By OCHEREOME Nnanna
WHEN I learnt of an impending visit of the Prime Minister of Britain, Mr David Cameron to Nigeria, I looked forward to hearing what he had to say to us. Fifty years after independence, Nigeria, a country created by the United Kingdom, the most powerful imperial force in the world in the 19th and 20th centuries, ranks among the most failing states of the Third World.

We are a country under the bondage of corruption (rather than accountability), enslaved by the blind pursuit of money (not achievements), tied to our religious beliefs (not God), committed to the promotion of our ethnic and sectional interests (not the country) and ruled by an elite who are only interested in looting the public treasury to stuff their pockets (not serving the people).

Because of our waywardness we have been wandering in the wilderness for 50 years. It took the equally wayward and disobedient people of Israel only 40 years to reach the Promised Land.

When Cameron spoke he did not surprise me, but he left me emotionally confused. As the Guest Speaker at a function held at the Pan African University, Lagos, with President Goodluck Jonathan in attendance, Cameron gave Nigeria and Africa a pep talk.

In a nutshell, he told Nigerians the same thing we have started hearing from so many people around the world of recent: The next 40 years belongs to Africa, particularly Nigeria. Already, even before we start making the effort, the indices say Nigeria is leading an African economic rebirth.

Declared Cameron: “Africa is transforming in a way no one thought possible 20 years ago, and suddenly, a whole new future seems within reach. I have known for a long time about the tremendous energy and ingenuity of the Nigerian people….

Today there are unprecedented opportunities to trade and grow, raise living standards and lift billions from poverty. So I urge you: seize these opportunities, grab them, shape them”. Nigeria, he declared, is a “dream waiting to happen” because within the next 40 years she will have the fastest growing Gross Domestic Product, GDP, in the world.

When I heard this, I groaned to myself, “again?” At independence in 1960, Nigeria was lumped together with Brazil and India as former colonies which would within a little time join the front row of the world economy. Today, Brazil has overtaken its former coloniser, Portugal and many European countries in GDP rating. India has even bought up many British corporations.

Their runaway economic imperialism is now targeting Nigeria. In contrast, most of the foreign multi-nationals that we were born to meet, including the brave indigenous efforts we witnessed in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s have collapsed. Others left for saner climes.

The Nigerian case is a great enigma. Most of today’s South East and South-South (former Eastern Region) was the theatre of the civil war, where almost every achievement was destroyed by the invading federal vandals. Within the following 30 years when the “winners” of the war took over the reins of power, the waves of collapse spread to all parts of the country.

Looking at Nigeria of today on the face value, there is little to show the difference between the environments of those who “won” the war and those who “lost” it. The figures even show that those who “lost” the war are far ahead in human development indices than some of those who “won” it and ruled the country for 50 years as if they were the new colonial masters!

The British premier has assured that Nigeria will fully actualise in 40 years time. Should I laugh or cry? In 40 years, people of my generation born within the independence atmosphere would be ninety-ish. How many would still be alive? How many of us who were promised we were leaders of tomorrow in the early 1970s when we were in primary and secondary schools saw the prophecy come true?

Those who led us at that time (and ruined our future) are still holding sway even though they are bent over with age. These greedy chaps were given opportunities to lead in their twenties and thirties, but in their seventies and eighties they have not let go!

My worry, though, is that unless some drastic changes are put in place structurally, Nigeria would still be running around in circles in the next 40 years. Great Britain conducted a most vicious colonial venture in Nigeria. They created one of the most beautiful countries in the world but poisoned it structurally to ensure it would never rise to its potentials. Take a few clangers.

Nigeria was rigged to be one of the few countries in the Third World where (a) the man who led the struggle for independence was never allowed to lead when the colonialists went home; (b) the party that won the majority of popular votes did not produce the Prime Minister because the colonialists had gerrymandered the constituencies to empower the party that came third; (c) the educationally most backward section of the country was empowered as the new overlords. In 1960 Britain transferred sovereignty to Northern Nigeria, not Nigeria!

This country is unlike others, where two choices are available: integrate or go your separate ways. Ghana was built to integrate.

So also were Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and other former British colonies. But India could not integrate, so they split into India and Pakistan (and Pakistan later split into Pakistan and Bangladesh). Similarly, after decades of failed efforts at integration, Sudan has split into two countries.

But a decisive attempt to split Nigeria failed, and Britain was forcefully in the picture to prevent it. Nigeria may never know peace and progress and yet Nigeria may never disintegrate, thanks to Britain!

This factor prevented Nigeria from growing during her first 50 years. What gives Cameron and other optimists the impression that if things continue just as they are Nigeria will grow in the next 40 years?