The Igbo have a saying – popularised by
the acclaimed novelist, Chinua Achebe – that he who brings home
ant-infested faggots should not complain if he is visited by lizards.
That proverb is apt in describing the type of treatment Nigeria receives
from the Western world, led by the United States of America.
Last year, President Barack Obama made
his second “ward round” to Africa. Again, he excluded Nigeria from his
“patients’ list.” The official excuse was that Nigeria’s democracy was
not commendable. Also, since President Goodluck Jonathan signed the
anti-gay bill into law early this year, the Western world, led by the
US, has not allowed us to drink water and drop the cup, as the saying
goes. Presidential visits have been allegedly cancelled; threats of
cancellation of aids have been issued; patronising and condescending
comments have been directed at us.
Compare this to the treatment the West
metes out to two other countries: China and Saudi Arabia. China is the
largest non-democracy in the world. China doles out the death penalty
for many offences, including corruption and drug trafficking. China
regularly arrests and detains those who speak against its dictatorial
policies. China censors what its citizens can see on the web. China
restricts the number of children a Chinese couple can have. China uses
the iron fist against the self-determination efforts of Tibet, and since
1959, the spiritual leader of Tibet – the Dalai Lama – has been in
exile (double the length of time Nelson Mandela spent in prison).
In its 2013 report, Human Rights Watch
noted that in 2012 “Chinese people had no say in the selection of their
new leaders, highlighting that despite the country’s three decades of
rapid modernisation, the government remains an authoritarian one-party
system that places arbitrary curbs on freedom of expression,
association, religion, prohibits independent labour unions and human
rights organisations, and maintains party control over all judicial
institutions. The government also censors the press, internet, and
publishing industry, and enforces highly repressive policies in ethnic
minority areas in Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia.”
Yet, the US sees no evil, hears no evil,
keeps its mouth shut and continues to do business with China. Its
president continues to exchange presidential visits with his Chinese
counterpart. Even when the US president attempts to raise his voice
against a Chinese policy, he speaks in a muffled voice.
Why is that so? China is the US’ largest
creditor: The amount reached a record $1.317tn in November 2013. China
crawled out of its retrogressive communism and embraced open market and
industrialisation, with the result that it was catapulted to the second
largest economy in the world. Its status as the most populous nation in
the world and a member of the Security Council are also great assets. No
sane man talks down on his creditor or benefactor, unless the man has
made concrete plans to stop depending on the benefactor. The US, Canada,
Asia and the European Union know that anybody who messes with China
gets a bloodied nose. China does not condone any criticism, no matter
how subtle. So, every country respects itself where China is involved
and looks for beggarly countries to bully.
In the same vein, Saudi Arabia does not
allow its women to vote. It does not even allow its women to drive. It
cuts off the heads or limbs of those found guilty of certain crimes.
Saudi Arabia does not allow political or human rights associations. It
arbitrarily arrests and detains peaceful dissidents and uses undue force
on demonstrations. Homosexuality is punishable by death in Saudi
Arabia. But the US develops not just foot-and-mouth disease at such but
also eye-and-ear disease. Its business with Saudi Arabia gets oilier by
the day. Human Rights Watch said in its 2013 report: “The US did not
publicly criticise any Saudi human rights violations except through
annual reports…. The US concluded a $60 billion arms sale to Saudi
Arabia, its largest anywhere to date.”
Why would the US criticise Saudi Arabia?
The oil from Saudi Arabia runs deep, and the US and its allies benefit
from it. Also, Saudi Arabia is the headquarters of the Muslim world. Any
criticism of it is viewed as a criticism of Islam. Muslims are touchy
about any criticism of their practices, especially when such comes from
the West/Christians. The US does not want to be seen as anti-Islam.
Furthermore, Saudi Arabia is a key ally of the US and the West in the
Arab world, where there are deep-seated anti-West sentiments. Therefore,
the US and EU prefer to look the other way on the human rights records
of Saudi Arabia.
They turn their focus on Nigeria and make
it their whipping boy. Why? We still beg for aids when we should be
giving others aids. We still beg for foreign investments when we should
be seeking new territories to invest in. We still allow external
monitors during our elections when we should be helping some countries
in Europe, the Americas and Asia to conduct elections. We still kill and
burn down property over elections and religion. We still steal the
money meant for the development of the nation and hide it in other
countries while our people suffer and die because of lack of potable
water or health care.
If we had built a nation that is
comparable to South Korea; if we had dropped the lazy oil-sharing and
oil-dependency mentality and embraced industrialisation; if we had
learnt to put the nation first and not resort to primitive ethnic and
religious chauvinism and violence at the least misunderstanding; if we
had stopped wobbling and fumbling and were showing inspiring leadership
in Africa – no doubt, we would not be talked down upon. Any country that
intends to talk to us must “chew its words” well before uttering them.
The world has given us enough signs that
should propel us to rise from our slumber and stand on our feet like
warriors. Most great companies are founded by men and women who were
insulted in their place of work or sacked summarily. Many people would
not have built their own house if their landlord had not “insulted”
them. Such “insults” light a fire in the heart of a man which fires up
the man to great achievements.
That is why I like President Jonathan’s
policy on local manufacturing of automobiles, local production of rice,
sugar, cement, etc. We need more of such. And we need to move faster,
even though killjoys and detractors like Boko Haram and co are “pouring
sand in our garri.” We need our people to stop going to India or the UK
to die or be saved from illnesses. We need our children to stop moving
in droves to foreign universities – we need Europeans, Americans and
Asians to come and study in our universities.
Like Ralph Waldo Emerson is credited as
saying, “if a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or
make a better mouse-trap, than his neighbour, though he builds his house
in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.” Despite
the West’s pretensions to democracy and freedom, if ours were to be a
vicious dictatorship with a buoyant and enticing economy, the Western
World would look the other way and do business with us.
Therefore, let us be in a hurry to build
an enviable nation. Nigeria needs not fear the Western World which
threatens us with sanctions, rather let us fear Mr. Underdevelopment
which makes a country not only to receive insults from other countries
but also from its citizens who are weighed down by poverty, privation
and despair.
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