In June 2014, before Nigeria rebased her economy, South Africa was the undisputed economic giant of Africa. It had had an economy developed on the same theories and practices that were used by European economies for their advancement. A lot of my friends who had visited South Africa told me the incredible stories of a country, which is physically and economically more developed than Sweden, Norway or Finland.
Therefore, after we rebased and overtook South Africa as the largest economy in Africa, I didn’t expect South Africa, in the spirit of our contribution to free them from the oppression of the Boers, to clap for and egg us on. As a matter of fact, I was appalled at the epithets with which the respected Madiba, God rest his Soul, once used in describing us after he got out of Robben Island, and this appalling feeling is what establishes the suspicions and subsequent suggestions in this discourse.
Most South Africans and indeed a lot of the people we see as our African brothers and sisters see us as ‘big for nothing’, and would go out of their way to prove it. I sensed something was brewing and the currency of bad blood growing after about 67 South Africans died at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Lagos, Nigeria. The South African government was bitter, and though it tried its very best to hide this bitterness, and came short of accusing the Nigerian government of complicity in the unfortunate deaths of its citizens, my gut feeling was that taking of a pound of flesh is imminent, first for our surprise overtaking of their position as the largest economy in Africa, and second, for the unfortunate deaths of South Africans in Nigeria.
The opportunity came, aided and abetted with the naivety of our government. In a secret arms deal that was supposed to stay secret and brokered at that level of international diplomacy, the South Africans took that opportunity to rubbish whatever international reputation we had left, after Boko Haram, as a giant or a big African brother. A colleague here looking over my shoulder and sensing my train of thought from my title is adamant that we served up ourselves on a platter for the South Africans to hack to pieces on the altar of mediocrity. That may be so, but most of us are adamant as well that we must look us in the face and tell us some home truths.
Following reports in the local and international press of xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and several other African immigrants in South Africa, I have no choice but to join others in calling on the government to take immediate action against these attacks to forestall the backlash against Nigerians in other African countries. Coming at a time Nigeria has conducted an election hailed internationally as credible, this attack is an embarrassment that seeks to present Nigeria as incapable of defending her citizens in the face of unprovoked and unwarranted attack by citizens of a country which Nigeria spent human and material resources to emancipate from apartheid.
Irrespective of the fact that we have recently recalled our ambassador from South Africa, most Nigerians would be happy that our government takes immediate evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa. If the avowed responsibility of government is the protection of the lives and property of her citizens wherever they may be, our government must do the needful and put its foot down by dealing decisively with the situation in South Africa as a deterrent to all such attacks from other Africans in the near or far future. This attack on Nigerians comes as one too many, particularly as South Africa and indeed many African countries have a disposition of belligerence towards Nigerians.
I call on the framers and formulators of our foreign policy to review the Africa-our-centre-piece policy and focus more on developing Nigeria and look inward to strengthen the economy, build strong and virile institutions, empower our people and forge alliances that promote our national interests globally, rather than being a big brother whose citizens travel to lesser endowed countries seeking greener pastures.
Our economy is in tatters because we have allowed corruption to eat so deep into our political and economic fabric so much that countries that have no business challenging us do so now at whim. If our economy were to be in shape, why would our people be thronging to other seemingly less-endowed countries to eke a living and ending up on death row for smuggling hard drugs? While Nigerians condemn these unwarranted attacks on Nigerians, they abhor a situation where a government apparently decides to toe the path of docility in the face of these unprovoked attacks. Nigerians are not interested in our government telling her citizens in South Africa to stay at home. Based on this, the Nigerian government must demand an apology from the South African government and ask for compensation for the families of the Nigerians caught in these dastardly acts. A failure to do so and a failure for South Africa to make arrangements to guarantee the safety and protection of Nigerians in South Africa, the Nigerian government must hand down stiffer policies that will affect vital South African interests in Nigeria.
In 1944, an American president, Franklin Roosevelt, forgot his dog, Fala, when he was visiting the Aleutian Islands. So he sent back warships to go back there to fetch the dog. He was ridiculed and accused of spending tax payers’ money on a Scottish terrier. “You can criticise me, my wife and my family, but you can’t criticise my little dog. He’s Scotch and all these allegations about spending all this money have just made his little soul furious,” he told his traducers. He told his fellow Americans as well that if he could send a warship to go get a Scottish terrier, a lost dog, they should imagine what he would do as president if it turned out that it was an American life that was at stake. I think part of the philosophy in Americans expecting to lay down their lives for their country is in realising what more their country would do for them in a moment of their adversity. I think Nigeria can look inwards more by developing her people than expecting to be respected in being a big brother.
• Etemiku is with the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, Benin City.
