Sometime
in the 1960s, a report appeared in an influential magazine about
Nigerians who had failed to return home after a considerable number of
years in overseas countries. It was a rather derogatory account, not
least because such Nigerians were perceived to have stayed behind for
the shame of not having accomplished the objectives that propelled their
exit from Nigeria. An overstayed male Nigerian was sarcastically called
“big brother” by the newly-arrived ones.
In those days a
decision to travel overseas would have been for no purpose other than
educational. To remain in an overseas country for more than four years
would have been considered unimaginable, except if the educational
programme one was pursuing called for a longer duration of time. A
heroic welcome often awaited the returnee who was held in great awe by
the locals. In some remote parts of the Nigerian federation, guns blazed
and masqueraders danced in the streets to herald the arrival of the one
who had just come back from the white peoples’s land. The returnee,
especially the women, could be seen wearing white hand gloves even in
the scorching Nigerian sun. Or, how else could this newly-arrived have
been distinguished from the locals? Someone I knew returned from Great
Britain in the early 1960s after a mere four-year sojourn and some
elders in the community were wondering if he could still eat the
Nigerian food or speak the local language!
The
returnee, armed with a diploma of some sort, had no problem other than
what choice to make between competing job opportunities. They were
assured of decent accommodation and transport allowances came with the
job. Even until about 1982, officials of what used to be known as the
Nigerian Public Service Commission visited overseas countries on a
mission to recruit university graduates for various jobs at home. It was
one “age long” tradition which was discontinued once the jobs dried out
and the Nigerian nation itself was on the brink of bankruptcy.
Most
Nigerians were more than anxious to return home on the completion of
their studies. The Nigerian Civil War of 1967-70 played some part in the
new culture of Nigerians cultivating foreign countries as their homes.
There were those who chose to stay out of Nigeria because the Civil War
had implanted some bitterness in them. However, worsening economic
conditions which began in the 1980s accounted for an unprecedented
exodus of Nigerians into Europe and America. The assumption that
overseas is the best place to make it was further fuelled by the free
fall of the Nigerian currency. The general poverty at home and
dependency on relations abroad were such that a 90-year old father once
advised a son he had not seen for 10 years not to rush into coming home.
Unlike in the past when those who stayed behind were considered
as failures, “Diasporan” Nigerians of today are skilful professionals
contributing substantially to the sustenance of their host of new
nations’ economy and social infrastructure. There is hardly any decent
university in America and Europe that does not have a Nigerian in its
faculties. Even those who do not possess special skills perform an
equally important and complimentary role in society. Nigerians in the
Diaspora can be classified into two. The first are Nigerians who were
born in Nigeria and still see Nigeria as their home, while the second
group of Nigerians in the Diaspora are the children born in the various
host nations. The latter constitutes the “Diaspora proper” and the
prospect of their future “repatriation” to Nigeria can only be imagined
or speculated about.
Relationships between Nigeria and Nigerians
in the Diaspora can be of mutual benefit. Acquired skills from
developed overseas countries can help transform the country into a
developed African nation. The opportunity to be able to compare one’s
nation with another is an opportunity that could hardly be gained if one
had not been exposed to somewhere else. Were the Nigerian leadership to
be a bit more purposeful and its members less contemptuous of the
intelligentsia there have been ideas suggested in the past which should
have warranted someone seeking further explanation. One is aware of the
workings of government in America and Europe where those in positions of
authority do not let go any idea that is considered beneficial to
society. The author of an idea would not have to be the son or daughter
of “former this” or “former that” before the idea is considered or
implemented. We only pay lip service to the acquired skills of our
nationals in Nigeria and outside. The one comment of monotonous
regularity one often gets from frustrated Nigerians is that “those in
government know what you are saying is right but they won’t just do it”.
How can a society make progress when the general assumption is that the
leadership is only interested in what can confer immediate economic
benefits on its members and their families?
The Guardian
editorial of August 2, 2006 highlighted the basic needs that entice
every human being to an environment. Such needs include security of life
and property, electricity and water, quality education, employment
opportunities, good health facilities and safe transport system. The
editorial was spot on in concluding that the more one is exposed to
societies where these opportunities or facilities are provided in good
quality and even taken for granted, the more one resents the crudity of
another environment. The current Nigerian government and future ones
must reflect on that editorial because Nigeria is one nation that needs
rebuilding from its very foundations. To successfully do this, there
must be an end to the culture of corruption and privileged greed.
Societal
poverty makes Nigerians at home assume that their kinsmen who reside
abroad are privileged. There can be no greater privilege than doing
things which directly or indirectly affect one’s own society and its
peoples. The toilet attendant who is rewarded for doing an honest job is
not less privileged than the doctor or lawyer. Nigerians at home and
abroad must act in concert, ensuring that Nigeria occupies its rightful
place in the comity of civilised and accomplished nations. The Nigerian
in the Diaspora owes it a moral duty to wish the best for the Nigerian
nation, both in its development and the peaceful co-existence of its
diverse peoples.
- Dr. Anthony Akinola is based in Oxford, United Kingdom
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