The U.K. Leg of the Presidential Dialogue with Nigerians in Diaspora: A Brief Report and Personal Assessment
The U.K version of the Presidential dialogue with Nigerians in Diaspora was held from the 15th till the 16th of September 2000, and I had the opportunity to be in attendance on both days. Participants included delegates from mainland Europe in as much as the event was aimed at Nigerians based in all over Europe. On each of the two days, the statistics gathered by the Nigerian High Commission in London recorded about 500 participants.
The programme of the 15th September was divided into three main sessions. The first was a welcome session that elucidated the idea behind the event, and gave orientation to the proceedings that would follow. The session split participants into the four main groups of discussion as Mr President wanted namely:
1. Health care delivery in Nigeria: Contributions of Nigerians in Diaspora.
2. Globalisation and its implications for Nigerians.
3. Investment challenges and expectations of Nigerians in Diaspora.
4. Information technology Age – Development of software as enterprise in Nigeria.
The split into groups was based on participants’ preference of the topic that was dear to their hearts. I personally was torn between the IT group (the field in which I currently practise) and the Globalisation group (a subject which has been part of my field of academic training since the 1980’s). I eventually opted for the latter group whose deliberations I envisaged will include the task of the former. I was not proved wrong.
The end of the syndicated group discussions witnessed a brief lunch break, and this was followed by the presentation of each group’s deliberation to the seminar (as the event was consistently referred to by the organisers). However, before the group reports, the seminar was addressed for about 5 minutes by the Minister for Education Professor Tunde Adeniran, whom most delegates regarded as modest and simple.
The presentation by each group was followed by a question and comments opportunity allowing delegates to clarify and add to highlighted suggestions. Each of the presentation was followed by rowdy and heated accusations of the reports as not representing the deliberation of members of each group. The resultant effect was the need for group members that were yet to walk out in anger, to hold another brief session immediately after the seminar broke up, prior to the final draft of reports being prepared for handover to the President on the morning of the 16th of September.
The conclusion of the seminar on the 15th of September was followed by a well attended dinner at the residence of the Nigerian High Commissioner in London, Prince Bola Ajibola. The President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo used the opportunity to address those present for some twenty minutes. He gave a brief summary of the result so far of his state visit to Britain, his dreams and aspirations for Nigeria and Nigerians in Diaspora, and how every one can work together to make it a reality. Whilst his address was full of banters and rib cracking jokes, the observation by most delegates at the dinner was that the President exuded honesty and clarity of purpose as far as his job is concerned.
The main event for the morning of the 16th of September was to have been a question and answer session between Mr President and delegates. However, the session did not start as scheduled (started at 1035HRS instead of 0900HRS) because delegates did not turn up in time. By the time the President could deliver his address following submissions of reports of the previous day’s deliberations, the time for which the venue had been booked was already exceeded and he could only entertain three questions before the event closed.
However in his address, Mr President re-emphasised his commitment to making the dialogue a permanent and regular feature of his administration. He urged Nigerians in Diaspora not to see it as a flash in the pan, because he had been agonising over the idea for a very long time. He assured that the reports and the suggestions therein will end up on his desk to receive his personal attention.
The President believes we all have divine reasons for being where we are – to benefit our families, our communities, our societies and nations, and humanity at large. For him, having been to where he went (alluding to his incarceration by Abacha), he perceives himself as being divinely placed in the position he now occupies with the sole purpose of making Nigeria great once again, and he is determined fulfil that purpose.
The President also promised (in response to one of the questions, and partly in answer to a lady who had rudely broke into the quietness of events and had walked out in protest), that by the end of the year 2001, he guarantees 24 hour uninterrupted power supply to all households that are already connected to the national grid.
The President does not want all Nigerians in Diaspora back home, not now any way. According to him, some of us can help Nigeria develop by being outside its’ shores, whilst others can make better contributions by going back home. In a lighter mood, even if he wants everyone back, he has no place to put all of us at a go. Furthermore, we all did not disappear from Nigeria in one day. As we trickled out, he expects us to trickle back as Nigeria changes for the better.
Mr President also emphasised his unflinching commitment to Nigerian unity in diversity with peace, prosperity and development. According to him, he has sought dialogue with the constituent parts of the country. Whilst each zone has its’ own grievance, none wants a dismemberment of the enterprise called Nigeria. For him therefore, Nigeria is worth dying for while he encourages all Nigerians outside its’ shores to live for the country.
Above all, he urges Nigerians in Diaspora not to lose their identities. Those who hold other nationalities are encouraged to keep them because the second nationality is born out of convenience. Nevertheless, east or west, home is the best. According to him, it is only in Nigeria you can realise an atmosphere of belonging – where you are called uncle, aunty, mummy, daddy, cousin, nephew, brother or sister, and not by your pronounceable name like John or Maggie.
A poll of 329 delegates by the organisers of the event showed that 99% welcomes the initiative by the President and wants it to continue. The same margin supports the establishment of an NGO as envisaged by the government, to collate the data of Nigerian professionals in various disciplines worldwide, to enable government and businesses access to the skills of expatriate Nigerians whenever required. 78% also supported the idea of an investment fund that will assist Nigerians in Diaspora to invest back home either in properties or small/medium scale industries.
My Personal Assessment of the Dialogue
I was extremely disappointed by the low level of participants at the seminar. This feeling was also echoed by a variety of delegates at the seminar on the 15th, and the excuse offered by the Nigerian High Commission in London was that it had no records of Nigerian professionals in the U.K. especially, where to contact them and how to contact them.
This boils down to the abysmal performance of our missions over the years during which one of the primary reasons for the missions’ existence – to look after Nigerians abroad and their interests – was gleefully forgotten. If our embassies were caring enough, no Nigerian will shy away from reporting his or her where-about on entry into a foreign country. Hopefully, with data collected from registered delegates, a database can be started by the London high commission that should be expanded to include all Nigerians (whether professional or not) in the United Kingdom, and it is hoped that government will re-orientate all our foreign missions towards the same goal.
At my syndicated group’s discussion, and the totality of the seminar on the 15th, the Nigerian factor was completely evident. There was flagrant violation of agreed rules and regulations of conduct, complete disregard and disrespect for constituted authority, rudeness, rowdiness, and insubordination by some of the delegates. Despite the request to turn off mobile phones before proceedings started, ringers kept coming on distracting every one, and this even occurred at the President’s address session on Saturday the 16th of September.
The traits exhibited by some of the delegates shows that for most Nigerians abroad, our mentality and perception of how to conduct our affairs has not changed despite years of sojourning in foreign lands and being obedient to their ways of life. If what I witnessed is a copy of the scenario that attended the American version of the dialogue, I am not at all surprised that the President after been tasked beyond endurance retorted ‘go to hell’ to a delegate. After all, he is human.
Until we learn to conduct ourselves in the right manner when we get together as Nigerians, I see no moral justification for criticising those in Nigeria. The evidence is that most of us will exhibit the same tendency – if not worse – we accuse others of if put in their positions. I hope this has got nothing to do with the water we all drank in the country before running away from it.
A Personal Assessment of Mr President
I have never seen the President at a close distance until now. I have always had my misgivings about him, the 1979 elections and the military prior to his recent appointment.
My belief over the years is that Nigeria can only change for the better if and only if a product of the corrupt and military system gets into power and becomes a renegade. My perception is that the one person that will change Nigeria needs to know the system in and out to be able to plug all the lapses and loopholes being exploited to the detriment of the masses. As our elders say only a thief can trace the footpath of another thief on a mountain (no offence or insinuations meant)
Hence, when Chief Obasanjo became President, I adopted a wait and see attitude, and it seems the President may fulfil my expectations. He came across to me as a man who has a good grasp of the problem with the country, and the basic and essential needs of the people. I also see a man: who is down to earth, possess a passion for rebuilding Nigeria and making it reclaim all its’ lost glories, wants posterity to judge him favourably has having made good use of a second opportunity at ruling Nigeria, and aims to leave a good legacy for future generations. Whilst a tree does not make a forest, and he faces formidable obstacles, I personally believe that if God can give him the wisdom to surround himself with people of his own vision, to have the right pegs in the right hole, and to stand unwavering every second he breathes in his avowed goals for the enterprise called Nigeria, Obasanjo can lay an incorruptible foundation for a true Giant of Africa.
Hence, comments and writings about his alleged attitude at the American Dialogue (especially the ‘go to hell’ occurrence) seems to me to be bordered on too much sentimentalism. It is high time Nigerians start dwelling on the positive side of things rather than the negative. After all, this is the first time any Nigerian President has ever thought of seeking anyone’s opinion about how to move the country forward.
In essence, let us criticise the man, his administration and his policies, but let us do so objectively. Suggestions of sending him to a school of anger management exhibit a high level of crudeness as far as I am concerned. If Americans did not ask for Bill Clinton to be castrated or put on a sex offenders’ list, why should Obasanjo be crucified for his human nature seeping through. Let us remember, no one is super human.