KunleOje's Random Musings

Adeleke Otunuga’s article of September 1, 2004 is a welcomed and opposing response to my article of August 19 2004. I am glad that Otunuga accepts that the stories revealed in my article are “sad as they are reminders of the tales of calamities that abound back home”. He however got the wrong end of the stick by his assumption that my conclusions “were as sporadic as they were hasty”.
I do not live in the United States, and even though I have visited the country countless times, I will refrain from commenting about every day life in America. In view of this, I will advise Otunuga not to examine crime and race relations in the United Kingdom from a newspaper reader or television news watcher perspective. However, I wish to respond to some of the points raised by Otunuga in his article as follows.

It is true that crime abounds in the advanced nations, and each country has its own peculiarities. The fact in the advanced nations is that there is no communal living. You may not say a single word to your neighbour for the next five years, and as such no one has a sense of responsibility for the other. It is in this kind of lax society that paedophiles abound and operate, and therefore you are unable to allow your children out of your sight for one second. On the other hand, in Nigeria especially in a small town environment where everyone knows each other, it is relatively easier to allow your children to run around freely without “too much” close watch. I say too much because we all know that children are preyed upon and kidnapped in Nigeria for various diabolical means. As such, Nigeria is not “kidnapped” free as Otunuga will want us to believe.

Damilola Taylor’s tragic death and the collapse of the prosecution reflect the intricacies of the British society and legal system. However, the truth remains that justice was sought, and the Taylors had the opportunity to pursue it regardless of the end result. Thus, in the UK, you can expect a greater probability of investigation, prosecution, conviction and justice when a crime is committed in contrast to Nigeria where money buys every thing.

Racism, and the negative image already created by a few bad eggs, is what gets you pulled over by a white cop in a white neighbourhood. In Nigeria where they share the same colour with the inhabitants who are supposed to be their countrymen, Yorubas and Igbos have to look over their shoulder whilst daily living in the Northern part. It is sheer stupidity therefore to think that you will be accepted on equal footing in a foreign land, where your colour, and years of prejudice already sets you apart and condemns you as an “inferior” human being.

Ten years ago, most Nigerians in the UK would run and scamper away when they are not in the wrong, just because they have no papers. In view of this, the “Jamos” took advantage and saw every Nigerian as a soft touch. With settlement papers came more liberty, and ability to fight for and claim one’s right. Thus, today’s Nigerian-Jamo relation in the UK is different from that of ten years ago which the writer painted in his article. I can assure him that I have run retail shops in “Jamo” occupied areas, and mutual respect took over when it was realised that this Nigerian is not to be pushed over or around. Mr Otunuga’s friend that abandoned his car at the scene of an accident in the UK “and dared not pursue the matter” must have told him a half truth as to what happened. The UK system may be institutionally racist to a large extent, but if the friend was not in the wrong, and had nothing to hide, justice would have taken its course.

As far as I am aware, the Neighbourhood Watch in the UK is not subscription based, and it is a local community based effort to keep an eye out for events within the local community such that if crime is ever committed, there will be enough information from local residents to help the law enforcement agencies in their enquiries and prosecution. In contrast, MASSOB and OPC are ethnically based organisations that have metamorphosed into unofficial security outfits. The question to the writer then is where is the like to like comparison of MASSOB and OPC with the Neighbourhood Watch?

Therefore, when we talk of absolute security, I agree it “is a mirage even in the so-called advanced nations” my “UK inclusive”. However, I am talking of relative security, a comparison of security in Nigeria with what obtains in Diaspora. And the point is that while every day, the advanced world is thinking of and devising new crime combating strategies, Nigerian leaders are busy worrying about their individual pockets and egos. This is why our senators will go on “strike”, an indication that they do not see themselves as occupying their positions by the mandate of the people. In such a circumstance, how far off the track is El Rufai?

In conclusion, and for the benefit of other readers, I wish to disabuse Otunuga’s mind from the notion that I aimed in my article to charge Nigerians in Diaspora to stay away from home. The article apart from being a satire had two main aims. Firstly, to make Nigerians who have slaved in foreign lands to become what they are, to think twice before losing all their life’s work by ignoring the reality of living and investing in Nigeria.
Secondly and more importantly, to highlight to our leaders that a lot of Nigerians are willing to come home and help to develop the country, only (and if only) government can and will provide an enabling, secured environment. It was this environment that the Malaysian and Japanese governments provided, and this is why both countries are a success story today.

Until an enabling secured environment is evident in Nigeria, I am afraid that the choice of a greater majority of Nigerians in the UK will remain “I love my country, I no go lie, but outside am, I will live and …”

As much as I love stories, I am discovering that when they reflect present day experiences of ordinary people in Nigeria, they are sad and painful. As a die hard enthusiast for the enterprise called Nigeria, I have been at the forefront of encouraging friends and acquaintances I have met in foreign lands not to forget home, to invest in Nigeria and to work towards going back.
Today however, given the high level of insecurity within the country, I ask myself if I have not been advising these friends to proceed in the wrong (and dangerous) direction.

Story number 1.
This one is about a work colleague who became an adopted sister. The day she told me she would be going home for Christmas after a number of years with her child and siblings, I was quite happy. However, she was bewildered when I asked her entourage to sleep at the airport till the next morning given the time they would be getting into Lagos. My response to her enquiry as to why, was that it would be safer for all of them.
Four weeks later, she came back to me with dejection on her face. In agony, they had cancelled their flight home for Christmas losing money in the process. It later transpired that her uncle and aunt, whose daughter she would have been travelling home with, had just been attacked in their home in Lagos, beaten black and blue with hammers despite their old age.
What crime had the old folks committed? Their crime was travelling abroad to felicitate with their daughter who had recently graduated from university. Their absence from home for four weeks, and eventual arrival back in Nigeria was the ticket for hoodlums (that same night they got back home) to assume they had been picking pound sterling up on the street of Great Britain, and were back home with sack loads.

Story number 2.
I have a very good friend who has sworn never to return to Nigeria. Just as he seems to be changing his mind following persuasion from me, this story about his brother-in-law has steeled his resolve never to have anything to do with the country.
Armed hoodlums have attacked my friend’s brother-in-law three times in his own house in the last one year. From all indications, the hoodlums seem to be the same set. The first time they visited, they struck him with an axe and shot his brother. The second time, they stole all they could cart away from the house, “plus including” food items. The third time which was a few weeks ago, they threatened to kill him in front of his wife and vice versa, and threatened to kill their children in front of the couple and vice versa. Despite neighbours frantic call to the police on their behalf, the law enforcement agencies never turned up.
The most disturbing aspect of this second story is the robbers’ parting shot. They asked their victim to apply for licence to have a gun. As far as I am aware, such guns are meant for wild life gaming purposes. However, the night marauders intention is to come back to collect the gun from him within two weeks, and your guess is as good as mine as regards the usage to which the gun will be put.  Failure to acquire the license and gun, his entire family will be wiped out when next they come calling and they are found still living in the house. Of course, the man packed his family out of the house the next day to look for a rented accommodation.

Given the above true life stories, I therefore ask myself if this is the Nigeria I have been asking my friends to return to? Is this the Nigeria Obasanjo, NIDO, and Joe Keshi are asking Nigerians in Diaspora to come and invest in? How many similar or worse stories than the two above, have been recounted by Nigerians in Diaspora on the basis of first hand experience or occurrences that touches their relatives?

With the killing of Bola Ige, the attorney-general and minister of justice of the  federation like an ordinary fowl and without any visible sign of justice months after, I identify with the argument of Nigerians in Diaspora who have decided not to go back home, either to visit or to settle. It is sheer madness to work so hard (and against all odds) to legally acquire properties abroad, only to move back to Nigeria and lose all in a few hours to marauders – if one’s life is spared.
Gone are the days when we all came abroad with the hope of sojourning for just a short while, and returning home. These days, home is where you can sleep at peace, where you do not have to barricade yourself in like a prisoner, where you can invest without thinking of the probability of losing everything by the following morning. Home is in a foreign land.

It is ironic that in a foreign land where you are seen as a second or third class citizen, you can walk freely and go about your business anytime of the day without any concerns. But when it comes to Nigeria, your own fatherland and motherland, you develop a morbid fear of travelling home, fearful of who is aware of your coming, scared of revealing the date of your arrival and departure. Arrival in Nigeria turns you into a fugitive, sleeping in one place today and at a different address the following day. Your life is constantly in your mouth. The mere backfiring of a vehicle in a traffic hold up is enough to send every one diving for cover, and children playing with fireworks unannounced in the middle of the night is enough to keep you awake till the next morning praying to your God to deliver you (from armed robbers’ bullets).

Thus, the most important factor that discourages Nigerians abroad from visiting home, to talk less of thinking of investing and living there, is insecurity. Daily living in Nigeria, and definitely a visit home by Nigerians in Diaspora, is playing lottery with one’s life.
Unfortunately, Obasanjo seems to have misplaced priority. Instead of using his powers as President to deal with those that are making life, property and investment insecure in Nigeria, he is busy flexing his muscles in Owu, and terrorising the kingmakers who are not ready to dance to his tune in the selection of a new Olowu.

Until the federal government provides a secure environment for lives, properties, and consequentially investment, it is a difficult road to tread trying to attract Nigerians home to share their knowledge, skills and resources in moving the country forward.

Lucky Dube, the South African reggae singer asked in his “Taxman” album, “Do you wanna be a well fed slave or a hungry free man?”

When push comes to shove for Nigerians in Diaspora, I guess our song will be a twist of Professor Wole Soyinka’s classic, “I love my country, I no go lie, but outside am, I go live and die”