LEAVE THEM ALONE! 2 - Minding the African Business

Being victims of racism is not really a big problem for Blacks. One of our major problems is that we're too full. We're too full of good things, but too much of everything is bad. Take an empty barrel for instance. It's so noisy and troublesome. You call that a White man? Correct! Someone like Trump. But look at a barrel that's full. You know it's problem? It can't move! While the empty barrel is noisily rattling off to new things, the full one is just stuck there, grumbling. That's the Black man! Someone from Nigeria especially. 

Mundayan Living quoted Muhammad Ali as saying that despite all his success, America would always have its White idol and someone commented, saying: 'Was Ali really that insecure?' It made me smile bitterly. Because Ali and many other Black Americans are really very insecure. So insecure, bitter and angry that they can sometimes look very scary to not only Whites, but other Blacks. Think one-time racist, Malcolm X whom I think America honors out of fear than respect. Now, these guys, those of them that have decided to work hard, will always crane their necks to look at how the White man is faring. Is that really necessary? Why can't you just mind your business? Why do you think you should always be ahead of the White man? We're all equals! At least until somebody claims to be superior. Even then, it's not our job to answer them. Actions, they say, speak louder than words. And you don't have to act because the White man is watching or because you wanna prove a point. You have to act because you have to act, because you can act, because you should act, because you MUST act!

AFRICA: A Continent Misrepresented

I think I just found a few words to represent what I've been trying to communicate for some months now: "Africa is not a continent for Blacks alone". 

When people think of Africa, what comes to their mind is 'Blacks' or a 'Black country'. Black Americans regard themselves by default to be African-Americans. That's wrong! Africa is a continent. It is not a country, or a town, or a village like most Americans think. Africans are not a bunch of similar-colored straws, we are a very diverse continent. This great continent houses Whites, Arabs, different shades of Black, and even Semitics and semi-Hispanics. 

Let me give you an example to make things a little clearer. If you say you're in America and the weather's quite warm, I might think you're a liar. Why? Because my friend who's also in America tells me it's cold over there. But the truth is you can both be right! How? My friend could be in Chile and you can be in the US, but you're both in America! The same applies to Africa. We're also spread over two hemispheres. We have thousands of languages, over 50 different countries, different currencies, different flags, different religions, different forms of government, different laws, different mindsets, different climates, etc. etc. So it is very imperative you think of us as a continent, not as some obscure place. 

The word 'African-American' is wrong and abnormal. Compare it to British-Nigerian. Do they look alike? Of course not! One's nation-nation, another's continent-nation. Not everyone who's Black is African. So a Black person who's an American is a Black American. Everyone who's a citizen of and belonging to countries in the continent of Africa is an African, be he Black, Arab, or White!

LET'S BELIEVE IN US!

What the Americans have built doesn't necessarily have a reward system. You can call it propaganda, but it's well done and it works (though it's not so effective nowadays). It makes them have goosebumps, teary eyes, puff their chest and say with pride that their country is the greatest in the world. The old Brits and Americans would do it, but which Nigerian would do it? When I say my country is the greatest in the world, people (both Blacks and Whites) look at me like I'm mad. Yes, my country is the world's greatest! I know it, I believe it and I can prove it! If every African can do the same, Africa would be the one offering aid to Europe and America! It's because we don't believe in ourselves that's why we're behind. The Whites would be Okay if they don't believe we're great, but we would be sick if we believe them.

SLAVERY WAS AND IS STILL OUR CHOICE

Someone was once quoted as saying 'slavery is a choice' (was it Kanye?). It is actually the truth. Slavery is a choice. A lot of horrors happened during the slave trade era and the White man did a lot of evil things to Blacks, but you know the worst form of slavery that the Blacks went through? It was the slavery of their own minds! They could have set their minds free, but they didn't! That's what makes it a choice, their choice. There are many angles to this, but I'll highlight only a few. One: Many of the slaves were captured and sold to the Whites by their fellow Blacks. Two: Several attempts/plans to escape from slavery were foiled by some of the slaves themselves. Three: There is a big difference between love of life/hope and cowardice. The slaves were mostly cowards. They hardly ever stood toe to toe with their enslavers. They preferred to die from beatings than to die while resisting the beatings. Four: Many of the slaves allowed 'sticks and stones' to not only break their bones but to also break their souls. Five: They generally lacked unity or the nerve for open solidarity thereby throwing away all their leverages. Six: They nursed fear until it became even bigger than their enslavers and it controlled them completely. Lastly: The dependence of (Black) African leaders on their White superiors shows that we not only chose to be slaves centuries ago, but we still remain slaves till today! 

The White man came here, only to find people who never really loved one another, people who could not think for themselves but had to consult wood and iron to make decisions for them, people who were base enough to capture, kill and eat one another. It would have been extraordinarily kind and not very human if they hadn't taken advantage of the situation.

MOVING FORWARD

It's common to hear some Africans foolishly suggest that we need a bloody revolution to move forward. Yes, it's actually not totally untrue. Development usually follows such things, depending on the leaders involved. I mean, after the Nigerian Civil War, came our first and last major development in infrastructure and other areas. Rawlings' cleansing was what made Ghana move to its current manageable height today. Rwanda's genocide was the prelude to their development which has now put them on top of Africa. Same thing in South Africa and a few other places. But even though bloodshed has produced such results, it doesn't make it the best solution. The best solution is actually much more simpler and easier. 

 

Africa's biggest problem is lack of love. If you can't love your neighbor, love yourself at least. Develop yourself, gather knowledge, travel (if you can), keep an open mind and stop adopting twisted theories. If we all do this, Africa would automatically shoot upward. But we have to do it carefully and quietly, so our enemies would not know what we are up to.

2019 JAMB CUT-OFF MARK: Nigeria's Mockery Of Quality Education

Recently, the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) wey be the join body wey dey concerned with the admission of students into tertiary institutions brought up the university admission cut-off mark to 160 out of the total 400 marks. This amounts to 40% which is within the range of F9 or Fail in a fair grading system. So if a secondary school graduate can 'fail' UTME and go on to end up in a university, why on earth will he study hard to pass out in flying colors? It shows that the entire educational system has failed! They claim that the cut-off mark is lowered to enable more students pass, but we all know that at the moment, there are not enough universities to accommodate all those that have passed with good grades, so instead of reducing it, why on earth are they trying to increase their population by adding failures to them?? Must everyone, especially the dull ones, go to a university? Why do vocational training programmes exist? It is clear that the managers of our education sector have only one objective. It's like Sgt. Maj. Blane in The Unit (S2) said: "We're here to make you fail!" 

For starters, the education curriculum is faulty and hugely outdated, the schools are dilapidated, the teachers themselves are mentally, psychologically, academically and financially dilapidated! The exam fees are high and we lead the world in poverty! After all these, the government seeing that there are many students who have passed the UTME exams and still have not gotten admission, decided to set up the Foundation Programme, not for those that passed but for those that failed! After that, they went on to reduce the cut-off marks so that more failures would stand a chance of getting admission ahead of those that passed since by the time it gets to them, the universities would already be full with failures and would no longer be accepting students! Isn't this heartless and wicked, not only to the brilliant students, but also to the Nigerian nation at large? Why are they discouraging the youths from passing exams and thereby blocking the nation's progress??? When I was younger, failing exams was something every student dreaded and every parent hated, but nowadays, it's a norm! Failing exams is very normal not only for students, but also for their parents and the rest of the society! Some years ago, I heard a student boasting that he had failed WAEC four times. He wasn't feeling bad about it, instead he was happy and smiling and his chest was puffed with pride! Oh Nigeria, where are we headed??

Thinking Out Loud: The numbness/deadness of our government agencies

When I was little, one common attribute of law students or practicing lawyers was eloquent speech, latin maxims and big words that you couldn't find in any dictionary weighing below 1kg. But nowadays, even practicing lawyers who are senior advocates speak like or even worse than illiterates. An average lawyer cannot complete a sentence without a string of em.. em.. em. Months ago, I watched the Solicitor-General of the nation on TV and I was shocked. The man could hardly deliver a sensible sentence in a comprehensive manner! Epiphany Azinge is the dream model of many lawyers today, but I can tell you that his oratory skills is nothing compared to local Urhobo musicians of those days not to mention 2nd year law students! Prof. Yemi Osinbajo is the only lawyer I can point to when you talk of eloquence. He seems like one out of a million. 

 

I heard some days ago how a non-lawyer worked with lawyers in a state judicial system for years until he was caught. And I asked, 'how can lawyers not be able to detect an impostor in their midst for several years??' This exact same thing happened when a non-doctor became the head of the NMA, the body that controls everything medical in the country. And he spent a long time in the position! It baffles me how doctors cannot detect such an impostor! Such things have become quite a norm in every sector. And one surprising thing is that all or most of the people that were fooled were products of our educational system when it was still manageable. So think of us in some decades to come when our current failed educational system would be what has produced all our leaders... it will be a disaster! Our president might have a PhD and not be able to read!

HATRED FOR READING

As a passionate writer and avid reader, I understand the relationship between reading and development. In fact, the most foolish people are those who don't read. And the poorest countries are nations that don't care about reading. Take Nigeria for instance, the only kind of books you find in large quantity are below standard textbooks, Bibles and spiritual books. That tells you the direction the nation is headed. It is no wonder that we house the largest amount of paupers on earth. Not only financial paupers but mental paupers. They are so poor that there are holes in their brains and their pockets, so no matter what you put in them, it always falls off. The source of the problem is hatred for reading! The students don't want to read, their parents 'don't have time' te read, their teachers in many cases cannot read... so at the end of the day, the only authors that thrive are the pastors, because their books are fantastic and promising. They offer you ways in which you can use prayers to kill all your enemies, get a wife, make billions and enter into heaven. Can I hear a very loud Halleluyah! You don't have to work, you just have to read the Bible, pray and pay your tithes even though you have no source of income. Halleluyah! Like Fela sang, 'My people dem go dey follow Imam (Amen); dey follow Pope (Amen); dey follow arcbishop (Amen)..." So the 'men of God' keep swindling them and raping their kids at the same time and the blind sheep continue to cheer them on. 

 

Now let's look at other countries. One of the reasons why Jeff Bezos was recently ranked the world's richest man was because he owns Amazon and one of the reasons why Amazon is very well known is because it sells books amongst other things. This company controls the world of ebook sales and no one else comes close. But you find that they have little or no presence in the world's second most populated continent, Africa. When it comes to books, they make so much money concentrating mostly on the US and some parts of Europe. But I believe that if Amazon were to establish its presence here, it would grow a thousand fold in the sale of everything except.. books! Everybody here wants flashy cars, fine jewelry and designer clothes, but nobody wants to read, even if the book is free. Have you ever seen a modern Nigerian who's not a self-sponsoring student save money to buy books? Bah! Abomination! What does he need books for? There's a new shoe in town or there's a new girl in the area who turns down all the guys that ask her out. These are the most important things in life! After wearing out the shoe and banging the girl six ways from Sunday, what has he achieved? Abso-fuckin-lutely nothing! In fact, he's worse off than when he started. So the next thing he does is to blame the government! Of course, the government also created a large share of the problem. There is absolutely no sensible modern library in Nigeria and yet this is the 7th most populated nation on the planet. Bookstores are a rarity. Unless you sell Bibles, substandard textbooks, Qurans and spiritual/prayer books, then you should never think of opening a bookstore. Most fiction books you will find around are distributed by the education ministry and must be forced on the students, but still, a sizeable number of them will never go past the first few pages. If it were books about how to make millions in 5 minutes without stress or how to bang a girl non-stop for 5 hours without getting tired. Aha! Now you're talking. But how can such knowledge move us and our nation forward?