Great Zimbabwe… Ruins of a Truth

According to Paul Sinclair, interviewed for “None But Ourselves”:

I was the archaeologist stationed at Great Zimbabwe. I was told by the then-director of the Museums and Monuments organisation to be extremely careful about talking to the press about the origins of the [Great] Zimbabwe state. I was told that the museum service was in a difficult situation, that the government was pressurising them to withhold the correct information. Censorship of guidebooks, museum displays, school textbooks, radio programmes, newspapers and films was a daily occurrence. Once, a member of the Museum Board of Trustees threatened me with losing my job if I said publicly that blacks had built Zimbabwe. He said it was okay to say the yellow people had built it, but I was not allowed to mention radiocarbon dates… It was the first time since Germany in the thirties that archaeology has been so directly censored.

    The above interview shows decades of efforts to suppress the truth about the ruins of Zimbabwe. The ruins at Great Zimbabwe are some of the oldest and largest structures located in Southern Africa, and they are the second oldest after nearby Mapungubwe in South Africa. Its most formidable edifice, commonly referred to as the Great Enclosure, has walls as high as 36 feet (11 m) extending approximately 820 feet (250 m), making it the largest ancient structure south of the Sahara Desert. David Beach believes that the city and its state, the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, flourished from 1200 to 1500.

     It bleeds the heart when fact or truth is suppressed with vicious bias. The reason behind such suppression is repression. The world would be harmonious if each is proud of his own. Let the Arab take pride in his culture without throwing bombs; allow the Orients walk heads high about their heritage without having to ask other to commit sepukku or harakiri; let the West flaunt its ‘thing’ without looking down its nose at others; and let the African throw a black power fist in veneration of blackism as well.

    The same thing is happening in Egypt where that civilization has been denied ever having anything to do with Africans south of the Sahara. The renaissance era in the history of Egypt after a decadent period of Saitic rulers, was launched by Kushite kings from Sudan who saw their ancestors as Narmer, the first Pharaoh of the land of Kemet (Kemet meaning land of the blacks) before the Greeks changed the name to Egypt (meaning Ai-Gy-Ptos: House of Ptah).

   It has been said Arabs built Great Zimbabwe but inscription found on the walls could not be read by Arabs who visited the ruins. Zimbabwe is the Shona name of the ruins, first recorded in 1531 by Vicente Pegado, Captain of the Portuguese Garrison of Sofala, who noted, “The natives of the country call these edifices Symbaoe, which according to their language signifies ‘court’.”

The name clearly contains dzimba, the Shona term for “houses”. Apart from this, there are two suggestions for the etymology of the name:

The first theory holds that the word is derived from Dzimba-dza-mabwe, translated from the Karanga dialect of Shona as “large houses of stone” (dzimba = plural of imba, “house”; mabwe = plural of bwe, “stone”). A second theory is that Zimbabwe is a contracted form of dzimba-hwe, which means, “Venerated houses” in the Zezuru dialect of Shona, and is usually applied to chiefs’ houses or graves.

May the spirit of the Nyaminyami – god of the Zambezi River – protect the river of truth from pollution.

RELIGIOUS, RACE AND THE 21ST CENTURY

    According to the words of Hegel in the Hegelian principle, “All events happen twice in history.” Looking through history, one will see that many great events that shaped the world happened twice or more. The world two wars, the US is trying to prevent a third according toNostradamus’ prediction of some prince in the Middle East. The coming of Christ that Christians are waiting for; and even the two giant events in the life of each man… birth and death.

    Bigotry has plagued man in the past because of humanity’s prejudicial view of what others are and how they should be. Slavery had assailed man through the centuries up to the 19^th century. When man subjected another man to conditions a dog would not be subjected to these days without the world crying foul.

    Now, the issue of slavery is archaic and slaveowners woke to the shock of seeing their slaves strolling as freemen. The 20^th century was again hacked by the issue of race, as the aftershock of the end of slavery. Now in the 21^st century, it is so ancient for anyone to be openly racially bigoted, it is crude. We all now know that nothing wrong in having white Africans as much as black Americans.

    A black dude even sits in the whitehouse. The world is progressing. However, while broadmindedness and liberty is advancing man to utopia; closemindedness and bigotry are tearing the world apart. Now in the 21^st century the bigotry is on the platform of religion. Religion is an ideal thing that helps man to live in peace and love with others with the promise of heaven. Alas, religion is segregating the world.

    Extreme violence has now become synonymous with fundamentalist jihadists, as much as Christians regard non-Christians as pagans and lesser creatures in a sanctimonious way. Religious bigotry can be summed up thus; “a believer fights another believer, as a doubter fights only himself.” Yet we breed kids daily and orientate them on “You are wrong.” “I am right.”

    God has no religion or color. Happy is the man that can live without color or creed. That is the truest form of religion. Spirituality encompasses humanity as a throbbing soul in the heart of the universe. Religion segments this soul into creeds and sects. Slaughtering or thowing bombs to score religious point ridicules whatever your ideal stands for, as much as seeing yourself better than a non-believer.

    We can make the world a better place. Not some Armageddon war between evil and good. As long as our thinking still reads: “I am right.” “He is wrong.” “Mine is good, his is bad.” Then we will keep swirling in the shitty muck of a tumultuous world. You want to wear your beard like some Hassidic Jew, it’s a free world, do so, but don’t expect everyone must be like that.

    Whatever your belief or idea, knowledge is a two-edge sword that could be as blinding as ignorance if the rough edges are not smoothened by broadmindedness. We all cannot wear one color, one shoe or have one belief. Give room for others in the space we call earth.

What is written on the wall for Africa by Gaddafi?

Probably because the word opposition leader is a rarity in a monarchy and it was not yet a century before self-sovereignty was won from colonial masters… maybe this is why the word opposition is not understood in Africa.

How long are we going to keep having sit-tight rulers who abrogate upon themselves the right to decide the fate of the citizenry and probably even pass on the cloak of god-ruler to their children. Someone tell me, maybe God created some people in Heaven with blue blood to actually lord it over the rest of us with red blood.

There has been so many arguments over the fall of Gaddafi, mostly about whether it was right or wrong to pull him down from the deluded position of being untouchable. But to be factual, Gaddafi held together the seams of NATO had to intervene and then turn the tables in favor of the rebels. Of course it should have been the AU who was meant to have launched campaign against Gaddafi’s use of arbitrary force in contravention of the AU Article 4 (h) of the African Union Constitutive Act established in Durban S/Africa, which says (the Union has the right to intervene in a member state in respect of grave circumstances, namely war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity).

 

But who in God’s name makes up the AU to challenge Gaddafi, he has them all in his pockets. A lot of people like those who are so generous to give them money and gifts, and they will lose their sense of rationality because of this generousity, but let us not forget… fear the Greeks even when they come with gifts. The lack of the AU to live up to its own constitution results in the coming in of NATO which had been looking for the right excuse to depose Gaddafi, hook or crook.

Gaddafi had had the reputation of his regime killing black immigrants from sub-Saharan black Africans, which made the administration of Obasanjo (former Nigerian president) intervene at one time to save the lives of 21 Nigerians. This mentality has continued in the current civil war as the rebels are also continuing that brainwashed policy of racially targeting blacks for killing, bordering on genocide. It will take another generation of re-education for Libyans to finally accept blacks as fellow Africans. So much for three decades of Gaddafi’s policy on black immigrants.

We are the strength of tomorrow, and it is best if we are more rational than sentimental. Although, reason is Hellenistic and emotion is Africa, but we should start applying rationality as much as Westerners are also applying sentimentality. When Saddam was toppled, no one remembered anymore the man called Mr. 5 percent (real name Calouste Sarkis) the Turk who founded Iraqi Petroleum and was agreed to be given 5% royalty on every drop, resulting to his nickname.

Mr.5% died in 1955 and passed this royalty to his son Nubar. But 17 years later, Saddam seized Nubar’s right of 5% in the name of the Baarth party,assumed custody of the account, and shared signature of authority with defence minister Adnan Khairallah and petroleum minister Adnan Hamdani. In 1979, Saddam ordered the execution of his friend, Hamdani, and ten years after that killing, Khairallah died in a mysterious helicopter crash.

Meanwhile the money had climbed to $92million in 1973, by 1974 it was 327 million dollars. By the Iraq-Iran war it was 1.69 billion, in 1995, it was 32 billion dollars. Only one mad now had access to that account, Saddam Hussein, who was also able to build himself a chariot of solid gold. Saddam’s son, Qusay withdrew $900 million in the last days of Saddam’s regime and tried to smuggle it into Syria to escape allied forces. another $600million was found in one of Saddam’s palaces, and $ioo million with 90million euros were stacked in armored vehicles, along with gold worth half a billion dollars.

No matter how much a dictator portrays himself, the fact that no one can question him gives him the privilege to stash accounts that cannot be queried. Gaddafi did well in Libya, but fact is a dictator is a dictator. We have gone past the eras of kings and queens, and even the British monarchy is just charade. Time also has come to go beyond dictators in Africa.

The AU must wake up to its responsibilities and stop rulers who may be using military forces to quell insurrections, this will not make us looklike weaklings in Africa who always wait for the UN or NATO to come wipe our butt-holes after we have taken a dump. Let us say it as it is; as long as it is easy for even the ordinary black man who just wants to blame someone for his failure will keep fingerpointing the cause of his woes to the west, let us not mince words too about those who are not making Africa  go into the new future, whther they are African leaders or Arab leaders. Criticism should be objective.

We are too quick to always see the good in questionable leaders and trying to make excuses for their flaws, when we always want to see bad, bad, bad, no matter what about the west, yet overlook the bad, bad, bad in those we think are fighting for our future when actually they are trying to turn themselves into demi-Gods (note the absence of small letter g) and install their sons after them, like Zeus on Mount Olympus.

I love Mugabe, but he is becoming as ancient as a dinosaur and should not in his myopia sit so tight he will forget that it was better building another pan-African youth leader to rule after him, or else, when he dies, the West will simply sneak in like a fox slinking towards the door to the coop left open by the farmer.

Is there a Moses to take Africa to the Promised Land?

When Nkrumah was proposing a Unites States of Africa in the sixties, many thought he had hidden agenda to become overall dictator of Africa. However, countires like Nigeria were able to make it clear that Africa with her diverse cultures and peoples was not ready for an instantaneous unification in those days.

Indeed, regional consolidation of the constituent states was a better option that would gradually lead to total unification of Africa. Only this week was the President of Benin Republic advocating this to former Nigerian president Obasanjo, on the need to dismantle the artificial borders separating the ECOWAS states.

French and English should be compulsorily taught in every school within the ECOWAS sub-regions. This would gradually either bring about Franglais or more social integration of peoples in the Anglophone and Francophone states of ECOWAS.

Economically, there would be movement of goods and services across these states without the incumbrances of tariffs and high custom duties, this however should not negate effective policing to curb the movement of light arms from weapon-flooded warsites like Liberia and Cote D’Ivoire into an overpopulated state like Nigeria which will make good haven for criminals.

The chairman of the ECOWAS should gradually be given more power, and even as the states operate with their presidents, the ECOWAS chairman takes decision on trade and other administrative responsibilities that will slowly evolve the region into having its own ECO currency, parliament (which though is already in existence) and a common army.

The African Union should take a cue from the existence of these regional organizations and also work towards their integration. So far, the AU has done fairly well in responding to Somalia but half a million dollars is too little a contribution from a 54-member state like the AU. Dictators like president of Equitorial Guinea who is embarrassingly the Chairman of AU would not feel the pinch if half a million dollars was taken from his loot hidden overseas.

There are resources in the mines of Zimbabwe, resources in the fertility of African soil, resources in the oil wells of Angola, resources in the cassava, palm oil, uranium of South Africa, IT-know how, technocrats etc, that each state of Africa could use to complement one another. Moreover, imagine what it would be if your product or services could be patronized by at least 200 million people without border tariffs (this is the secret of the capitalist strength of the Unites States home market and the Empire days of the United Kingdom when it controlled the slave and colonial markets extensively)

Africa is not too big to have a unified government even as the various states ran their internal administration. It is a long time Africa had visionary leaders like those fathers of nationalism, from Oliver Thambo, Kenneth Kaunda, Senghor and the living legend Mandela, where are the reincarnated souls sprouting again, where are the visionary leaders to take us to the promised land of our fathers.

As individuals however, let us do everything we do with the idealist state of a United Africa in mind. I am from the country called Africa, from the state of Nigeria. Where are you from?

What is the African’s most dangerous weapon?

A journalist wrote in Lagos in the 1890s, “The Maxim-gun inspires the most profound respect.” The invention of this dreaded weapon hastened the fall of a lot of African kingdoms during the pre-colonial days that were prelude to the sovereignty of most African states.

Another European poet wrote of the power wielded by this machine-gun, “Whatever happens we have got the Maxim-gun and they have not.” Thus it was easy for Europeans armies of 2000 or less defeating African armies of 20,000 or more. However, it was not all easy sail to European armies despite this gun.

When the British government declared war on the Zulus, the plan was usual. Send in a force armed with machine guns and rifles and destroy the native army. Knowing the Zulu army had no cavalry and mostly armed with spears  and a few guns gave the British army confidence of defeating the natives.

Colonel Durnford was placed in charge of an army of 1800 men and stationed in Isandlwana. However, despite the declaration of war, the Zulu army was somewhat elusive and seemed to be avoiding battle. Except for British scouts spotting cattle herders and few men, there was no Zulu army out to face the Brits.

The British saw nothing on the plains until suddenly, a scout saw a few Zulus herding cattle then decided to give chase. But the Zulus again disappeared. The scout rode his horse to the point where the Zulus had vanished and saw a ravine hidden from the surface. And then he saw crowded in the ravine were Zulu warriors in full war regalia. The scout fled back to the rest of his men and the Zulus began to clamber out of the ravine to the surface.

The Brit army saw a long line of Zulus charging at them – about twenty thousand strong. From the British position it was clear the Zulus were moving in a formation like a horn. The boulders and tall grasses provided cover for the advancing warriors as they charged in bands and then disappear, charge and then disappear, all the while approaching despite the British guns roaring at them.

What Colonel Durnford and his men did not see as they were busy with the charging Zulu line, was that, the edges of the Zulu line was like the curved tips of a buffalo’s horn, and gradually circling them as the tip closed in with the men using grasses and rocks as cover.

The colonel did not understand the Zulu’s fighting strategy of the ‘O’, which can be broken down into the horn, the chest and the loins. The chest was the central part of the fighting line, which would keep the enemy busy by facing it; the horns at either side of the line would move into the sides and rear of the enemy to encircle it, even though one of the tip would stay hidden while only one worked the enemy force into the unseen ‘O’, the sudden onslaught of the hidden tip would catch the enemy totally unaware to complete the encirclement. While the loin was the reserved force, whereby the men often stood with their backs to the battle to prevent them excitedly rushing into battle the wrong moment.

Colonel Durnford and his men were late in seeing the trap. They had been shooting the Zulus like it was target practice and not noticed the circle. By the time the horn closed in on them, they began to fight desperately to break out of the circle. Colonel Durnford with 1500 of his men were killed. It was such a devastating blow to the Brit that they completely pulled out of Zululand and for several months did not attempt to relaunch the war.

In Ancient Egypt, Medjay-Nubians were the main force of the Egypt army and very skilled in archery. Models of this elite force were found in the tomb of a governor of the 11th dynasty, armed with arrows and bows to escort the governor to the great beyond (as the Egyptians believed in life after death). There are also relief pictures of Nubian warriors with axes and arrows on the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut.

When King Cambyses of Persia invaded Lower Egypt (modern north Egypt), he was warned by the Negus of Ethiopia not to advance southwards into Upper Egypt. He refused the warning and was badly defeated making him restrict Persian occupation of Egypt to the Lower parts. Alexander the Great did not bother extending Greek occupation southwards after receiving the same warning as Cambyses. When the Arabs came and had conquered Byzantine Egypt in March 641, they tried to extend southwards too, but the Nubian kingdom of Makuria (north of modern Khartoum in North Sudan) gave them bloody noses in two bloody battles. The Arabs then settled for a systematic spreading of their religion into the Sudan.

The United States would not easily forget Somalia in the early nineties when Mohammed Farrah turned the city against the US army, resulting to America’s subsequent hesitation in occupying warring countries without adequate resources. The Nigerian army in the nineties brought in another side to peacekeeping through peace enforcement by successfully quelling fierce civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone . International observers learned from those missions that sometimes rather than watch another Rwanda, peace enforcement could be a better option.

Africans embody the warrior spirit. Given the same material resources like their western counterparts, the Nigeria army – at least – have the reputation of exceptional abilities in combat or professionalism. St. Paul’s Bridge blown apart by Taylor’s rebels during the battle for Monrovia was repaired by the Nigerian Army Engineering corps and the bridge is still in use even after the war. The blood runs in us like the Nile, Limpopo and Zambezi run in the veins of the continent. However, that warrior spirit today should be transformed… transformed into resourcefulness.

Education is the weapon and our human resources the army. Hightime our universities became attractive. More Philip Emegwalis, more Charles Soludo, more Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and more Wagai Maathari. Like the warrior’s weapon would be a symbol of warning to the enemy so should we probably wear T-shirts saying… Warning, I can kill you with my brain!

WHAT ERODED AFRICA: SLAVERY OR COLONIALISM?

Between slavery and colonialism, we lost our way as a race in the corridor of history. Between millions shipped off our shores and the entire race under the jackboot regime of colonialism; we lost something, a legacy that still needs to be found.

 William Wilberforce was not a member of the Parliament or cabinet but he seemed to wield great power over public opinion, and his views on politics and morals were heeded by many. He was in demand on the committees of many groups and as well at the dinner tables of hosts.

By now as well, the men with connections and associates in parliament began to rally round, too. Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp were on the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. While Sharp was the scholar, Clarkson was the man of action. Of course, there was also the Quakers also in the call.

The abolitionists cause did not stop the slave trade which still persisted for long; the slave trade simply died off. We today do not have to wait to be told to stop buying monochrome (black and white) television, we just stopped buying because it was no longer  en vogue. With the war between France and England, price on sugar went up to fund the war and the duty imposed on sugar was not reduced long after the war. And when sugar started coming from voyagers from India which came cheaper.  Labor in India was paid and cost lesser than maintaining slaves in the Indies.

 

Adam Smith, the economist had warned: “… the work done by slaves though appears to cost only their maintenance in in the end the dearest of any. A person who can acquire no property can have no other interest but to eat as much and to labor as little as possible. Whatever work he does beyond what is sufficient to purchase his maintenance can be squeezed out of him by violence only and not by any interest of his own.”

Over time, the struggle for abolition crept into literature, for as anyone knows, Literature can be defined as a mirror of the society. This mirror reflected the plight of the slaves in the plantations; however, the plays took another dimension. For as the call went on and nothing active was done, a self-consciousness crept in and there was the loss of innocence and sentiment that initially rallied for the abolition. The black man became the comic relief, as the comedies portrayed his illiterate position in the plantations. The picture of the black man was no longer a tragedy or satire, but totally a comedy.

Dr. George Pinckard, a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians published in 1806 an account of his sojourn in theWest Indies, which an abolitionist called James Stephen approved. Pinckard saw slavery at first hand and wrote: “the whole was wrong and not to be justified… nature revolted at it; and I condemned the whole system of slavery under all its forms…” however, still unable to see the black man as his equal, he further wrote, “In the gloomy imbecility of their uncultivated faculties they would be jealous of the whites…. To give them unbridled liberty… they would either murder every white or sink into the torpid states of their darker brethren of the African forests, and relapse into a state of rude and savage nature.”

With the demand for African colonization underway because of the further discoveryAfrica’s mineral wealth and other European powers jostling for territorial expansion by acquiring colonies, European-African relations took a new turn. By now the anti-slavery crusade had secured for Britain Sierra Leone, thanks to the effort of Granville Sharp, Gambia and the Gold Coast. Portugal and Britain were the biggest slave-trading nations. With the Berlin Conference of dividing Africa among European powers, Britain used its abolotionist struggles as excuse to influence gaining more territories in the Conference; hence Europe was back in the business of – not slave trade directly – but indirectly exploiting the blacks.

And so they came. To them, the uncultured Africans did not have nation states, the uncultured Africans did not have administration to run his own system of government, the uncultured Africans could trade or produce, the uncultured African natives were savages who resided on trees and caves, like orangutangs. With the guns in their hands, the colonialists were right behind the explorers and missionaries who were taking advantage of their new colonies to spread their faith or establish offshoots.

Again, the whites found these barbarous blacks later excelling in education and even going abroad for studies. Thus education and religion became tools to make Englishmen or Frenchmen (as the case may be) out of Africans. Today, Africa is struggling to catch up with the rest of the world; not because other nations did not go through evolving stages of development, but more because other nations have built their economies and social development from their system.

Our system is nothing but the extension of the West. This does not mean China or India do not use Blackberries or have nuclear programs, but these things are built with an eye for local development in their relation with the world. It is not the slave trade that ruined Africa, colonialism has caused more death to the race. Our economy has become so porous that it has been dominated by foreign imports of goods and services, which is not giving room for local markets.

Where is the Ghanaian Kwente cloth? How come palm wine is still only drunk in villages? What happened to herbal medicine? Why do we have to be afraid of being criticized of believing in Ifa? Where are our local manufacturers in international trade? Why do we brand ourselves Peter and Ali when they will never bear Glele or Taiwo?

Let the renaissance start inside your head and this will permeate to the people around us…. so that we will have good company around us. In good company our journey is short to find the legacy lost to the erosion of colonialism.

WHAT ARE OUR ECONOMIC CHANCES IN AFRICA?

There had been several attempts since Nkrumah’s time when African leaders tried to merge into alliances and unions. There was the Ghana-Guinea-Mali Union which broke up when Nkrumah and Modibo Keita of Mali were removed from power by coup plotters.

 

There was also the preceeding Mali federation of Senegal, Mali (which was Sudan during the alliance), Upper Volta and Dahomey (Benin Republic now). But both withdrew from the federation scheme leaving only Senegal and Sudan (Mali). But that too became stillborn when problem began over who would be the federation’s president. And so, Mali went off then to join the earlier mentioned Guinea-Ghana-Mali Union.

 

This was then followed by a division of African states into two opposing groups: the Casablanca group, which consists of radical states like Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Algeria and Egypt and the other group was the Monrovia caucus which includes almost all the Francophone states (except Mali and Guinea), Liberia and Nigeria.

 

The Casablanca group were proposing an immediate and strong political union in Africa while the Monrovia group favored a loose association of independent states. Nigeria stated during conferences held at Addis Ababa in the early sixties that the proposed political union was too premature and there was need to prepare the minds of the different peoples and states, to ensure gradual development that will not cause paranoia of the respective countries surrendering their sovereignty.

 

Soon Sekou Toure of Guinea and President Nasser of Egypt began to work with the Monrovia group and Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, which finally resulted in the birth of the Organization of African Unity in May 1963. Now reformed into the new African Union.

 

Over the years however, it became clear that a loose federation must precede strong political union. And this again gave birth to ECOWAS and other regional bodies in Africa. ECOWAS (west) is the strongest of of ECCAS (central African states) or SADC (Southern Africa Development Community). But all these regional organization would be of no value unless Africa starts having its own market. African states should not sell goods they do not produce, or this will cotinually kill our own industries and render our resources under-utilized. African states need to stop being dumping sites for foreign manufacturers at the detriment of our own local manufacturers.

 

Recently, Nigeria’s Central Bank governor, Lamido Sanusi was asked by the IMF to increase interest rates. Sanusi refused. Increasing interest rates would have attracted multi-national investors into Nigeria alright, but this would have affected our local producers who would depend on loans from banks to run their businesses.

 

In 2008 26 African countries who are member states in subregional organizations like the EAC east Africa), SADC and COMESA (common markets of east and southern Africa, came together to begin the proposal of merging into one trading bloc. Eriya Kategaya, Uganda’s Minister for the EAC said, “The best strategy is to consolidate regional integration and use regional economic communities as a building bloc towards an eventual AU government…”

 

The new AU was reformed to promote democratic principles in the continent. Although Africa has been talking democracy now for more than a decade but the AU declaration on democracy, good governance and human rights is very essential. Nothing can be achieved in an atmosphere of terror or overlordship, there must be room for democratic watchdogs.

 

A new wave of democratic reform is sweeping Africa as we still see in the toppling of archaic regimes in North Africa, unpopular leadership in Ivory Coast and drastic reduction in rigging elections in Nigeria and Kenya.

 

There is still more to be done of course, for Rome was not built in a day. African leaders need to be more responsible and followers need to be more civic. Nigeria has a lot to do in its hegemony as one of Africa’s most powerful countries. Democracy is fresh in the country after long years of mismanagement in the hands of the military.

 

Electricity is a major challenge for the new government, for this is one thing that would encourage local manufacturers… every Nigerian is a businessman. Electric power, solid banking system and teeming human resources (market foreigners are exploiting), not to mention the vast resources available in nature makes Nigeria a country too rich to be called poor, yet too poor to be called rich.

 

In the Second Republic government of Shagari, early 1980s. Shagari had set up task forces on “importation” – not production, of rice! This myopic “let-us-enjoy-because-we-have-the-money” crass policy should not be encouraged by government. But most of all what do you (if u are reading this) have to offer the country, do not wait for things to happen before you set your ball in motion, what can you offer? Do not just build another man’s business as a salaried earner, run your own business alongside, you never can tell who the next Microsoft- or Walmart-like builder is going to be

 

America was a country teeming with poverty and vast slums, where anyone could do anything to survive; this attracted poor migrants from all over Europe giving birth to the Mafia, businessmen, the literati, inventors who had no money except their dreams. Today, the spirit of be-what-you-can built the nation, the nation did not build them. China is another example on the opposite side; although Communistic country, but the state ran the manufacturing sector of the country, growing from a peasant economy into a world power.

 

I could still remember in the 1990s when Chinese goods were scorned and laughed at because they were outright fake…today? the story is different.

Nigeria is a nest of singing eggs, poised to hatch, and the renaissance sweeping Africa like a ghost haunting bad leadership in this era of facebook activists and media furor. Think of something, an idea, and stick to it, no matter the odds stacked against you… Africa needs you whether at home or diaspora. Think Africa….there is a market waiting to be tapped.