions, therefore, there has to be a holistic and international response.”