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Diane Abbott: A True Friend Of
Nigerians
By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
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"Quite
clearly patriotism is not going to be easy
or comfortable in a country as badly run as
Nigeria is. And this is not made any easier
by the fact that no matter how badly a
country may be run there will always be some
people whose personal, selfish interests
are, in the short term at least, well served
by the mismanagement and the social
inequities. Naturally they will be extremely
loud in their adulation of the country and
its system and will be anxious to pass
themselves off as patriots and to vilify
those who disagree with them as trouble
makers or even traitors. But doomed is the
nation which permits such people to define
patriotism for it. Their definition would be
about as objective as a Rent Act devised by
a committee of avaricious landlords, or the
encomiums that a colony of blood sucking
ticks might be expected to shower upon the
bull on whose backs they batten."
—Chinua
Achebe, The Trouble With Nigeria
(1983) |
On April 09, 2006, Ms. Diane Abbott,
a British MP, born of Immigrant Jamaican parents,
published an article in Jamaica Observer
newspaper entitled, "Think Jamaica Is Bad? Try Nigeria."
Before then, Ms. Abbott had visited Nigeria with a group
of British MPs and the essay was her own way of
expressing her rude shock (and, perhaps, that of her
fellow MPs) that a country like Nigeria, immensely
blessed by God with abundant natural resources, and
raking in billions of dollars from crude oil exports,
could still be fatally trapped in such unimaginable
backwardness, chaos and abysmal decay, as a result of
gross mismanagement and boundless corruption on the part
of characterless, visionless and clearly ungodly
leaders.
For effect, she tried to make a
comparison between Nigeria and her home country,
Jamaica. She said: "This West African country, is
potentially much richer and more powerful than Jamaica
could ever be. Yet, in certain crucial aspects Nigeria
is in an even worse position than little Jamaica, and
contemplating the Nigerian situation might cause even
the gloomiest Jamaican talk show host to count their
blessings. Nigeria's greatest blessing has been oil; but
it has also been its greatest curse. It is the sixth
biggest oil producer in the world. And when it comes to
corruption, Nigerians make Jamaicans and every other
nationality in the world, look like mere amateurs.
Billions of pounds of oil money have been looted by
politicians."
A few hours after Ms. Abbott's
article appeared in Jamaica Observer, an internet
news site,
www.NigeriaVillagesquare.com (NVS) owned by a
Nigerian republished it. About two weeks later,
Sunday Independent (www.independentngonline.com)
newspaper, Lagos, equally carried the article in its
Op-Ed page alongside a rejoinder to it. While several
Nigerians who posted comments on the NVS article
hailed Ms. Abbott for her forthrightness at a time
projecting the "approved" and official view of Nigeria
has become such a lucrative business for some Nigerians
and foreigners alike, some Nigerians, mostly those
living in better managed countries, several thousands of
miles away from Nigeria's excruciating problems, dubbed
her an "enemy of Nigeria." Her offence, if you ask me,
was simply that she resisted the temptation to embellish
or even pervert the naked truth about the situation in
Nigeria, as she saw it. They called on Nigerians to
condemn her for refusing to lie.
I will not condemn Diane Abbott. I
would rather regard her as a true friend of the long
suffering masses of Nigeria. The real enemies of Nigeria
and Nigerians are those discrediting her unimpeachable
testimony, which the regime in Abuja needs from time to
time, to help it develop the right attitude to
governance. Even if the Abuja regime insists on
remaining totally destitute of pity and compassion for
impoverished Nigerians, the continued exposure of the
rot and underdevelopment it is religiously creating in
Nigeria by such influential personalities like Diane
Abbott, might achieve a change of heart in them. Indeed,
it is clear from Abbott's article that the corruption
she denounces in Nigeria is official corruption, the one
perpetrated by leaders, hell-bent on milking Nigeria to
death. She believes that based on what Nigeria is
earning daily from oil, Nigerians should be living in a
more decent and well-organized society.
Ms. Abbott's crime, therefore, was
that she refused to become another Baroness Lynda
Chalker (http://www.nathanielturner.com)
or other "friends" of Nigeria, who are heavily paid to
falsely project Nigeria as a place of plenty, happiness,
functional amenities and elegant politics, even when the
evidence on ground suggests otherwise. Yes, she would
have been a great friend of Nigeria if she had like some
other people manufactured "great achievements" and fake
testimonial for the Abuja regime, and instantly earned
for herself loud, but contaminated ovations from Abuja
and the "patriots" abroad.
I fully understand the mindset at
work here. A character in Prof Chinua Achebe's classic
novel, Anthills of the Savannah, remarked that it
is all right to praise Castro if you don't live in Cuba.
It all boils down to the deep-rooted selfishness that
thrives in the very core of some Nigerians. So long as a
problem does not touch them directly, they might as well
wish it away.
As I write now (1.45 am, Thurs. April
20), my area is enveloped in thick, blinding and choking
darkness. The heat is so oppressive, and once my toy
generator (humming mournfully at the balcony now and
emitting killer fumes into the atmosphere) runs out of
fuel and goes off now, sleep will become impossible. My
children will wake up. It would then be my business to
fan them with folded newspapers to ensure they got
little sleep. I would probably go to the office when the
day breaks, weak and drained, and nursing a headache, to
struggle to earn a living in this impossible country
called Nigeria.
Presently, Nigeria boasts of about
$34 billion external reserve. Reports say it is going to
hit $50 billion by December. I am told that with just
$10 billion out of that money, a huge difference could
be made in the power sector, to save us this daily
agony, reduce cost of production at our fast dying
factories (and by implication, costs of commodities),
and generally lighten the excruciating yoke placed on
Nigerians by a wayward leadership. Due to perennial
blackouts, whole families, especially those who live
concentrated areas, have, reportedly, died as a result
of prolonged inhalations of deadly fumes from
generators. This matter becomes even more painful and
frustrating when you learn that almost every African
country, and indeed, every country in the world, even
the most leanly-endowed, have since forgotten what it
feels like to be trapped in intimidating darkness of
power failure!
Ms. Abbott talks about the
unimaginable poverty and devastation in the Niger Delta
as a result of oil exploration. With just $10-15 billion
of this our $34 billion foreign reserve, petrochemical
companies can be set up in the Niger Delta, and within
about five years, Nigeria will become the industrial hub
of Africa. Wealth and countless jobs will be created and
the issue of restiveness in the Niger Delta would become
a thing of the past, as the wealth and jobs created will
make a great difference in their lives.
Now, how many of these "patriots"
would want to be admitted in our public hospitals. What
is the state of Nigerian universities, secondary and
primary schools? Who is bothered that these institutions
have decayed beyond imagination? Instead, Nigerian
officials are sending their children to schools in Ghana
and even several other very poorly endowed, but
better-managed countries. Maybe tomorrow, Nigerians
will start patronizing Liberian hospitals and sending
their children to Liberian schools.
But let no "patriot" cry foul when
that time comes and a Liberian points this out in an
article in the Liberian Observer newspaper. What a pity,
Nigerian leaders and their cheerleaders daily yearn for
false testimonials. They hate every mirror that dares
show them their real reflection. They are not ashamed
that whereas democracy is stabilizing in small countries
around us, we are here still yoked with a primitive
quest for self-succession and “sit-tightism”.
Excuse me, please!
Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
is on the Editorial Board of Independent Newspapers (www.independentngonline.com
) Lagos, Nigeria. He writes a weekly column (SCRUPLES)
every Wednesday on the backpage of the paper.
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update 15 July 2008 |
