1 September 2018
Away from politics and politicking, Nigeria 🇳🇬 is such a blessed geographical location that has been bedeviled with cursed leadership for as long as the years of many of those reading this. Some people would think Theresa May’s visit is a routine one, or that France’s Presidents visit last month was also a leisure visit as he(Macron) tried to make us believe. And I’m just gathered that Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel is scheduled to visit Nigeria tomorrow.
A point to note is that both Macron and Theresa made their way to Lagos after observing protocol and stopping by for the official formalities in Abuja with the President.
Europe is struggling economically and Africa is one place for their powers to berth their ship once again in search of greener pastures. Trump’s emergence coupled with China’s growing dominance hasn’t made it easier for European power blocs. Over the weekend, I had a phone discussion with a friend who is currently in France on a working visit and he told me that he could feel the hardship in the economic city from just observing the average fellow on the streets of Paris. Trust Theresa May to use colonial logic to downplay the significance of the visit to Britain by making uncomplimentary remarks about Nigeria in South Africa yesterday viz “Nigeria houses the poorest people in thee world”… truth is, she’s coming to seek to greener pastures as Britian’s post Brexit fortunes aren’t just uncertain but dire. Nigeria has done so much for Britain’s economy over the years with Britian doing very little to reciprocate.
Asides natural resources, Britain has been a huge beneficiary of (indirect) financial aide from Nigeria via hundreds of millions of pounds spent in less than a decade on educational tourism by Nigerians. Nigeria ranks third(after China and India) in this indice. They’re also thousands of Nigerian specialist’s doctors helping out in the NHS.
Let me end this with these words on marble uttered by Mandela some years ago: “The world will not respect Africa until Nigeria earns that respect. The black people of the world need Nigeria to be great as a source of pride and confidence.”
Utsu writes from Nigeria
