Why, My Africa, Why?

Why am I black? Why am I here?

I have reached a stage in my life where a lot of the things happening around me are beginning to irritate my soul, my very soul. A stage where questions boggle my mind, begging for answers. A stage where I feel it just does not make sense for me to come to this world, only to make a career, build a business, make money, marry a beautiful wife, raise children, buy luxury cars, build a house or two and then die, just like many of my many ‘successful’ ancestors have done. Having observed my surroundings and the world at large, I have discovered there is a much bigger reason why I was born at this time; why I was born black; why I was born in Africa and indeed why I was born Nigerian.

Why does my race have so many problems? Why is it the black continent that had to be carried off as slaves? Why is it my race that is largely discriminated against in many parts of the world? Why can’t the black man be the envy of other races around the world? Why is it that my continent has been reduced to a beggar continent and every developed nation around the world wants to ‘help’ with loans, grants, reliefs and all? Why is my continent not the giver, helping other continents of the world? Why is it that if I must travel to the white man’s land, I would have to almost literally ‘beg’ for the visa at the embassy in endless queues, multiple rejections and appeals? Why is every black nation in Africa poor, sick and misled in spite of the huge natural resources at our disposal? Why is our community so dirty, unkempt, our roads so bad while other nations are so well built, organized and neat? Are we lesser humans than these people? Why is it that every functional multinational company in my country is managed by a foreigner, and the justifiable belief that my brothers cannot successfully lead such large organizations without running them aground? Why can’t the black man, any black man, raise his head up high with pride anywhere on earth, to discuss with any white man on equal terms, with mutual respect for each other’s races as self-made races? Why? Why? Why?

It is a statement of fact that colonialism is one major factor that has decisively shapened the destiny of the black man, both then and now. Colonialism caused the trans Atlantic slavery; this slavery caused racial discrimination; and racial discrimination gave the black man inferiority complex. Colonialism has also evolved black countries and not black nations in Africa, the power imbalance left behind by the white man has caused so much ethnic hatred amongst black nations that bloodshed from ethnic strife flows through the entire continent. Why has the black man not been able to overcome all these problems? If slavery has so affected our destiny, why did God allow it?

A study into the Bible reveals that God never does anything without a reason. The reasons for His actions however are best known to Him, for man is mostly short sighted and may not see the reasons behind the actions of the Divine one at all times. Why did God allow the people He loved, the children of Israel go into slavery for four hundred years? He had a covenant with their grandfather Abraham, He promised to make them great, so why have them serve as slaves for centuries in Egypt, a country that did not even know God Himself.

On the other hand, why are the first five books of the Bible written by Moses? Moses was not the first man; he was born several thousands of years after the earth had existed. So how could he write the book of Genesis, illustrating the creation of the earth and other major events that happened long before he was born? It is not in doubt that God told him all the stories and Moses simply wrote them down at God’s dictation. Why did God have to wait till it was the time of Moses to write the beginnings of the earth? It seems to me, as has being rightly postulated in some quarters that God used Moses for this task because he was the first Israelite who could read and write. He learnt to read and write because he grew up a prince in Pharaoh’s palace and he was taught education as an Egyptian prince. I strongly believe God sent His children into slavery to achieve this one purpose, to learn education; to learn how to read and write. That is why Moses wrote the book of the beginnings at God’s dictation; that is why Moses wrote the Ten Commandments. To achieve literacy amongst his people, God sent them into slavery for four centuries.

So why did God allow the black man to go into slavery? In locks, chains and shackles, the whips of white slave traders on their backs and the painful tip of hot markers on their bodies. A free man the black man was, but an ignorant man he was as well. Knowing little about his environment and knowing absolutely nothing about the rest of the world. I am absolutely sure that God allowed colonialism and ultimately slavery to achieve His purpose in the destiny of the black man. Who would have taught the Kalabaris that those babies born as twins were not demons and one twin did not have to be left to die in the evil forest if Mary Slessor had not been here? Who would have taught my Yoruba forefathers that Abikus were simply anaemic children, born into families where both man and wife were carriers of sickle cell anaemia? Who would have pointed the black man’s way to the one and only true living God, if colonialists were not here? How would the black man have seen that there were other lands across the Atlantic, which were much more developed and civilized? Who would have given us cars in place of horses? Who would have given us ships in place of boats? Who would have unraveled the mystery of the River Niger if Mungo Park had not taken up the challenge? Yes, the colonialists had to be here, the slave traders had to be here, I believe it was part of God’s plan to liberate the black man and bring him abreast with time.

It’s been two centuries since the abolition of the slave trade. Yet the black man is far from been free. Liberty is not freedom. The abolition of the slave trade granted liberty, a legal state of being free. But freedom, an exercise of a free man’s spirit is still far from fully being realized in the black mind. Africa today has about the worst indices in all problems facing humanity. African countries are the most corrupt; the poorest; the most affected of almost all diseases on the planet. Hunger and starvation abound in the continent. Only in natural disasters is Africa not the worst hit, as they rarely occur on this continent, and needless to say that the occurrence of natural disasters is not within the control of man. The continent has only been lucky in this regard, had the control and prevention of natural disasters been the responsibility of man, Africa would probably have been the worst hit still.

How can I make merry in the face of all these realities? Wearing a skin given me by God but degraded by men? How can I live a life of personal fulfillment when the color of my skin is looked down upon in most parts of the world? How can I be happy when the world rightly perceives me and my kin as not being smart enough to take control of our destiny? African nations have been independent for many years but have not been able to justify the independence granted us by the colonial masters. The continent reeks of an unbelievable level of poverty and corruption.

Wait a minute, how can the world respect us when we have not shown ourselves worthy of respect? If I give you grants all the time, reliefs and aids every other year, then I am better than you. I am not luckier than you are; I am a better man than you. Why? Because you have all the natural resources in the world yet you cannot take care of your problems! I have my own natural resources (which are arguably not more abundant than yours) but I take care of myself, I provide for my nation, I have invested in the present and am already providing for my future generations. You have all it takes but you simply can’t put your acts together to harness it for your own benefit! Instead you mismanage all you have and then you call on me for help every other day. Out of my ‘generosity’ I give you some of my wealth and even teach you how to apply it beneficially on yourself! You are such a dumb head. You do not deserve to be on your own yet. You should still have been under me as an apprentice learning how to be independent! I tried helping you, but you constantly nagged for independence, now you are independent but still you would not let me rest. You cannot take care of your self-inflicted problems. Your tribes are always fighting and I have to send my UN troops to settle your quarrels all of the time. Your children are dying of sicknesses, hunger and starvation and I have to come give them bags of food and drugs with my UNICEF and WHO. Every time your leaders come to my place, I catch them in shameful acts of theft and pilferage. Your leaders steal your wealth from your place that is poor, famished and dirty, to my land where there is abundance. They increase the poverty in their own land and come to increase my wealth! What a people you are! You are a laughing stock. You are not man enough to be on your own yet, but since you insist you want to be your own man, then what a less intelligent, less smart man you are. You and I are not on the same level, do not ever think we are the same, I am better than you, in as much as we both have our individual resources, but you cannot manage yours and still are behind me, then I am smarter than you, and then you call on me for help every now and then, then you are a lesser man than me. Period!

Oh black man! Rise up for yourself. Have you not been derided enough in the comity of nations? How can we continue like this and expect racism to end? Racism is simply a by-product of the backwardness of the black race. Who does not respect success? Who would not give kudos to anyone who rises up against the odds to make a phenomenal success of his life? The world respects Nelson Mandela today, but not the entire black race, because Mandela’s great achievements pale into insignificance when weighed against the general profile of the black man; Phillip Emeagwali is well revered today but not the entire black race; rather the outside world would see him as part of the ‘talented tenth’ (a ruse), or one too good for his roots, a mutant. His achievements in the world of science would not uplift the profile of the black race because it pales into insignificance when you consider the entire outlook of the African continent. If the black man had risen to the majestic heights of self-dependence and achieved success in nationhood, beating even the western nations in all indices employed in classifying between developed and developing nations, disappointing the colonial masters with the right moral attitude, racism would have been long gone, or would have at least been turned on its head! Our society would have been much better, our continent a winner and our color an envy to the world and a justifiable object of pride for everyone who wears it.

This is a call to every African leader; this continent has suffered enough. She has been shamed enough. Let everyone buckle up. It is folly for any African leader to loot his nation’s wealth, take it to a western nation to spend or invest. Your display of wealth in these foreign lands is a thing of pity for any deep thinking person. You have no good home base yet you live like a king in a foreign land. The walls of your fatherland are fallen yet you savor your portion as the cupbearer of the king in the land of captivity. There are no roads in your country yet you buy a 50 million naira Bentley Continental to drive around the streets of London! All refineries in your country are kaput yet you own functional refineries in different parts of the world! And you want the world to respect you? Fifty years after independence, every African leader goes for medical checkup in either Europe or America! What about your people who cannot afford to do same? All over the world, pictures of your sick, hungry and dying toddlers are displayed in the media. How have you proved yourself worthy of respect? You want to live large at all costs even if it means no roads, no schools, no power, and no potable water in your country? You junket around the globe, living in countries where everything works, yet you were or are a leader in a country where nothing works? Do you think at all? Is all life about riches and wealth? Mahatma Gandhi died not the richest man in his time, but he was the man of the century because he realized who he was and determined to move his country, his nation, and his ‘color’ forward. Before the world would pay respect to John D Rockefeller for his billions, many would stand in salute of a Martin Luther King who stood for a principle in his time even at the cost of his life. What is this entire craze for money at any cost by my fathers in Nigeria? This is all getting ever so nauseating!

This is a call to every African man; you are born and live at this time to tackle the challenges facing your homeland. You were not born to simply live, eat, marry, make money, boast to your country men how many countries of the world you have been to or how many houses you have abroad. This is not the age of competing who owns the latest of cars and electronic gadgets; after all how many of them do we make ourselves? This is not the time for the African youth to base his assessment of life on who wears what latest designer from Europe or America. This is the age of the great renaissance. Let it be said that in our time, Africa took a u-turn for a better destiny. We should learn from the nations of the east today. They have woken up and taken their destiny in their hands, for this reason, multinationals from the west have found solace in these nations. If all you care for in this time and age that your continent faces such shameful, self-inflicted challenges, is simply to live an enjoyable life at any cost and leave a sickening nation for your children, then borrowing the words of the scriptures, ‘you are of all men most miserable’!

Before I leave this side of the planet, I believe the African continent will undergo a rebirth, a radical rehabilitation of psyche and a radical revolution of values. Look at your greatness Africa; it is right here within you. Grab it and show the world what you can do for yourself. Let the world chase after our sons and daughters too, let us lead the world, and let us stop being at the back. We can be the giver and not the beggar. Wake up Nigeria; stop being the crippled giant. You have hallucinated enough.

Know this today my African brother, you were born for a time such as this, there is no joy in being under, there is no achievement in being pitied, there is no pride in being referred to as the underdog. There is no fulfillment in being desperate to live in another man’s land after he has developed his land with his own hands. Where are your own hands? Why can’t you make your own country a most sought after too?

We will get there, Africa; we will get there.