Response to Ambassador Terrace McCulley, United States Ambassador to Nigeria
I would  like to say a very big thank you to His Excellency Ambassador Terrace P. McCulley, the United States Ambassador to Nigeria for his wonderful and thought-provoking essay entitled “ Golden Opportunity for Nigeria’’ published on the 31st of March edition of the Thisday Newspaper. I read the essay over 20 times and at some point I could even recite some paragraphs in the essay. Now, why am I in love with this essay? Afterall, Thisday Newspaper publishes essays written by guest columnists almost every day – some of the columnists  having political agendas and some are using the medium as an avenue to write “inflammatory rhetorics” on peoples’ character. This is not case for Mr. McCulley. For those of who might not understand my last sentence I am going to expand on this in the forthcoming paragraphs.
Firstly, Mr. McCulley’s piece got me thinking of one of the fundamental theories I have learnt from my seemingly enlightened teachers since I became a part time student of Politics and International Relations. My teachers have put up arguments on why there is a no fly zone in Libya and not in Cote d’ Ivoire and  other related arguments trying to portray strategic interest of Nations. I quickly called one of my teachers this morning and asked him to read McCulley’s essay and in my normal spontaneously character told him that this man in a true friend of Nigeria. I emphasised the penultimate paragraph about the ambassador’s passionate yet warm message to the Nigerian youths. When my teacher replied to my call, he was skeptical as usual and said, ’well, I think this man is different: he might be a good man judging from the psychology of his essay’ and he ended by saying ‘boy, don’t be deceived, they are all the same, didn’t you see Mrs. Sanders’s memos published on wikileaks? They are here to protect their country’s economic interest in your oil rich country’. I quickly replied to my teacher that I believe international relationships were about friendship and national interest as well. I told him that I do not think Mrs. Sanders have done anything wrong (though I did not want to comment on Wikilieaks and grudgingly did so). I tried to educate my teacher that if Nigeria prospered and the average citizen could afford to buy an I-Pod, by implication, America would also prosper because Apple was an American company. Mr. McCulley has displaced this wonderful sense of friendship in his piece because I think he truly loves Nigeria and believes in mutual interests.
The Ambassador made me appreciate my country by reiterating our various participation in the African Union (AU), the United Nations, Economic Community of West African States (ECOMOG) and the various peace keeping initiatives Nigeria has sponsored. But are we giants after all? We have spent millions of dollars in several peace missions in Africa with no clear cut foreign policy agenda. Of course one would agree with me in saying that these African countries would have been a good place for Nigeria businesses to flourish? But, one  question still remains: how many multinational Nigerian companies do we have? What is the value of trade between Nigeria and the various countries we have assisted in the sub region? Dr Reuben Abati, in one of his pieces in the Guardian Newspaper, likened Nigerians international policies to one driven by a Father Christmas mentality. Once again, though, it is quite consoling that the international community respects us for our role in the AU and ECOMOG as seen in the Ambassador’s piece.
Mr. McCulley reminded us of the intelligence, optimistic and hardworking nature of the average Nigerian. This is really something to be proud of. These characteristics are wealth in itself. Nigeria is truly a rich Nation. I am very sure these are the qualities the ambassador sees in his own people and thus believes that we can make it since they could make it. I was really touched by the compliments of the ambassador. The question here is: if we have the same qualities as the Americans, then why are we not anywhere near what they are? Now, do not give me the common answer - leadership problem. I am sorry I do not totally agree with that answer. I am not disputing the fact that good governance and democracy is a panacea for economic development. A country gets the kind of leadership it deserves! When citizens sell their ballot cards and support politicians because of what their immediate families can get from the politicians rather than what the nation as a whole could get and abstain from voting – which kind of country do you expect to get?
Once again, I would like to say a very big thank you to Mr. Ambassador.