Can Nigeria learn anything from the Scottish Referendum?
Cornelius Hamelberg
John Mbaku
In updating my blog about the results of the Scottish Independence Referendum I inevitably thought of the case of Nigeria and Biafra - if those who want to secede have the right to do so peacefully...
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Anunoby, Ogugua
One commodity that is in abundant supply in the U.K. and in short supply in African countries, is goodwill. The British people understand that remaining part of the U.K has to be the choice of the Scottish people. They respect that choice. Understanding like this is not shared all over the world. It is not just an African problem. Remember India/Pakistan (Kashmir), Yugoslavia, Turkey (the Kurds), and Indonesia among others? One better not recall Nigeria where they even came up with a slogan- “To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done” without thinking through why the task is worth the trouble and other costs?
Anyone who followed the U.K. referendum debates would have heard and appreciated the arguments made for and against Scottish independence. The better arguments (economics, nation gravitas) prevailed in my opinion. Goodwill helped to ensure that the system allowed the law to inform the process. The law was put to good and effective use. The Scottish parliament requested a referendum. The parliament in London granted it. The rest of the U.K. neither threatened nor military attacked Scotland. The Prime Minister in London appointed a date. Both sides in the fight made their case to the Scottish people. The people voted. The outcome was a “No” vote. The outcome is respected. The Scottish First Minister’s following the loss resigned. He, remaining in office was no longer tenable. A “Yes” vote would have meant the Prime minister resignation for the same reason.
The U.K. like Canada and Czechoslovakian before her, has set another standard for the world on the matter of self-determination. It was known that a forced marriage is most likely to be an unhappy marriage. The people want their country to work. They do not desire to live in a country with a nation of a majority of unwilling citizens. There are some who take offense when some countries are called advance democracies. The example set by the U.K. is one reason why.
Should it not be a matter of great concern that people are fighting and dying to preserve African countries clobbered together by colonial powers for their benefit? I mean countries that do not work, are unlikely to do so any time soon, and produce leaders who do not want their country to work as the countries should?
The British Historian David Reynolds proposed that a nation may be a civic nation- based on institutions, laws, and sense of community, or an ethnic nation- based on common ancestral origin and culture. Most African countries are neither. Can African countries be more successful countries? Yes of course. They must have produce leaders who will work to ensure this success. Such a leadership should know when remaining one country may be no use in the long term. Those who have heads, let them use them.
oa
Cornelius Hamelberg
Lord Ogugua Anunoby,
(Please accept the respectful honorific)
In 1981 the Federation comprised nineteen states. Based on the reality that at that time Rivers State was producing 56% of Nigeria’s oil revenue which was fuelling the Federal budget, Senator Francis Ellah (Umoku, Ekpeye District) was able to come to a just and equitable mathematical distribution of budget allocations by creating thirteen states out of what was then Rivers State...
All said and done if the Federal Government went ahead and started granting people the right to hold referendums with a view to secession, then in no time at all there would be no Nigeria left – I think that everybody would secede.
Are we not to assume that the major ethnic enclaves in Nigeria would want to hold their own referendum? I guess that there would be some rigging and other fraudulent activities that would either deliver or sabotage the intended results – a referendum as an internal affair would probably produce the results intended by those who want to hold a referendum - and in Igboland, given such a democratic opportunity to determine their own future, WHY shouldn’t the Igbo people with all of their bitter historic experience not vote overwhelming to obtain Biafra by civilised, peaceful means?
As you mentioned,
“The Scottish parliament requested a referendum. The parliament in London granted it. The rest of the U.K. neither threatened nor militarily attacked Scotland.”
I guess that if Nigerians has that kind of democratic option and say, my Kalabari brother Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo happens to be Rivers State’s First Minister or Governor, he would be one of the very first people to be applying for a Federal permit for his nation to hold a referendum, in order to nationalise or Ijaw-ize all 56% of the Niger oil on his side of the state border.
We should take the goodwill of his people as for granted.
And you know as well as I do that what is usually referred to as “The North” - the landlocked north, would not permit that such a thing should happen. Swifter than an eagle, Boko Haram – and not only the forces of Boko Haram would be paddling their canoes in the Riverine areas fighting “ to keep Nigeria United”
Over here too, Sweden and Norway were one country and are now two countries, at peace with each other.
Sincerely,
CH
Cornelius Hamelberg
Lord Ogugua Anunoby,
(Please accept the respectful honorific)
In 1981 the Federation comprised nineteen states. Based on the reality that at that time Rivers State was producing 56% of Nigeria’s oil revenue which was fuelling the Federal budget, Senator Francis Ellah (Umoku, Ekpeye District) was able to come to a just and equitable mathematical distribution of budget allocations by creating thirteen states out of what was then Rivers State...
All said and done if the Federal Government went ahead and started granting people the right to hold referendums with a view to secession, then in no time at all there would be no Nigeria left – I think that everybody would secede.
Are we not to assume that the major ethnic enclaves in Nigeria would want to hold their own referendum? I guess that there would be some rigging and other fraudulent activities that would either deliver or sabotage the intended results – a referendum as an internal affair would probably produce the results intended by those who want to hold a referendum - and in Igboland, given such a democratic opportunity to determine their own future, WHY shouldn’t the Igbo people with all of their bitter historic experience not vote overwhelming to obtain Biafra by civilised, peaceful means?
As you mentioned,
“The Scottish parliament requested a referendum. The parliament in London granted it. The rest of the U.K. neither threatened nor militarily attacked Scotland.”
I guess that if Nigerians has that kind of democratic option and say, my Kalabari brother Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo happens to be Rivers State’s First Minister or Governor, he would be one of the very first people to be applying for a Federal permit for his nation to hold a referendum, in order to nationalise or Ijaw-ize all 56% of the Niger oil on his side of the state border.
We should take the goodwill of his people as for granted.
And you know as well as I do that what is usually referred to as “The North” - the landlocked north, would not permit that such a thing should happen. Swifter than an eagle, Boko Haram – and not only the forces of Boko Haram would be paddling their canoes in the Riverine areas fighting “ to keep Nigeria United”
Over here too, Sweden and Norway were one country and are now two countries, at peace with each other.
Sincerely,
CH
On Saturday, 20 September 2014 02:07:33 UTC+2, Anunoby, Ogugua wrote:
Anunoby, Ogugua
My dear Cornelius,
“And you know as well as I do that what is usually referred to as “The North” - the landlocked north, would not permit that such a thing should happen. Swifter than an eagle, Boko Haram – and not only the forces of Boko Haram would be paddling their canoes in the Riverine areas fighting “ to keep Nigeria United”
I do not. Are you suggesting that a forced unhappy marriage is better than a freely entered, happy marriage? I remind you that both Chad and the Niger Republics to the north of Nigeria are landlocked. They are more peaceful countries than Nigeria is today. Being landlocked is not the problem you suggest it might be. Boko Haram does not want a united Nigeria. Boko Haram wants a Nigeria Boko Haram will dominate.
Your hero Awolowo himself called Nigeria “a geographical expression”. His preference seemed to be an O’dua republic. He is right to the extent that Nigeria was put together by Great Britain (no consultation or consent of the people), did not seem to be working for a majority of Nigerians in his opinion, and is neither a “civic” nor an “ethnic” nation? If Nigerians however as Azikiwe believed, take advantage of the natural advantages of this creature, leverage to its strengths, de-emphasize her weaknesses, and together build a great achieving society, Nigeria will cease to be a geographical expression that Awolowo said she was.
Have you bothered to ask yourself why Nigeria’s wholeness has remained an enduring question for many Nigerians and non-Nigerians? Is it not about time Nigeria’s unity is a settled subject? Would you answer truthfully? Is the Boko Haram insurgency not evidence that Nigeria as she presently operates, may not be working for some Muslims?
You see countries do not exist for their own sake. Countries should be purposive creations. They should promise and deliver synergistic benefits to the vast majority of their citizens. The “NO’ vote in Scotland is elegant evidence of this assertion. A majority of Scots believe that their lives and their children’s, will be better if Scotland remained a part of the U.K. The U.K to a majority of Scots promises more and better than an independent Scotland at this time. Importantly, independence for Scotland was not a reason to go to war.
oa
oa
oa
Ibukunolu A Babajide
John,
Should like not be treated as like? Is the UK historically and politically the same as the African countries where agitation exist?
Failure to identify the differences suggest lazy thinking and failure to appreciate the underlying economic order and the political dynamics that keep politically charged units together or apart.
Once you start a process similar to the referendum in Scotland you will unleash an irreversible balkanization of African states whose current boundaries are weak and arbitrary and you may discover that over a thousand years of misery and uncertainty may be unwittingly unleashed.
EUROPE is not AFRICA and Scotland within the United Kingdom has no comparative in Africa.
Cheers.
IBK
Emeagwali, Gloria (History)
“The rest of the U.K. neither threatened nor militarily attacked Scotland.”
Westminster did not threaten with arms but used fear tactics about the economy to scare the Scottish nationalists.
They were warned that the new country would have to pay part of the national debt and would face financial
roadblocks with respect to their national currency. Banks and other financial institutions also threatened to withdraw
from Scotland. It is not clear whether the government had a hand in this but the prospect of economic doom
certainly scared a lot of the folks who were sitting on the fence before then.
Prof Gloria Emeagwali
History Department
CCSU
Fight Ebola
Cornelius Hamelberg
Lord Ogugua Anunoby,
Your dear Cornelius must confess that it's a relief that you do not share his prejudices about Nigeria. Those prejudices are easily arrived at except for those who are immune / immunized against such prejudices.
Mind you, some of the prejudice/ wisdom is born of experience, such as there is a section of Igbos who are fanatically Christian, such as that the self- righteous followers of Jesus nearly drowned me in that river in Umuahia with “a full immersion baptism”, such as that all the habitués at The White House in Owerri where Dr. Sir Warrior & the Oriental Brothers used to keep the night birds happy till the wee hours) that they (without exception) believed that “Hausa man” is synonymous with or a code word for Muslim.
Many years ago I met a Hausaman, a “Rev. Mohammed” here in Stockholm; he was doing some research at the political science department, Stockholm University, under the tutelage of my dear friend Professor Björn Beckman. So I do know that there are exceptions to the rule. But Rev + Mohammed is an anomaly and a contradiction in terms, I told him; how can they live together in peace and harmony? Do your Muslim brothers and sisters not get offended up there in Kano, after all Muhammed is not a Christian name, abi? The real question of course is, that
“Ebony and Ivory live together in
perfect harmony
side by side on my piano keyboard, Oh Lord, why don't we?”
I'm impressed that far beyond prejudice you have a vision, an end goal in sight, namely that we shall, “together build a great achieving society”
I seriously suggest that you start writing some of the good luck speeches.
Your words: “...countries do not exist for their own sake. Countries should be purposive creations. They should promise and deliver synergistic benefits to the vast majority of their citizens.” – concur with the first paragraph of Shaykh AbdalQadir al-Sufi HERE
Everyone knows that the main problem is the ethnic complexity / diversity of the amalgamation called Nigeria, born as recently as 1914. As we know, some people have been around for a very long time. It reminds me of Chaim Weizmann quipping with Lord Arthur Balfour who wanted to offer the twelve tribes of Israel and their descendants (Uganda?) as the Almighty’s Promised Land :
“Weizmann tried to explain why the Zionists could not accept a home anywhere but Jerusalem.”Suppose," he said, "I were to offer you Paris instead of London." "But, Dr Weizmann, we have London," Balfour replied. "That is true," Weizmann said, "but we had Jerusalem when London was a marsh."
"Are there many Jews who think like you?" wondered Balfour. "I believe I speak the minds of millions of Jews," replied Weizmann. "It is curious," Balfour remarked, "the Jews I meet are quite different." "Mr Balfour," said Weizmann, "you meet the wrong kind of Jews." (Others meet the wrong kind of Yoruba)
Islam says that God made people in various tribes and nations, so that we would get to know each other – but even as the population of Nigeria gets to the 180 million mark bear in mind the meanings of dar-al harb and dar al Islam
Indeed Sir, “Is the Boko Haram insurgency not evidence that Nigeria as she presently operates, may not be working for some Muslims?” As you notice it’s not only Nigeria that’s suffering carnage at the hands of Muslims. There’s Iraq, Syria, Libya, and they’re getting a little more agitated in Judea and Samaria too.
Meanwhile, the devils in Boko Haram will triumphantly assert, that Islam’s prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) is “a mercy to the world“ but at the same time they would tremble or maybe not tremble if this question were to be posed by the one they refer to as Allah subhan t’ala: Why are you so mercilessly killing your own people?
The reason why if e.g. Rivers State seceded ( by referendum) not only Boko Haram but other parts of Nigeria would be paddling their canoes and fighting in the creeks of the Delta Niger "to keep Nigeria United" – is not only because (like Ethiopia) they too would like to have access to the Sea, the main reason is that they depend on the oil revenues to finance all the development programmes that are needed, especially in Northern Nigeria - because by definition, the oil belongs to the whole nation...
The Scottish referendum is a facile example readily at hand now a fact of history to be summoned by Catalonia, Quebec, and a fate that could have been averted by Biafra, South Sudan. “Why can’t we be like Scotland?” In that respect I presume that the Igbo , the Yoruba, the Hausa, the Fulani, the IJaw, Efik, Ogoni have a strong identity, a shared language, culture, history. I visit the Biafra sites from time to time and these days I hear the words of First Minister Alex Salmond breaking into my ears: “..let us not dwell on the distance we have fallen short, let us dwell on the distance we have travelled and have confidence the movement is abroad in Scotland that will take this nation forward and we shall go forward as one nation.”
Sincerely,
CH
( We Sweden )
Ibukunolu A Babajide
Anunoby,
The wholeness of any political entity is always an issue. Some contest land with the Igwe of your fictitious autonomous community just as Texas wants to stand alone as a country and by the way Texas is bigger in size than Nigeria. Quebec wants out of Canada and so on and so forth. Trust me it will not happen in our lifetimes.
Cheers.
IBK
kenneth harrow
consider how many died in sudan. was it up to 4 million people? before finally s sudan became a separate state.
there is something about the nation state that fosters extreme violence. we need to step back a second and consider whether it merits our undevoted acceptance of it as a normal entity
ken
-- kenneth w. harrow faculty excellence advocate professor of english michigan state university department of english 619 red cedar road room C-614 wells hall east lansing, mi 48824 ph. 517 803 8839 har...@msu.edu
kenneth harrow
ken
Anunoby, Ogugua
Is a presumed “scare” a scare if it is factual?
Anunoby, Ogugua
Is “irreversible balkanization” of African states justification enough for the poverty, misery, and death that Africans continue to endure?
Is it the case that national boundaries are weak partly because they are arbitrary?
oa
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Ibukunolu A Babajide
Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2014 8:06 AM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Can Nigeria learn anything from the Scottish Referendum?
John,
Anunoby, Ogugua
Anunoby, Ogugua
“Everyone knows that the main problem is the ethnic complexity / diversity of the amalgamation called Nigeria, born as recently as 1914.”
A challenge without a solution is not a problem in my opinion. A challenge is a problem when it has a solution- can be resolved satisfactorily. You say that “the ethnic complexity / diversity” is Nigeria’s main problem. Let’s say that is correct. So what is your solution to this “main problem”? Would the solution be deepening/worsening the complexity/diversity? Would it be forever living with the problem- accept it as a condition of existence? Is the cost to country and citizens of the problem not too high already? You just think about the loss of lives and fortune that has been endured.
I am more inclined to think that Nigeria’s problem is the absence of a “sense of national purpose” for lack of a more diligent phrase. There are too many divergent, (perhaps irreconcilable) views on what the country should be about. I am not proposing 100 percent unanimity I might add. It seems to me that until there is less divergence and therefore more convergence of views, the benefits of citizenship will more likely remain a forlorn hope for a majority of citizens.
The promissory note (to borrow a great man’s words) Nigerians were given at independence is still outstanding. The worry for many Nigerians is that it may never mature. I believe that it would mature if all essential hands are on deck, working assiduously to actualize that expectation.
Every country is a patch-work of land and people put together by one or more founders. Nigeria’s problem is not that it was sewn together by a colonial power. her problem it seems to me, is that Nigerians have been unable to reach a consensus on some fundamentals of statehood, respect them, and build on them for the benefit of the largest number.
oa
oa
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Cornelius Hamelberg
Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2014 11:02 AM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Can Nigeria learn anything from the Scottish Referendum?
Lord Ogugua Anunoby,
Your dear Cornelius must confess that it's a relief that you do not share his prejudices about Nigeria. Those prejudices are easily arrived at except for those who are immune / immunized against such prejudices.
Mind you, some of the prejudice/ wisdom is born of experience, such as there is a section of Igbos who are fanatically Christian, such as that the self- righteous followers of Jesus nearly drowned me in that river in Umuahia with “a full immersion baptism”, such as that all the habitués at The White House in Owerri where Dr. Sir Warrior & the Oriental Brothers used to keep the night birds happy till the wee hours) that they (without exception) believed that “Hausa man” is synonymous with or a code word for Muslim.
Many years ago I met a Hausaman, a “Rev. Mohammed” here in Stockholm; he was doing some research at the political science department, Stockholm University, under the tutelage of my dear friend Professor Björn Beckman. So I do know that there are exceptions to the rule. But Rev + Mohammed is an anomaly and a contradiction in terms, I told him; how can they live together in peace and harmony? Do your Muslim brothers and sisters not get offended up there in Kano, after all Muhammed is not a Christian name, abi? The real question of course is, that
“Ebony and Ivory live together in perfect harmony
side by side on my piano keyboard, Oh Lord, why don't we?”
I'm impressed that far beyond prejudice you have a vision, an end goal in sight, namely that we shall, “together build a great achieving society”
I seriously suggest that you start writing some of the good luck speeches.
Your words: “...countries do not exist for their own sake. Countries should be purposive creations. They should promise and deliver synergistic benefits to the vast majority of their citizens.” – concur with the first paragraph of Shaykh AbdalQadir al-Sufi HERE
As we know, some people have been around for a very long time. It reminds me of Chaim Weizmann quipping with Lord Arthur Balfour who wanted to offer the twelve tribes of Israel and their descendants (Uganda?) as the Almighty’s Promised Land :
Chika Onyeani
Yes, all arrangements are a go for the African Union Commission Chairperson, Her Excellency Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to take the center stage and address the African world community, from U.S., Europe, Africa, Caribbean, South America, Canada. She is going to be taking questions from Africans from all over the world.
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AGENDA 2063
Date: 24 January 2063
To: Kw...@iamafrican.com
From: Nkos...@confedafrica.gov
Subject: African Unity
My dear friend Kwame,
Greetings to the family and friends, and good health and best wishes for 2063.
I write to you from the beautiful Ethiopian city of Bahir Dar, located on Lake Tana, as we finalize preparations for the Centenary celebrations of the Organisation of African Unity, which evolved to the African Union in 2002 and laid the foundations for what is now our Confederation of African States (CAS).
Yes, who would have thought that the dream of Kwame Nkrumah and his generations, when they called in 1963 on Africans to unite or perish, would one day become a reality. And what a grand reality.
At the beginning of the twenty first century, we used to get irritated with foreigners when they treated Africa as one country: as if we were not a continent of over a billion people and 55 sovereign states! But, the advancing global trend towards regional blocks, reminded us that integration and unity is the only way for Africa to leverage its competitive advantage.
In fact, if Africa was one country in 2006, we would have been the 10th largest economy in the world! However, instead of acting as one, with virtually every resource in the world (land, oceans, minerals, energy, forests) and over a billion people, we acted as fifty-five small and fragmented individual countries.
The bigger countries that should have been the locomotives of African integration, failed to play their role at that time, and that is part of the reasons it took us so long. We did not realize our power, but instead relied on donors, that we euphemistically called partners.
That was the case in 2013, but reality finally dawned and we had long debates about the form that our unity should take: confederation, a united states, a federation or a union.
As you can see, my friend, those debates are over and the Confederation of African States is now twelve years old, launched in 2051.
The role played by successive generations of African youth contributed to our success. Already in 2013 during the Golden Jubilee celebrations, it was the youth that loudly questioned the slow progress towards integration.
They formed African Union Clubs in schools and universities across the continent, and linked with each other on social media. Thus we saw the grand push for integration, for the free movement of people, for harmonization of education and professional qualifications, with the Pan African University and indeed the university sector and intelligentsia playing an instrumental role.
We were a youthful continent at the start of the 21st century, but as our youth bulge grew, young men and women became even more active, creative, impatient and assertive, often telling us oldies that they are the future, and that they (together with women) form the largest part of the electorates in all our countries!
Of course this was but one of the drivers towards unity. The accelerated implementation of the Abuja Treaty and the creation of the African Economic Community by 2034 saw economic integration moved to unexpected levels.
Economic integration, coupled with infrastructure development, saw intra-Africa trade mushrooming, from less than 12% in 2013 to approaching 50% by 2045. This integration was further consolidated with the growth of commodity exchanges and continental commercial giants.
Starting with the African pharmaceutical company, Pan African companies now not only dominate our domestic market of over two billion people, but they have overtaken multi-nationals from the rest of the world in their own markets.
Even more significant than this, was the growth of regional manufacturing hubs, around the beneficiation of our minerals and natural resources, such as in the Eastern Congo, north-eastern Angola and Zambia’s copper belt and at major Silicon valleys in Kigali, Alexandria, Brazzaville, Maseru, Lagos and Mombasa, to mention but a few such hubs.
My friend, Africa has indeed transformed herself from an exporter of raw materials with a declining manufacturing sector in 2013, to become a major food exporter, a global manufacturing hub, a knowledge centre, beneficiating our natural resources and agricultural products as drivers to industrialization.
Pan African companies, from mining to finance, food and beverages, hospitality and tourism, pharmaceuticals, fashion, fisheries and ICT are driving integration, and are amongst the global leaders in their sectors.
Africa is now the third largest economy in the world. As the Foreign Minister’s retreat in Bahir Dar in January 2014 emphasized, we did this by finding the balance between market forces and strong and accountable developmental states and RECS to drive infrastructure, the provision of social services, industrialization and economic integration.
Let me recall what our mutual friend recently wrote:
“The (African) agrarian revolution had small beginnings. Successful business persons (and local governments) with roots in the rural areas started massive irrigation schemes to harness the waters of the continent’s huge river systems.
The pan-African river projects – on the Congo, the Nile, Niger, Gambia, Zambezi, Kunene, Limpopo and many others – financed by PPPs that involved African and BRIC investors, as well as the African Diaspora, released the continent’s untapped agricultural potential.
By the intelligent application of centuries-old indigenous knowledge, acquired and conserved by African women who have tended crops in all seasons, within the first few years bumper harvests were being reported. Agronomists consulted women about the qualities of various grains – which ones survived low rainfalls and which thrived in wet weather; what pests threatened crops and how could they be combated without undermining delicate ecological systems.
The social impact of the agrarian revolution was perhaps the most enduring change it brought about. The status of women, the tillers of the soil by tradition, rose exponentially. The girl child, condemned to a future in the kitchen or the fields in our not too distant past, now has an equal chance of acquiring a modern education (and owning a farm or an agribusiness). African mothers today have access to tractors and irrigation systems that can be easily assembled.
The producers’ cooperatives, (agribusinesses) and marketing boards these women established help move their produce and became the giant food companies we see today.’
We refused to bear the brunt of climate change and aggressively moved to promote the Green economy and to claim the Blue economy as ours. We lit up Africa, the formerly dark continent, using hydro, solar, wind, geo-thermal energy, in addition to fossil fuels.
And, whilst I’m on the Blue economy, the decision to form Africa-wide shipping companies, and encourage mining houses to ship their goods in vessels flying under African flags, meant a major growth spurt. Of course the decision taken in Dakar to form an African Naval Command to provide for the collective security of our long coastlines, certainly also helped.
Let me quote from our mutual friend again:
‘Africa’s river system, lakes and coast-lines abound with tons of fish. With funding from the different states and the Diaspora, young entrepreneurs discovered… that the mouths of virtually all the rivers along the east coast are rich in a species of eel considered a delicacy across the continent and the world.
Clever marketing also created a growing market for Nile perch, a species whose uncontrolled proliferation had at one time threatened the survival of others in Lake Victoria and the Nile.
Today Namibia and Angola exploit the Benguela current, teaming with marine life, through the joint ventures funded by sovereign funds and the African Development Bank.”
On the east coast, former island states of Seychelles, Comoros, Madagascar and Mauritius are leading lights of the Blue economy and their universities and research institutes attract marine scientists and students from all over the world.
My dear friend, you reminded me in your last e-mail how some magazine once called us ‘the hopeless continent’, citing conflicts, hunger and malnutrition, disease and poverty as if it was a permanent African condition.
Few believed that our pledge in the 50th Anniversary Declaration to silence the guns by 2020 was possible. Because of our firsthand experience of the devastation of conflicts, we tackled the root causes, including diversity, inclusion and the management of our resources.
If I have to single out one issue that made peace happened, it was our commitment to invest in our people, especially the empowerment of young people and women. By 2013 we said Africa needed a skills revolution and that we must change our educationsystems to produce young people that are innovative and entrepreneurial and with strong Pan African values.
From early childhood education, to primary, secondary, technical, vocational and higher education – we experienced a true renaissance, through the investments we made, as governments and the private sector in education and in technology, science, research and innovation.
Coupled with our concerted campaigns to eradicate the major diseases, to provide access to health services, good nutrition, water and sanitation, energy and shelter, our people indeed became and are our most important resource. Can you believe it my friend, even the dreaded malaria is a thing of the past.
Of course this shift could not happen without Africa taking charge of its transformation, including the financing of our development. As one esteemed Foreign minister said in 2014: Africa is rich, but Africans are poor.
With concerted political determination and solidarity, and sometimes one step back and two steps forward, we made financing our development and taking charge of our resources a priority, starting with financing the African Union, our democratic elections and our peacekeeping missions.
The Golden Jubilee celebrations were the start of a major paradigm shift, about taking charge of our narrative.
Agenda 2063, its implementation and the milestones it set, was part of what brought about this shift. We developed Agenda 2063 to galvanize and unite in action all Africans and the Diaspora around the common vision of a peaceful, integrated and prosperous Africa. As an overarching framework, Agenda 2063 provided internal coherence to our various sectoral frameworks and plans adopted under the OAU and AU.
It linked and coordinated our many national and regional frameworks into a common continental transformation drive.
Planning fifty years ahead, allowed us to dream, think creatively, and sometimes crazy, to see us leapfrog beyond the immediate challenges.
Anchored in Pan Africanism and the African renaissance, Agenda 2063 promoted the values of solidarity, self-belief, non-sexism, self-reliance and celebration of our diversity.
As our societies developed, as our working and middle classes grew, as women took their rightful place in our societies, our recreational, heritage and leisure industries grew: arts and culture, literature, media, languages, music and film. WEB du Bois grand project of Encyclopedia Africana finally saw the light and Kinshasha is now the fashion capital of the world.
From the onset, the Diaspora in the traditions of Pan Africanism, played its part, through investments, returning to the continent with their skills and contributing not only to their place of origin, but where the opportunities and needs were found.
Let me conclude this e-mail, with some family news. The twins, after completing their space studies at Bahir Dar University, decided to take the month off before they start work at the African Space Agency, to travel the continent. My old friend, in our days, trying to do that in one month would have been impossible!
But, the African Express Rail now connects all the capitals of our former states, and indeed they will be able to crisscross and see the beauty, culture and diversity of this cradle of humankind.
The marvel of the African Express Rail is that it is not only a high speed-train, with adjacent highways, but also contains pipelines for gas, oil and water, as well as ICT broadband cables: African ownership, integrated planning and execution at its best!
The continental rail and road network that now crisscross Africa, along with our vibrant airlines, our spectacular landscapes and seductive sunsets, the cultural vibes of our cities, makes tourism one of our largest economic sectors.
Our eldest daughter, the linguist, still lectures in Kiswahili in Cabo Verde, at the headquarters of the Pan African Virtual University. Kiswahili is now a major African working language, and a global language taught at most faculties across the world.
Our grand children find it very funny how we used to struggle at AU meetings with English, French and Portuguese interpretations, how we used to fight that the English version is not in line with the French or Arabic text!
Now we have a lingua franca, and multi-lingualism is the order of the day.
Remember how we used to complain about our voice not being heard in trade negotiations and the Security Council, how disorganized, sometimes divided and nationalistic we used to be in those forums, how we used to be summoned by various countries to their capitals to discuss their policies on Africa?
How things have changed. The Confederation last year celebrated twenty years since we took our seat as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and we are a major force for global stability, peace, human rights, progress, tolerance and justice.
My dear friend, I hope to see you next month in Haiti, for the second round of unity talks between the Confederation of African States and the Caribbean states.
This is a logical step, since Pan Africanism had its roots amongst those early generations, as a movement of Africans from the mother continent and the Diaspora for liberation, self-determination and our common progress.
I end this e-mail, and look forward to seeing you in February. I will bring along some of the chocolates from Accra that you so love, which our children can now afford.
Till we meet again, Nkosazana
Emeagwali, Gloria (History)
and to intimidate the Scottish natoinalists.
They could have offered a helping hand to the proposed independent state,
and spoken about cooperation, with respect to the monetary system, banking , industry,
Scottish / North Sea Oil etc.
So the scenario Westminster painted was not the only possible option, even though
it proved to be quite effective.
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
africahistory.net
vimeo.com/user5946750/videos
Documentaries on Africa and the African Diaspora
________________________________
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Anunoby, Ogugua [Anun...@lincolnu.edu]
Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2014 3:18 PM
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Can Nigeria learn anything from the Scottish Referendum?
Is a presumed “scare” a scare if it is factual?
oa
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Emeagwali, Gloria (History)
Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2014 9:03 AM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Can Nigeria learn anything from the Scottish Referendum?
“The rest of the U.K. neither threatened nor militarily attacked Scotland.”
Westminster did not threaten with arms but used fear tactics about the economy to scare the Scottish nationalists.
They were warned that the new country would have to pay part of the national debt and would face financial
roadblocks with respect to their national currency. Banks and other financial institutions also threatened to withdraw
from Scotland. It is not clear whether the government had a hand in this but the prospect of economic doom
certainly scared a lot of the folks who were sitting on the fence before then.
Prof Gloria Emeagwali
History Department
CCSU
www.africatube.net<http://www.africatube.net>
Fight Ebola
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com> [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Cornelius Hamelberg
Revised .
Lord Ogugua Anunoby,
(Please accept the respectful honorific)
In 1981 the Federation comprised nineteen states. Based on the reality that at that time Rivers State was producing 56% of Nigeria’s oil revenue which was fuelling the Federal budget, Senator Francis Ellah (Umoku, Ekpeye District) was able to come to a just and equitable mathematical distribution of budget allocations by creating thirteen states out of what was then Rivers State...
All said and done if the Federal Government went ahead and started granting people the right to hold referendums with a view to secession, then in no time at all there would be no Nigeria left – I think that everybody would secede.
As you mentioned,
“The Scottish parliament requested a referendum. The parliament in London granted it. The rest of the U.K. neither threatened nor militarily attacked Scotland.”
I guess that if Nigerians has that kind of democratic option and say, my Kalabari brother Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo happens to be Rivers State’s First Minister or Governor, he would be one of the very first people to be applying for a Federal permit for his nation to hold a referendum, in order to nationalise or Ijaw-ize all 56% of the Niger oil on his side of the state border.
We should take the goodwill of his people as for granted.
And you know as well as I do that what is usually referred to as “The North” - the landlocked north, would not permit that such a thing should happen. Swifter than an eagle, Boko Haram – and not only the forces of Boko Haram would be paddling their canoes in the Riverine areas fighting “ to keep Nigeria United”
Sincerely,
CH
We Sweden<http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/>
On Saturday, 20 September 2014 02:07:33 UTC+2, Anunoby, Ogugua wrote:
One commodity that is in abundant supply in the U.K. and in short supply in African countries, is goodwill. The British people understand that remaining part of the U.K has to be the choice of the Scottish people. They respect that choice. Understanding like this is not shared all over the world. It is not just an African problem. Remember India/Pakistan (Kashmir), Yugoslavia, Turkey (the Kurds), and Indonesia among others? One better not recall Nigeria where they even came up with a slogan- “To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done” without thinking through why the task is worth the trouble and other costs?
Anyone who followed the U.K. referendum debates would have heard and appreciated the arguments made for and against Scottish independence. The better arguments (economics, nation gravitas) prevailed in my opinion. Goodwill helped to ensure that the system allowed the law to inform the process. The law was put to good and effective use. The Scottish parliament requested a referendum. The parliament in London granted it. The rest of the U.K. neither threatened nor military attacked Scotland. The Prime Minister in London appointed a date. Both sides in the fight made their case to the Scottish people. The people voted. The outcome was a “No” vote. The outcome is respected. The Scottish First Minister’s following the loss resigned. He, remaining in office was no longer tenable. A “Yes” vote would have meant the Prime minister resignation for the same reason.
The U.K. like Canada and Czechoslovakian before her, has set another standard for the world on the matter of self-determination. It was known that a forced marriage is most likely to be an unhappy marriage. The people want their country to work. They do not desire to live in a country with a nation of a majority of unwilling citizens. There are some who take offense when some countries are called advance democracies. The example set by the U.K. is one reason why.
Should it not be a matter of great concern that people are fighting and dying to preserve African countries clobbered together by colonial powers for their benefit? I mean countries that do not work, are unlikely to do so any time soon, and produce leaders who do not want their country to work as the countries should?
The British Historian David Reynolds proposed that a nation may be a civic nation- based on institutions, laws, and sense of community, or an ethnic nation- based on common ancestral origin and culture. Most African countries are neither. Can African countries be more successful countries? Yes of course. They must have produce leaders who will work to ensure this success. Such a leadership should know when remaining one country may be no use in the long term. Those who have heads, let them use them.
oa
As I have argued elsewhere, notably with respect to the Anglophones of Cameroon, those who, in pursuing their self-determination, decide that they want to secede and form their own independent polity or join another existing country, should actually be provided the facilities to do so if the process is, as that in Scotland, peaceful. This is especially critical in Africa where groups were involuntarily brought together through colonialism to form what are now Nations States.
Unfortunately, the nature of governance institutions in most African countries today is that any section of a country that seeks to disentangle itself from the rest of the country would certainly not be given the opportunity to decide through a peaceful referendum, as occurred in the United Kingdom. The central government is most likely to brutally crush what would be termed a challenge to the hegemony of the State. As Scottish and British leaders have indicated, the referendum that took place in Scotland yesterday will actually strengthen the UK's already strong and robust democratic system.
Using brutal force to get people to live together under one political and economic unit usually does not produce the type of peaceful coexistence that is needed for entrepreneurship and the creation of wealth--you need only look at what is happening in most of the African countries today: violent and destructive mobilization by groups that consider themselves marginalized and pushed to the economic and political periphery by the policies of a central government dominated by other groups. An effective nation-state is one in which its citizens voluntarily get together and form a government to protect their rights as defined by them and elaborated in the constitution. Where States already exist (e.g., those formed by colonialism and which contain religious, nationality, and ethnic groups that were brought together involuntarily through colonialism), the State can and should be reconstructed and reconstituted through democratic constitution making to provide laws and institutions that enhance peaceful coexistence, provide mechanisms for the peaceful resolution of conflicts (including, especially, inter-group conflicts), and promote entrepreneurship and wealth creation, especially among historically marginalized and deprived groups (e.g., women, children/youth, and ethnic and religious minorities). Such laws and institutions should, as is the case in the UK, provide the mechanisms for groups to exit the polity if they believe that their values and interests are not longer maximized by the status quo.The freedom to decide whether to "walk away" from the "federation" can actually strengthen the federation and significantly improve the country's overall political economy. This, unfortunately, is an insight that is either largely unknown or rarely appreciated by many political elites in the African countries.
It is possible that some of them might begin to reconsider their ideas on secession after the Scottish exercise.
In updating my blog about the results of the Scottish Independence Referendum<http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/?p=19797> I inevitably thought of the case of Nigeria and Biafra - if those who want to secede have the right to do so peacefully...
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John Mbaku
Anunoby, Ogugua
This is a repost please.
A great thought Ken but what are the alternatives?
oa
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Anunoby, Ogugua
Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2014 2:56 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
kenneth harrow
neither is smaller much good. the notion that african states are artificially composed, and if only were made of one ethnicity everything would be fine is belied by somalia. we need stronger tools of analysis to get at the struggles, and as a non-lapsed marxist i would begin with material analyses.
well, non-lapsed in derridean sense--forget marxist, remember marx
ken
-- kenneth w. harrow faculty excellence advocate professor of english michigan state university department of english 619 red cedar road room C-614 wells hall east lansing, mi 48824 ph. 517 803 8839 har...@msu.edu
ProfHist
Cornelius Hamelberg
The aforementioned problems exist and await continued analysis and not just the ideally theoretical but practical recommendations that can be implemented. The questions are meant for the experts not the dilettantes. This is not meant to be unserious or flirtatious
Gloria in excelis mea and Pan-Africanist gentlemen all:
First to the tempter, Alagba Rabbi Harrow,
about “texas can go “
Can go back to México ?
My friend Ali (Abu Muhammad, from Baghdad) likes to “jokes” with me. Every time he sees me he smiles (this is during the last Iraq (-USA) War and he says, “We’re we responsible for THE HOLOCAUST? Aki, the Germans are not Arab! So if the Germans steal some of the German Jews lands, then let the Germans give the Jews part of Germany! And I want you to ask George W. Bush this question: instead of giving the Yehudi half of Arab Palestine which does not belong to him, why doesn’t he give them half of Texas”? Repetition. Like a machine gun. Learning by rote, in the sense that voluntarily (and sometimes involuntarily too) it gets drummed in your ears or through your eyes, or both. Every time we met he would smile and always say exactly the same thing, no seventy two holy virgins: “Go tell George Bush that he can go to hell!”
In my amateur review, Nigeria can be seen as a microcosm of Africa and on a broader platform, of the African Union which incorporates all of the African member states. Unlike Scotland, one of the problems that Nigeria does not suffer from is size or a lack of population. Size Doesn't Matter versus the bigger the better. Behold Nigeria “the giant of Africa!” – Glory be to “The sleeping lion of Africa,”, “The Great Elephant!” etc
How does a country like Nigeria, rapidly develop an inclusive national sense. (All Nigerians that I have met out of Nigeria - they do complain about corruption and this or that president occasionally going haywire but they are always most exuberantly N-I-G-E-R-I-A-N . A model...
How is Nigerian history taught in today’s Nigeria? In seven years of secondary school till “A” levels, all I learned was all I learned was English History from 1485 to 1965, a few special topics such as the American War of Independence and of course, the history of the British Empire under Queen Victoria. Is it any wonder that my classmate, Akintola Wyse later on became a professor of African history?
The analysis must make effectible recommendations about how to wipe out corruption.
The clash of individualisms that characterise African states was brought into dramatic focus when President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe expressed some sorrow that Zimbabweans were becoming "like Nigeria" when it came to corruption If you remember these remarks generated some strong feelings of nationalism and national indignation in Abuja and even in some of the Diaspora Nigerians and caused a diplomatic furore. Now if Nigeria were but a state (one state) in the United States of Africa, this would have been an entirely internal matter...
Political Nigeria is the North /South, East-West, North –South East – South-West AXIS. In the past decade the periphery of the Middle Belt has expanded and incorporated more middle ground...
Lord Anunoby re – Your juxtaposition of my hero Chief Obafemi Awolowo with Zik dramatises what you see as divergent and what I see as not irreconcilable but in fact overlapping positions. (My wife researched ZIk in the colonial archives of the British Museum from June to September, 1971). OK, so we have “ Zik of Africa”. Jesus operated in Judea and Awo achieved great things in Western Nigeria where he was able to exercise most influence and is currently a role model for those who are ambitious enough to implement universal primary education and health care – and by the way congratulations : I see that Imo tops the tables when it comes to school enrolment and health care...
Lord Anunoby, May the Almighty save me from some of your prejudices! Chinua Achebe was against giving Awo a national funeral on the grounds that our great Chief Obafemi Awolowo , his exact words, “was not an Igbo god” and I guess that you are coming from the same place – or are you coming from the other place? ( Smile)
...
Cornelius Hamelberg
The aforementioned problems exist and await continued analysis and not just the ideally theoretical but practical recommendations that can be implemented. The questions are meant for the experts not the dilettantes. This is not meant to be unserious or flirtatious
Gloria in excelis mea and Pan-Africanist gentlemen all:
First to the tempter, Alagba Rabbi Harrow,
about “texas can go “
Can go back to México ?
My friend Ali (Abu Muhammad, from Baghdad) likes to “jokes” with me. Every time he sees me he smiles (this is during the last Iraq (-USA) War and he says, “We’re we responsible for THE HOLOCAUST? Aki, the Germans are not Arab! So if the Germans steal some of the German Jews lands, then let the Germans give the Jews part of Germany! And I want you to ask George W. Bush this question: instead of giving the Yehudi half of Arab Palestine which does not belong to him, why doesn’t he give them half of Texas”? Repetition. Like a machine gun. Learning by rote, in the sense that voluntarily (and sometimes involuntarily too) it gets drummed in your ears or through your eyes, or both. Every time we met he would smile and always say exactly the same thing, no seventy two holy virgins: “Go tell George Bush that he can go to hell!”
In my amateur review, Nigeria can be seen as a microcosm of Africa and on a broader platform, of the African Union which incorporates all of the African member states. Unlike Scotland, one of the problems that Nigeria does not suffer from is size or a lack of population. Size Doesn't Matter versus the bigger the better. Behold Nigeria “the giant of Africa!” – Glory be to “The sleeping lion of Africa,”, “The Great Elephant!” etc
How does a country like Nigeria, rapidly develop an inclusive national sense. (All Nigerians that I have met out of Nigeria - they do complain about corruption and this or that president occasionally going haywire but they are always most exuberantly N-I-G-E-R-I-A-N . A model...
How is Nigerian history taught in today’s Nigeria? In seven years of secondary school till “A” levels, all I learned was all I learned was English History from 1485 to 1965, a few special topics such as the American War of Independence and of course, the history of the British Empire under Queen Victoria. Is it any wonder that my classmate, Akintola Wyse later on became a professor of African history?
The analysis must make effectible recommendations about how to wipe out corruption.
The clash of individualisms that characterise African states was brought into dramatic focus when President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe expressed some sorrow that Zimbabweans were becoming "like Nigeria" when it came to corruption If you remember these remarks generated some strong feelings of nationalism and national indignation in Abuja and even in some of the Diaspora Nigerians and caused a diplomatic furore. Now if Nigeria were but a state (one state) in the United States of Africa, this would have been an entirely internal matter...
Political Nigeria is the North /South, East-West, North –South East – South-West AXIS. In the past decade the periphery of the Middle Belt has expanded and incorporated more middle ground...
Lord Anunoby re – Your juxtaposition of my hero Chief Obafemi Awolowo with Zik dramatises what you see as divergent and what I see as not irreconcilable but in fact overlapping positions. (My wife researched ZIk in the colonial archives of the British Museum from June to September, 1971). OK, so we have “ Zik of Africa”. Jesus operated in Judea and Awo achieved great things in Western Nigeria where he was able to exercise most influence and is currently a role model for those who are ambitious enough to implement universal primary education and health care – and by the way congratulations : I see that Imo tops the tables when it comes to school enrolment and health care...
Lord Anunoby, May the Almighty save me from some of your prejudices! Chinua Achebe was against giving Awo a national funeral on the grounds that our great Chief Obafemi Awolowo , his exact words, “was not an Igbo god” and I guess that you are coming from the same place – or are you coming from the other place? ( Smile)
On Saturday, 20 September 2014 21:31:43 UTC+2, Kenneth Harrow wrote:
also, to anticipate what would surely be cornelius's question, yes, let texas go!
ken
On 9/20/14, 3:05 PM, kenneth harrow wrote:
i only wish the rest of the world would accept secession subject to vote rather than war.
consider how many died in sudan. was it up to 4 million people? before finally s sudan became a separate state.
there is something about the nation state that fosters extreme violence. we need to step back a second and consider whether it merits our undevoted acceptance of it as a normal entity
ken
On 9/20/14, 10:03 AM, Emeagwali, Gloria (History) wrote:
“The rest of the U.K. neither threatened nor militarily attacked Scotland.”
Westminster did not threaten with arms but used fear tactics about the economy to scare the Scottish nationalists.
They were warned that the new country would have to pay part of the national debt and would face financial
roadblocks with respect to their national currency. Banks and other financial institutions also threatened to withdraw
from Scotland. It is not clear whether the government had a hand in this but the prospect of economic doom
certainly scared a lot of the folks who were sitting on the fence before then.
Prof Gloria Emeagwali
History Department
CCSU
Fight Ebola
...
kenneth harrow
then, partial examples, like puerto rico. partly annexed by u.s., partly driven by independence movement. quebec, like scotland.
all those examples reveal people's longing, in part, to belong to "their own state." but ironically, the state subsumed under the global, so that an independent, but poor state increasingly unable to control its own resources. it isn't size here that matter. congo is big. east congo is not under state control, though it is moving slowing back in that direction after almost 50 years of having become remote to kinshasa. northeast nigeria becoming detached from state control, like northern cameroon and northern mali and many other regions of african states. others returning to state control, like mozambique.
another model was the empire. not thinking so much of european empire, but the turkish empire, for so long an alternative model to the nation state that had been forming in europe. but also austria-hungary and russia, and later yugoslavia as multi-ethnic states. for this part i confess to being too ignorant about the conditions under which the various people's lived to know whether these were better models than the nation state. and there were african equivalents in the past, like kanem-bornu or ghana or songhai empires that ruled vast regions and many peoples. were they different from nation states? better or worse?
ken
kenneth harrow
i agree with most of this. but i don't find the return to blaming colonialism for the structure of the state and its failures very useful. all states on earth were formed in similar fashion, that is, by powerful entities conquering their neighbors and annexing them, and then struggling to sustain their control. i could give infinite examples, but france is an obvious one.
as for the shape of cameroon, to attribute the present arrangement to the coercion of colonialism is to ignore the referendum at the end of french rule that resulted in one section going off to nigeria and the other to cameroon. the problems that arose under ahidjo were subsequently tied to the upc revolt, that was supported in douala as well as in the west. that was not a colonial construction, but one of an independence movement being squashed by the neo-colonial state.
was the biafran war a result of colonialism?
or everything else that resulted in nigeria? is boko haram a result of the colonial state, or the failure to have an independent hausaland?
there is a point where the memory of colonialism is gone and has no bearing onthe present moment, and i think we have largely passed into that time now. the colonial powers themselves have become secondary to global powers, and china now controls more than the ex-colonial masters. what is that about?
ken
-- kenneth w. harrow faculty excellence advocate professor of english michigan state university department of english 619 red cedar road room C-614 wells hall east lansing, mi 48824 ph. 517 803 8839 har...@msu.edu
Ibukunolu A Babajide
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Wishes are not horses and hard work and superior thinking can develop Africa to the point where they believe in the democratic process as a superior way to sheer aggression issuing from the barrels of the gun.
Cheers.
IBK
kenneth harrow
of course the internet is the site for dream-wishers. but my realist side agrees w you
ken
Emeagwali, Gloria (History)
overthrown and ultimately annexed by settler colonists/ sugar growers in the 1890s.
But these days I wonder whether the United Kingdom is not also an empire.
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
africahistory.net
vimeo.com/user5946750/videos
Documentaries on Africa and the African Diaspora
________________________________
Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2014 8:49 AM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Can Nigeria learn anything from the Scottish Referendum?
then, partial examples, like puerto rico. partly annexed by u.s., partly driven by independence movement. quebec, like scotland.
all those examples reveal people's longing, in part, to belong to "their own state." but ironically, the state subsumed under the global, so that an independent, but poor state increasingly unable to control its own resources. it isn't size here that matter. congo is big. east congo is not under state control, though it is moving slowing back in that direction after almost 50 years of having become remote to kinshasa. northeast nigeria becoming detached from state control, like northern cameroon and northern mali and many other regions of african states. others returning to state control, like mozambique.
another model was the empire. not thinking so much of european empire, but the turkish empire, for so long an alternative model to the nation state that had been forming in europe. but also austria-hungary and russia, and later yugoslavia as multi-ethnic states. for this part i confess to being too ignorant about the conditions under which the various people's lived to know whether these were better models than the nation state. and there were african equivalents in the past, like kanem-bornu or ghana or songhai empires that ruled vast regions and many peoples. were they different from nation states? better or worse?
ken
On 9/20/14, 5:18 PM, Anunoby, Ogugua wrote:
This is a repost please.
“there is something about the nation state that fosters extreme violence. we need to step back a second and consider whether it merits our undevoted acceptance of it as a normal entity”
Ken
A great thought Ken but what are the alternatives?
oa
Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2014 2:56 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Can Nigeria learn anything from the Scottish Referendum?
“there is something about the nation state that fosters extreme violence. we need to step back a second and consider whether it merits our undevoted acceptance of it as a normal entity”
Ken
A great thought Ken but what are the alternative?
oa
Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2014 2:18 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Can Nigeria learn anything from the Scottish Referendum?
also, to anticipate what would surely be cornelius's question, yes, let texas go!
ken
On 9/20/14, 3:05 PM, kenneth harrow wrote:
i only wish the rest of the world would accept secession subject to vote rather than war.
consider how many died in sudan. was it up to 4 million people? before finally s sudan became a separate state.
there is something about the nation state that fosters extreme violence. we need to step back a second and consider whether it merits our undevoted acceptance of it as a normal entity
ken
On 9/20/14, 10:03 AM, Emeagwali, Gloria (History) wrote:
“The rest of the U.K. neither threatened nor militarily attacked Scotland.”
Westminster did not threaten with arms but used fear tactics about the economy to scare the Scottish nationalists.
They were warned that the new country would have to pay part of the national debt and would face financial
roadblocks with respect to their national currency. Banks and other financial institutions also threatened to withdraw
from Scotland. It is not clear whether the government had a hand in this but the prospect of economic doom
certainly scared a lot of the folks who were sitting on the fence before then.
Prof Gloria Emeagwali
History Department
CCSU
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com> [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Cornelius Hamelberg
Revised .
Lord Ogugua Anunoby,
(Please accept the respectful honorific)
In 1981 the Federation comprised nineteen states. Based on the reality that at that time Rivers State was producing 56% of Nigeria’s oil revenue which was fuelling the Federal budget, Senator Francis Ellah (Umoku, Ekpeye District) was able to come to a just and equitable mathematical distribution of budget allocations by creating thirteen states out of what was then Rivers State...
All said and done if the Federal Government went ahead and started granting people the right to hold referendums with a view to secession, then in no time at all there would be no Nigeria left – I think that everybody would secede.
As you mentioned,
“The Scottish parliament requested a referendum. The parliament in London granted it. The rest of the U.K. neither threatened nor militarily attacked Scotland.”
I guess that if Nigerians has that kind of democratic option and say, my Kalabari brother Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo happens to be Rivers State’s First Minister or Governor, he would be one of the very first people to be applying for a Federal permit for his nation to hold a referendum, in order to nationalise or Ijaw-ize all 56% of the Niger oil on his side of the state border.
We should take the goodwill of his people as for granted.
And you know as well as I do that what is usually referred to as “The North” - the landlocked north, would not permit that such a thing should happen. Swifter than an eagle, Boko Haram – and not only the forces of Boko Haram would be paddling their canoes in the Riverine areas fighting “ to keep Nigeria United”
Sincerely,
CH
We Sweden<http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/>
On Saturday, 20 September 2014 02:07:33 UTC+2, Anunoby, Ogugua wrote:
One commodity that is in abundant supply in the U.K. and in short supply in African countries, is goodwill. The British people understand that remaining part of the U.K has to be the choice of the Scottish people. They respect that choice. Understanding like this is not shared all over the world. It is not just an African problem. Remember India/Pakistan (Kashmir), Yugoslavia, Turkey (the Kurds), and Indonesia among others? One better not recall Nigeria where they even came up with a slogan- “To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done” without thinking through why the task is worth the trouble and other costs?
Anyone who followed the U.K. referendum debates would have heard and appreciated the arguments made for and against Scottish independence. The better arguments (economics, nation gravitas) prevailed in my opinion. Goodwill helped to ensure that the system allowed the law to inform the process. The law was put to good and effective use. The Scottish parliament requested a referendum. The parliament in London granted it. The rest of the U.K. neither threatened nor military attacked Scotland. The Prime Minister in London appointed a date. Both sides in the fight made their case to the Scottish people. The people voted. The outcome was a “No” vote. The outcome is respected. The Scottish First Minister’s following the loss resigned. He, remaining in office was no longer tenable. A “Yes” vote would have meant the Prime minister resignation for the same reason.
The U.K. like Canada and Czechoslovakian before her, has set another standard for the world on the matter of self-determination. It was known that a forced marriage is most likely to be an unhappy marriage. The people want their country to work. They do not desire to live in a country with a nation of a majority of unwilling citizens. There are some who take offense when some countries are called advance democracies. The example set by the U.K. is one reason why.
Should it not be a matter of great concern that people are fighting and dying to preserve African countries clobbered together by colonial powers for their benefit? I mean countries that do not work, are unlikely to do so any time soon, and produce leaders who do not want their country to work as the countries should?
The British Historian David Reynolds proposed that a nation may be a civic nation- based on institutions, laws, and sense of community, or an ethnic nation- based on common ancestral origin and culture. Most African countries are neither. Can African countries be more successful countries? Yes of course. They must have produce leaders who will work to ensure this success. Such a leadership should know when remaining one country may be no use in the long term. Those who have heads, let them use them.
oa
As I have argued elsewhere, notably with respect to the Anglophones of Cameroon, those who, in pursuing their self-determination, decide that they want to secede and form their own independent polity or join another existing country, should actually be provided the facilities to do so if the process is, as that in Scotland, peaceful. This is especially critical in Africa where groups were involuntarily brought together through colonialism to form what are now Nations States.
Unfortunately, the nature of governance institutions in most African countries today is that any section of a country that seeks to disentangle itself from the rest of the country would certainly not be given the opportunity to decide through a peaceful referendum, as occurred in the United Kingdom. The central government is most likely to brutally crush what would be termed a challenge to the hegemony of the State. As Scottish and British leaders have indicated, the referendum that took place in Scotland yesterday will actually strengthen the UK's already strong and robust democratic system.
Using brutal force to get people to live together under one political and economic unit usually does not produce the type of peaceful coexistence that is needed for entrepreneurship and the creation of wealth--you need only look at what is happening in most of the African countries today: violent and destructive mobilization by groups that consider themselves marginalized and pushed to the economic and political periphery by the policies of a central government dominated by other groups. An effective nation-state is one in which its citizens voluntarily get together and form a government to protect their rights as defined by them and elaborated in the constitution. Where States already exist (e.g., those formed by colonialism and which contain religious, nationality, and ethnic groups that were brought together involuntarily through colonialism), the State can and should be reconstructed and reconstituted through democratic constitution making to provide laws and institutions that enhance peaceful coexistence, provide mechanisms for the peaceful resolution of conflicts (including, especially, inter-group conflicts), and promote entrepreneurship and wealth creation, especially among historically marginalized and deprived groups (e.g., women, children/youth, and ethnic and religious minorities). Such laws and institutions should, as is the case in the UK, provide the mechanisms for groups to exit the polity if they believe that their values and interests are not longer maximized by the status quo.The freedom to decide whether to "walk away" from the "federation" can actually strengthen the federation and significantly improve the country's overall political economy. This, unfortunately, is an insight that is either largely unknown or rarely appreciated by many political elites in the African countries.
It is possible that some of them might begin to reconsider their ideas on secession after the Scottish exercise.
In updating my blog about the results of the Scottish Independence Referendum<http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/?p=19797> I inevitably thought of the case of Nigeria and Biafra - if those who want to secede have the right to do so peacefully...
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michigan state university
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Moses Ebe Ochonu
---Mohandas Gandhi
kenneth harrow
the right to self-determination is a fundamental human right, one of the so-called natural rights. It entails the right to choose how and under what state or bureaucratic auspices one will live out one's aspirations. It is, I would argue, sacrosanct.
Cornelius Hamelberg
Ps.
Ken, I know that you are a specialist in Cameroons – Nigeria border relations. (In April 1981 at the height of the oil border dispute I was detained in Port Harcourt for a whole night; they thought that I was Cameroonian because I could not speak correct Nigerian “Broken” like-e-them - so I was detained at the junction of the first traffic lights in downtown Port Harcourt, all night. When my friend Mallah, the speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly ( who happened to be going by at that unearthly hour) opened the door of his Peugeot and asked me to hop in - at which point the policeman was protesting to Mallah that I had called him a black monkey, Mallah drove away and left me in distress. By dawn the policeman had become a pan-Africanist and a best friend and were sharing a bottle of beer; in fact he invited me to a big party in the mess when Sani Abacha was in town.
Lord Anunoby,
We hear the loquacious upstarts quacking big words, the need for a “systemic change”, a complete overhaul of the system. I guess that there were no quacks at the national conference. What did they have to say about corruption apart from condemning it.? Did they talk about retributive justice?
Relative to comparatives in the Nigeria-Zimbabwe corruption index of commerce, arises this question: Are some parts/ states/ regions of Nigeria (microcosm of Africa) more corrupt than other parts – and if so, how come?
In the recommendations on how to wipe out corruption – from all levels of the Naija nation, from the bottom to those who take responsibility at the top The Law will have to be administered. And to administer /administrate and institutionalise this transition/ transformation in real time, so that the smallies and the medium- sized will say “Behold! The sleeping giant has woken up O! “
If I were a presidential aspirant I’d be talking like that, communicating that kind of a vision of a Great Nigeria in the world and a Nigeria in which Nigerians are capable of solving their own perennial problems at home...
ZALANGA SAMUEL
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 09:52:32 -0700
From: cornelius...@gmail.com
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Can Nigeria learn anything from the Scottish Referendum?
Cornelius Hamelberg
Re - “what effective mechanisms will imprint obedience to the law or the commitment to do the right thing coming out of one's heart and mind”
Since Sharia Law is against bribery and corruption and using unfair scales, can one safely say that the battle is already half won in the Muslim majority Zamfara State which practices Sharia Law, that the imprints on the hearts means that they are preconditioned so to speak for life under Sharia?
John Mbaku
Cornelius Hamelberg
Dear Ken,
Don't forget that it's not all of us who live in the United States you know.
It’s only after watching last week’s Dateline London that I understood that by “let texas go!” you must have surely been referring to the very contemporary currents animating The Texas Nationalist Movement !
In my opinion granting that sort of right ( the right to secede) in the Nigerian constitution, would automatically herald the demise of the federation; in no time at all every village will be applying for Independence and setting up shadow presidents, and cabinets...
As you may observe, in my latest blog update have liberally lifted Professor Ochonu’s words “This reality alone calls for a more positive reception for movements which seek alternative political paths and arrangements” out of context and applied them as apt and plausible US policy statement which can explain why the US is reportedly giving Hezbollah Indirect Military Aid...
Over here there used to be some faint tremors coming from the Scania Party – they’re going for want separation and full independence from Mama Sweden. I hope and pray that we will continue to remain, one undivided Sweden with Stockholm as our capital...
Cornelius
On Saturday, 20 September 2014 21:31:43 UTC+2, Kenneth Harrow wrote:
also, to anticipate what would surely be cornelius's question, yes, let texas go!
ken
On 9/20/14, 3:05 PM, kenneth harrow wrote:
i only wish the rest of the world would accept secession subject to vote rather than war.
consider how many died in sudan. was it up to 4 million people? before finally s sudan became a separate state.
there is something about the nation state that fosters extreme violence. we need to step back a second and consider whether it merits our undevoted acceptance of it as a normal entity
ken
On 9/20/14, 10:03 AM, Emeagwali, Gloria (History) wrote:
“The rest of the U.K. neither threatened nor militarily attacked Scotland.”
Westminster did not threaten with arms but used fear tactics about the economy to scare the Scottish nationalists.
They were warned that the new country would have to pay part of the national debt and would face financial
roadblocks with respect to their national currency. Banks and other financial institutions also threatened to withdraw
from Scotland. It is not clear whether the government had a hand in this but the prospect of economic doom
certainly scared a lot of the folks who were sitting on the fence before then.
Prof Gloria Emeagwali
History Department
CCSU
Fight Ebola
...
kenneth harrow
it is only that we somehow automatically grow up assuming, nowadays, that nation-states are the only real political entity for us, for modern times. our imaginations are closed to other options, all of which are either treated as out-of-date, like kingdoms, or empires, or too futuristic for our times. but in fact, things change quickly: globalization has reduced the heft of single nation states enormously; virtual multi-state entities are created through global forces; "europe" has now supplanted much that was individual state status, so the old center-periphery modeled died somewhere back in the 90s when no one was looking; and suddenly china appears on the globe as something somehow larger than a simple state, like an eastern "europe," with india on the horizon, brics vying for new configurations.
we teach world literature now; world cinema now; global studies now. we have transnationalism having replaced internationalism or multinationalism. the fields of knowledge are no longer centered on area studies, much less national studies.
things done changed since you and i began our studies in this world; and imagining sweden, say, as part of a larger whole is not a bad thing.
the u.s. was willing to conquer, in god's name: the "manifest destiny" meant that to americans. but that was the world as seen yesterday by the conqueror of yesterday. no one imagined an Islamic State now conquering so much land, so quickly, and presuming to call itself a "caliphate."
things done changed, and we have to change with it.
or, in any event, we have to try to keep up with understanding it.
ken
-- kenneth w. harrow faculty excellence advocate professor of english michigan state university department of english 619 red cedar road room C-614 wells hall east lansing, mi 48824 ph. 517 803 8839 har...@msu.edu
John Mbaku
Anunoby, Ogugua
If people after reasonable time cannot live together in peace and harmony, should they not try not living together? It is dangerous to think that countries are indissoluble even when they do not work for a majority of citizens. That in fact is one reason for necessary change not being made.
Size and diversity (not just ethnicity) are desirable when they deliver expected benefits. When they do not, they should not be desirable. Size and diversity should be more strength than weakness. When they are irreversibly more weakness than strength, some serious becomes necessary.