Well, these are a couple of essays on Nigeria worth reading every now and then. One written by a University of Nigeria Professor, appeared very recently in a Nigerian national newspaper; the other of unknown origin, probably circa 2005. Both delve deep into what it means to be Nigerian. Especially in this season.

With no further comment from me, please consider their insights.

The Scriptures, The State & This Season

by Neop

It might do some good to reflect on general social themes during the holiday season. The reason for such reflection should not be presumed to be the notion that such social themes have any great or permanent effect in altering the social conditions or milieu in which they take place. Christmas, for instance, despite years of its celebration by young and old can hardly be said to be a positive social force. Critics of neo-holidays like Kwanzaa might want to keep this in mind. Railing against Kwanzaa as a pagan, racist, demonic holiday hardly says anything in favor of the sanity of the ranter - especially when such a person indulges in Christmas festivities that are perhaps more pagan, more satanic and more racist. As "fake" holidays go - Christmas probably tops the list: A fact you couldn’t tell from its present global acceptance.

Nevertheless, our purpose here is not to adjudicate between holidays, but to reflect on how such seasons and the narratives that they invoke reveal glaring inconsistencies in our present framework and worldview. Invoking the spectre of Christ during this period is certainly not out of place - pagan Europeans, winter solstices and fictional flying reindeer aside, Christ is the reason for the season - and the justification for the celebration of his birth (Paul's admonition to be wary of such festivities aside) lies, perhaps more fundamentally, in festivals and convocations handed down by Yahweh to the Israelites of old.

An easily discernible staple of current pentecostal and charismatic Christianity in Nigeria is the invocation of the Jewish experience: "Abraham's blessings are mine", "the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just", "I shall not die but live", "I am blessed coming in and going out", "No weapon fashioned against me shall prosper", etc etc etc - these themes; certainly ubiquitous and certainly now stock narratives in Nigeria's political landscape, are drawn directly from the covenant of Jehovah with the Jews. One only needs to witness the trenchant defenses of corrupt Governors - all of them call upon the name of the Lord: A fugitive from Justice claims his experience is "the Lord's doing", and faced with general confusion in the society, any number of Bishops, Pastors and General Overseers assure us that Obasanjo is God's anointed. One compares him to Saul, another to David and another to Agag - the universal method seems to be an interpretation of the current social milieu in figures, symbols and narratives drawn from the Jewish covenant.

As an interpretive step, I do not think it would be far fetched to suggest that Nigeria itself is recast as some form of African "Israel" in these narratives. Even when Nigeria is cast as an America-type figure; the underlying reference is with respect to the "chosen-ness" of the Jewish people. The constant imagining of Nigeria as some type of America, with all the paraphrenalia of big brotherhood, manifest destiny and special missions only makes sense when we understand that the construction of American manifest destiny, indeed, even of the American identity - is a project that borrows heavily from Jewish motifs. America, thus, is a "new Israel" - a Nation called out from among the Nations: This idea, fixed in the minds of the European settlers in the United States has been translated into the very immigratory nature of "American people" (with the slaves, dead Indians and disenfranchised South Americans nicely hidden out of the way - akin perhaps, to the plight of the forgotten Canaanites). Therefore, when those responsible for the crafting of the Nigerian narrative invoke the American idea - the invocation is essentially Jewish.

This of course, is all well and good. But as the season draws us to reflect on this; perhaps it would be prudent to examine in detail the facts of the Jewish covenant? If those who insist on narrating Nigeria according to their own imaginations and insist on recasting it as a messianic figure according to the witnessed role of other Nations in history have no problem with dressing up their garb in "Judeo-Christian" talk - It certainly is not inappropriate for us to reach into the very same covenant to amuse ourselves (at the very least) with the more glaring examples of their inconsistency.

In Deuteronomy 28, Yahweh, through his Prophet Moses, outlines conditions which would come upon the Jews if they violated the divine covenant. These conditions were mostly curses. Popular narratives in Nigerian spaces have made good use of the precursors to these curses; blessings that would accrue to the Jews should them meet the terms of the covenant.

For instance: Deuteronomy 28 verse 7 is especially popular among Christians - "The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways" - as is verse 13 "And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath" (which many spend night and day "claiming" for Nigeria; fevered up by their desperate imaginations of Nigeria as some African America).

However, reading on, one finds conditions and situations - curses, to be exact - that are more in line with the Nigerian condition: Indeed, that describe the colonial condition perfectly, and identify it for what it is: A CURSE.

Look at verse 32 for instance: "Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long" which is a perfect description of the historical slavery and present immigratory servitude many West African peoples find themselves in today.

Verse 40, with a little bit of imagination, might as well be speaking of Nigeria's much vaunted petrodollars: "Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit."

And verse 43 and 44 describe, only too avidly, the current situation with regards to "expat workers" and their discrimination against the local labor force - as well as the State's penchant for "foreign expertise": "The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail." - the determined exegete can read "foreign aid" and "debt relief" into the last part. Much imagination is not required to do so.

In verses 49 and 50, we find, again, through no particular wresting of the scriptures, a hint of slavery, the colonial yoke and linguistic imperialism: Yokes that Christian and non-Christian alike are suffering under today, courtesy of the Nigerian state:

"The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young"

And the much vaunted phenomenon of there being a Nigerian in every country on the face of the earth doesn't look good when read in the light of verse 64:

"And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone."

The constant perils of flight from immigration officers, worries about papers, quests for local maidens to wed in order to have residency, etc etc etc might be adequately summed up in verse 65: "And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind"

In verse 68, the curses culminate with a return to the colonial condition: "And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you."

Were there to be any consistency in the narration of those who continue to garb the Nigerian project in the language of Christianity - they would concede that Nigeria is a curse: A curse on the Yoruba, a curse on the Igbo, a curse on the Ijaw, a curse on the Tiv, a curse on the Nupe - A mighty curse on all the Nations that neither subscribed to its establishment, or its present administration. The task then, would be to determine if the "divine will" - which we have been told has destined a great future for Nigeria (the country being the trigger in the gun of God and all that) - has any consort or fellowship with the accursed condition that presently dominates.

The supernal objective of the righteous ought to be the lifting of the curse, an end to colonialism, an end to the subjugation of African peoples and Nations, and an end to State Imperialism. The Nationals currently yoked by Nigeria are still under the domination of a "foreign tongue". They are still plagued by botches and itches and the diseases of Egypt. This situation is embodied in the very ontological status of Nigeria. Nigeria is a CURSE. No amount of restructuring, wishful thiking, vigils or prayers will resolve or recreate the nature of Nigeria. Those who insist on perpetuating the curse by enshrouding Nigeria with sacred status only succeed in extending the yoke of bondage.

Nigeria's fundamental problem is not economic, it is not historical or geographical. Nigeria has a problem with human liberty because it was conceived in enmity against the liberty of various West African peoples. This yoke, continues today. The dictum of the season enjoins: "Peace on earth...goodwill towards men" - However, for those under the yoke of the Nigerian State, there will be no goodwill, or peace: How can there be, when the curse is still very much alive, and every bit as efficacious?

Certainly, there are other doctrinal frameworks within which Nigeria is justified: But the Christian agenda is entirely misled. For were that not to be the case, we would find foreign yokes, linguistic imperialism and scattered populations listed as blessings in the Christian scripture. Unfortunately, we do not. What are we therefore to go on? The visions of a prophet of a great Nigeria? The prayers of a thousand Bishops? Why should any Christian imbue these with any significance when the Scriptures present a clearer and more compelling case? Nigeria - the oracles do declare - is a CURSE.

Extrapolations from that theme may suffice to exercise our grey cells over the holidays - though, as I mentioned earlier, the holidays themselves are of no productive value - yet, in this case, if they provoke a scriptural dialogue with the many Christians who now see the propping up of the colonial Nigerian State as their ministry, perhaps some larger purpose will be served.

There is an interesting postscript to this: Many clergymen with countrywide prominence are now fond of declaring: "Nigeria will survive" - This is interesting because, reasoning from secular history, an element of prophetic mischief might be connoted in this. Nigeria after all, originated as the proper name of certain region of the British protectorate in West Africa - and yes, I have no doubt that it will "survive" - if only to ensure that West Africa's supply of domestic terrorists is in no way jeopardized.

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Neo-Black Problem: Must Blacks Be Ruled by Whites in Order to Prosper?

by Joseph Agbakoba


Nigeria just celebrated her 64th year of independence and it was a gloomy day for most Nigerians. This was captured very well in a scathing editorial by the Punch newspaper. The paper recounted the consequences of state capture by a coarse, brutal, rapacious and counter-developmental political elite – dramatic increase in poverty levels, illiteracy, banditry, insecurity, collapse of infrastructure and institutions, corruption, and virtually every conceivable public ailment.

In the estimation of many, the country is now a failed or virtually failed state. The arrogantly named “giant of Africa” has now seen that in the things that matter, which make a people great, she has always been a pony. People are suffering in unprecedented numbers of malnutrition, starvation, malaria, political violence, banditry and joblessness in this underachieving pony of a state.


In response, many are calling for or actively showing their preference for re-colonization or a return to white rule. This has to be understood well.

One, there are those who can afford to emigrate fairly legally, at least. So, they make their way to regions of white rule in the Western strong holds of Europe or North America, etc. This is the highly celebrated “japa” – escape from the bondage of fellow Black rule.

Two, illegal emigration to regions of white rule in spite of its many hazards, by poorer but desperate young Africans.

Third, the stay-at-homes, especially the youth, who want a return of white rule to take over their failed governments.

The fate of Nigeria is shared more or less by other sub-Saharan African countries. Recently, I listened to a viral clip by an apparently poor and frustrated South African calling for a return to white rule in her country for broadly similar reasons.

Then also I read about the shocking case of two black women who went scavenging for food in a white man’s farm in the North of South Africa. He killed them and fed their remains to his pigs to conceal his crime. This is cruel and racist and he and his accomplices must pay for their crime. But we must recognize that these poor black women were driven to extreme poverty and desperation by the failure and insensitivity of Black rule in a country that only 30 years ago won a hard fought victory against white minority rule.

These unfortunate women are not different from those who die on the perilous journey through the Sahara desert and the Mediterranean to Europe, or are sold into slavery by Arabs in North Africa.

This is the neo-black problem – which Franz Fanon did not see fully in his conceptualization of the black problem, but which like the black problem cannot be escaped by all black Africans, and for which recolonisation of any type is not a proper or lasting solution.

In short, the neo-black dilemma may be framed as follows: is it better to live under white rule without political dignity but with basic life-sustaining standards for many; or to live under black rule with illusory political dignity and without basic life- sustaining standards for the majority?

We must square up to this problem in order to solve it. This begins with intellectual honesty and humility, utmost respect and responsibility for truth, factuality and functionality.

Unfortunately, one of the flip sides of the protest politics of African liberation struggle is the cultivation of a touchy egotistical response to every thing real or imaginary no matter how small that robs off negatively on our struggle-inflated and hypersensitized egos (a direct consequence of our struggle with a lingering alienation-negativity complex due to colonial racism).

However, as Thomas Sowell writes of the somewhat similar problem of the black redneck culture in the USA, we have to pull away from this irrational path of counter-development and focus on the things that matter.

Again, as Sowell points out, except for a few outliers, politics does not directly make a community rich. And, political ‘liberators’ are often an obstacle to the development of their people due to their interest in keeping self rewarding but developmentally negative or insignificant causes in the front burners of the public sphere and politics.

The path forward for Africa lies in cultivating higher and adequate levels of personal and communal agential integrity as well as full personal responsibility and productivity. Not to mention creativity (including epistemic creativity), productive justice (such as merit and freedom), harmony and reconciliation at local and international levels, and a proper domestication of capitalism and other related values and institutions.

Africa must stop wasting her time on dreams of socialism because it is a system of wealth distribution primarily. Whereas, capitalism is a system of wealth creation primarily, and wealth has to be produced before it can be distributed. As George Ayittey rightly pointed out, precolonial Africa was basically proto-capitalist, I would say, with a penumbra of proto-welfarism. Africa cannot live in an isolated, exotic niche of her own, outside global capitalism.

This is the transcolonial view that envisages a new self-created Africa that makes use of utilizable elements of, but also creatively goes beyond the limitations of the pre-colonial order, the colonial deposit and available global resources, to achieve a functional hybrid culture, especially heterosis (a vigorous hybrid that surpasses its parent stocks).

Further, Africa must shun victimology because colonization is virtually as old as human history and equally universal. And, as morally condemnable as it is, it is one of the means by which knowledge spreads from one society to another (some of the others being commerce, tourism of different types, and evangelization).

Without overly focusing on victimhood, many Asian former colonies have found ways of integrating helpful Western knowledge and values to create thriving modern states, in spite of local and international obstacles.


Africa must also give up her embarrassing disposition to pan handling and outsourcing solutions.

The task of driving this development lies with African intellectuals and intelligentsia because the saying “the intellect precedes all in humans” can be said to apply aptly to development issues.

Can this class and generation of Africans live up to their historical responsibility? Time will tell but it can be said that their job has been made easier with the coming of new forms of communication such as social media by which worthwhile initiatives can be rapidly incubated and brought to life across borders.

Failure will not bode well for us as it could lead to extinction. As the philosopher, Immanuel Kant, opines, humans of all the creatures in the world, are endowed by nature (God, some like me would say) with reason (including rational will and creativity) as their unique equipment for the mastery of the world and survival. We must exercise our humanity in this regard or be willing to perish.

Agbakoba is professor of philosophy at the University of Nigeria
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Good Luck to Nigerians.