Our History

For decades, African countries have watched almost helplessly as their continent
was reduced to mere spectators in world affairs .The continent seem to exist as a
sort of guinea pig for different socio-economic policies fashioned by the EU and
the United States largely and to a lesser extent the USSR and the Russian
Federation. There is no equal partnership in matters both political, economic,
social and even international agreements. We have been experiencing and
observing as Africans, the perpetual downturn in almost all aspects of the day to
day running of every African society. The permanent socio-economic hiccups
that has been used to describe Africa and indigenous Africans for decades has in
itself created a new mindset reality on the whole world at large. The world has
been faced by global and regional challenges that world leaders and thinkers
have proffer likely solutions which strangely enough, work out well for some
but put Africans into deeper negative outcomes. it is no secret that the
developmental backlog in Africa is so vast that it might take the better part of a
century(if not more)to actually peg the downward trend .as the society appears
broken, lives are lost every day, money and resources get stolen very often and
the continent has grinded to a halt, from the east to the west and south straight
up to the north of Africa, the only thing that unifies us seems to be poverty and
everything else that comes with it and to make matters worse, Africa decided to
starve her universities; the only “powerhouse”, where all countries of the world
gets their engineers, scientists etcetera who make tangible contributions to the
development of their respective societies of long overdue funding which
consequently means that we can hardly rely on majority of youths who passed
through the university education on the continent. The role of parents and
traditional rulers in our various communities has been undermined due to the
dire economic situations and yearn for self governance. Apart from the diverse
ethnic composition of Africa which could otherwise have been a rich resource in
advancing African development, it is now a constant headache and tool
frequently used to foment trouble among different ethnic groups in Africa. It now
seem as if the affairs of the continent now rests on the aid agencies who
themselves sometimes act as the official spokesperson for all suffering Africans,
in fact there are indications that the united nations governing body trusts the
accounts of the various aid groups operating in Africa more than they trust the
account of the African governments whenever there is a crisis. The statement
here does not seek to criticize the nongovernmental organisations, but the
framework of how each of them functions cannot be fully understood unless one
knows who funds such groups and whose ideology they represent and extend. It
seems that we have let go any thought and efforts of rebuilding and advancing
our societies. Africans in and out of the continent are no longer proud of their
roots. Africa is now the largest non-perimeter prison (mental) within and outside
of Africa, although it is becoming more of a real prison with the systemic
tightening of visa rules for non European Union (EU) migrants and the bilateral
visa agreement between the United States and EU member states. Africa now
seems to be a perfect representation of all societal ills.

People are no longer comfortable to speak their native tongues both indigenous
and diasporas for fear of being easily identified as a citizen of a failed state(s). A
keen observer would note that with all these self inflicted labels, there leaves no
room for the continent to promote itself among the more developed countries.

Africans are no longer proud of their own roots and people always pass the
blame on either the elected or the installed. There have been numerous
occasions where deliberately or even unsuspectingly the public or civil society
has contributed to the decline of the African continent. Every day we are faced
with appeals from different nongovernmental organisations using images of
battered African woman and child to raise funds for their various projects from
the more better off westerners (both indigenous citizens and Africans who has
somehow managed to carve out a life for themselves in America and Europe),it
was sometimes discovered by an investigative forum that only about 20% of
the total funds collected actually gets to Africa as the rest are used to pay wages
,advertisements, consultancy etcetera. I guess the images frequently shown are
designed to make people feel pity and also help shape the mind of the
contributors about what obtains in Africa, so it wasn’t unsurprising when a young
innocent schoolboy asked us quite recently ‘ do you people live on trees in
Africa?’

The pioneers of modern democracy insist that it cannot be compete without the
privatisation of its assets and institutions. These true lies are a temporal
measure to make the people feel something is being done to change the
country, thus the benefits are short term but the consequences long term unless
the government is allowed complete monitoring of the system, which is near
impossible because it is those in power that buys the controlling stake in the
institutions. Our needs in Africa, first and foremost is to coin out our own form of
governance participatory of all and sundry in the governance and administration
of the governments from local to regional and to the country at large. Some
people might argue this is simply democracy; yes it is but not the contemporary
democracy that America and Europe try to export to the rest of the world.
European and American democracy used to be elite one where those who gets in
to power are the elites in the country or people favoured by them so it is not
totally participatory. Governing any country in Africa, one must take into
consideration the various ethnicity ,languages and cultural needs of the African
people which are absent in western Europe and the united states, so why follow
their system of government without reviewing whether it is fit for the purpose of
governing a multi ethnic African society? Take Lebanon for instance, which
obviously practices her own fragile form of self governance taking into
consideration religious, sectarian and ethnic setup where only a Christian can be
president, a Sunni the prime minister and a Shia the speaker of the house. If
Africa can achieve this near impossible act of finding how to govern themselves,
then the important step on reducing our massively influenced way of life by
promoting self sustainability and which would over time reverse the negative
effects of foreign culture and way of life in our societies. For clarification
purpose, we should note that not all the influences can be discarded but through
concerted efforts we can retain the influences that have had a positive impact in
the lives of most if not all citizens and the society at large. The promotion of our
human and natural resources for self sustainability should be done with the
assistance of tested the health and indigenous African historians who posses
great knowledge about the established African way of life and community spirit.
The victor writes the history, so they say but we have to take the bull by the
horn and tell our own stories ourselves, fashion our own system of governance
and politics ourselves through extensive national debate and dialogue and not
forget to borrow from good forms of governance that have worked well in other
places while taking into consideration our ethnic and language differences for
these two traits unite Africans more than religion whose introduction onto the
continent was well preceded by our ethnicity and languages.

Moreover, history is very important in other to make any headway in advancing

the continent and her suffering millions. Most , if not all the models of
governance and running of our day to day lives in Africa are either borrowed
elsewhere or at best put together by foreigners at the invitation of different
African head of states. Surely there must be Africans who are competent enough
to fashion a way forward for us without traitors or external influence turning the
agreed arrangements upside down. One thing though is sure, we can do it but it
has to be activated quickly before it is too late as there will come a time when
countries and its borders might no longer matter as citizens the world over
switch allegiances from their country to religion, ethnic and even movements
and ideas.

The currents scheme of things in the international community is seriously biased

against African nations and most third world countries thereby endangering the
lives of billions and there can be no real change without fighting for such,
alternative economic models must be fashioned and implemented focusing on
self sufficiency and sustainability. Food and security must be forefront and the
ability to use localise our economic development must be enhanced. We should
trade with each other more so as not to expose our exports to sanctions and
imposition of artificial prices that only puts money into the coffers of a few
corporations and individuals. Corruption at home must be tackled and discipline
maintained. It would also be a good idea to modify and reinstate the powers of
traditional rulers to fit into constitutional roles as they are the custodians of
culture and ancestral knowledge.

Funding also has to be available to float existing tertiary institutions and there
must be equal level of commitment in establishing vocational centres for those
who prefers another form of learning. As earlier mentioned each and everyone
must have a role to play in the community and each locality or local
governments must organise community interaction to foster and advance peace
and development in the locality.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said recently that most African leaders
spent a third of their time meeting foreign donors and NGOs ,this sort of time
could be channelled towards attending to various urgent and pressing needs of
the country.

The press also has a role to play in this urgent task of building our nation from
the start as it had never been built neither by the occupying colonialist or
Nigerians themselves. Over the years the press had either knowingly or
otherwise printed materials and fed the population with such news which are at
times sensationalist in nature with the intention of either causing chaos or for the
intent of selling newspapers. Nigerians are still heavily reliant on getting news
from the newspapers and electronic media excluding the internet. I will attempt
to quote the word of a magazine article I read recently in which the writer states
that ....’ the UK media has effectively become the fourth arm of the government
due to the fact that each press outfit traditionally have support for either labour
or the Tories (conservatives) but when it comes to the issue of foreign policy the
press in Britain follow the government’s position, that is why in the eighties it is
not uncommon to see the British press praising President Robert Mugabe as a
good example of an African leader, he was even knighted by the Queen of
England! But when the British government position changed about him, the
press changed their headlines about him too! .The former editor of the Sun
newspaper was quoted as saying ' give or take during Prime Minister Tony Blair's
years in office, I met him over 70 times sometimes for breakfast, lunch or over a
cup of tea. If this was an African editor it would simply have been assumed and
quite wrongly as well that he has been bought by the president. This is only
meant to serve as a wakeup call to African editors that as much as they
vigorously print and expose corrupt practices, attempt should also be made to
print and report the various sincere developments taking place in the continent.

With the attempt that i have made at highlighting the various things i believe we
had neglected over the years and also the things that could be done to enhance
and improve the quality of life and governance in Africa, and also level the
playing field in world affairs between Europe, United States, Russia and Asia the
following urgent actions are needed to take Africa back to Greater heights in the
affairs of the world.

1. Dependence on oil as the main form of revenue must be reduced. Other

sectors must be encouraged in other to diversify and discover other
sources of revenue in the country.
2. Research in local technology and raw materials should be encouraged
through funding in order to reduce dependence on foreign products and
ensure national security through self sustainability.
3. Press freedom should be absolute but with tough legislation to deter
unprofessional practice that runs contrary to the ethics of fair reporting.
4. The judiciary should be independent and laws must be enforced through
them.
5. Education must be given priority. Technical (skills) school should be
established and funded in each state of the country employing the advice
and skills of capable hands and experienced craftsmen. The result would
be vast.
6. Indigenous language and culture must be enhanced through education,
arts and culture and research.