When I was in the Governing Body of the United Nations International Labour Organisation (ILO) representing African workers, I made a checklist of countries and their ratification of International Labour Conventions. I discovered that Zimbabwe, Nigeria and South Africa have some of the best Labour Laws in the world. In contrast, that the United States (US) the supposed citadel of freedom and democracy, has disdain for basic Labour Rights and Conventions.
That the US has either not signed, ratified or had withdrawn from basic ILO Conventions that seek to defend the fundamental rights of workers or protect humanity. These include the core Conventions on Child Labour, Forced Labour the Freedom of Association, Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining, Equal Remuneration and on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Others include the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
America has been involved in many dirty wars in which unspeakable atrocities are committed. These include those in Vietnam and Latin America, and in contemporary times, in Iraq and Afghanistan. So it is not surprising that it rejects Conventions such as those on the “Non-applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity” and that for the “Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.” In the case of the latter, the US under President Walker Bush kidnapped people from the streets of various countries and dumped them in detention centres around the world especially Afghanistan and the Guantanamo Bay. It was called Rendition. The victims were tortured with some dying, held for years without trial, and prevented from getting justice anywhere as America does not recognize the judiciary of any other country, and refuses to be a signatory to either the International Judicial Court or the International Criminal Court.
It also rejects Conventions like those on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines, the Law of the Sea and of course, the Paris Climate Change Agreement. In fact the Trump Presidency claims that Climate Change is a scam! Given its claims to being a defender of human rights and promoter of a humane world, I am at a loss how American interests can be harmed if it ratifies a Convention like the Rights of Persons with Disabilities passed by the UN General Assembly since December 13, 2006!
As its pronouncements, tantrums and actions on the issue of Jerusalem revealed, the US views the UN with suspicion and disdain; sees it as an unacceptable supra-nationality endangering American sovereignty and its ancient, narcissistic “America First’ ideology. For it, the UN is only good to validate American interests and foreign policy such as the Resolutions on the invasion of Korea (1950) Iraq (2002) and Libya (2011) On other matters, it resorts to bullying, threats and intimidation. At any given time, it appears the US is on the war path either with the UN or one of its agencies. When it could not bully the ILO in 1977, it left but returned in 1980. In the mid- 1980s, the US had running battles with various UN agencies including the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)the International Telecommunication Union, the ILO, the International Atomic Energy Agency and of course, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
It is with UNESCO the US has had the most battles. The body has been fair to America, awarding it amongst other things, 23 World Heritage sites including the Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon and the Independence Hall where the US Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed. But America decided to dictate to UNESCO. This was resisted by the Senegalese, Amadou-Mahta M’Bow its Director General (1974-1987) America accused UNESCO of spending funds on Disarmament proposals, promoting group rights rather than individual rights, setting up a “New Information World Order” and promoting a “New International Economic Order” in which it alleged rich countries are to transfer resources to poor countries. It also accused UNESCO of being hostile to the Free Market ideology and increasing its $200 Million budget by 10 percent. At a point, it went personal, accusing M’Bow of corruption. When all these failed, America through a December 20, 1984 letter signed by Secretary of State, George .P. Shultz, withdrew from UNESCO. Eighteen years later, America returned. However, following UNESCO’s Resolution asking Israel not to change the historical nature of Jerusalem, America again withdrew its membership of the UN agency on October 12, 2017.
The US behaves as if the world is a jungle and that as the king, it is not liable for any atrocity it commits, is answerable to nobody or institution, subject to no rules, laws or conventions and bounded by no etiquettes or morals.
Mr. Trump is not the first President to have antagonistic relationship with the United Nations since President Franklin D. Roosevelt joined in the push for the creation of a new world body after World War II, but having spent only twelve months in office, he is becoming the most truculent.
I am sick and tired of America throwing tantrums ad disturbing world peace. Why is it incapable of employing simple diplomacy and lobby to persuade other countries rather than endless invocations of threats, insults and blackmail? Why does the US assume it is the policeman of the world which has the inalienable right to beat the rest of humanity into line? America which picks 22 percent of the UN budget is the largest contributor to the world body, but is that why it is so brash and behaves as if without it, the UN will wither away? Who says the UN Headquarters can only be in US?
The day the United States leaves the United Nations will be a glorious one; the world will be free from endless threats and one big bloke breathing down the necks of UN officials like a drunken colonial master. It will be a day the world body will commence more dialogue, persuasion and respect of other views. The stranglehold on the world body will loosen and we would have a freer atmosphere to discuss serious issues in a more logical manner rather than might always being right. It will be a glorious day for world peace.
Building a New Nigerian with a New Song, By Owei Lakemfa.
My joy as we enter the New Year 2018 is etched on the photographs of two Nigerian babies, John and James who just returned to the country after a successful operation in India. Born on May 8, 2017 in Lagos, the Siamese twins had been fused at the upper part of their abdomen (Omphalopagus) and had only one liver. The operation in Bangalore had involved 22 Indian doctors who in separating them, also sliced their liver into two with each part having the potential of growing into a whole.
I shared the joy of the parents, Obinna and Amarachi Ugwuoke as they carried each baby; their shock and anxiety for giving birth to Siamese twins have given way to joy and sunshine as they soak in the yuletide season. But the operation set me thinking how much we have degenerated as a country when our hospitals cannot carry out what has more or less become a routine operation in India. Yet in the late 1970s we were so far ahead of India, that officially, degrees obtained in India were classified inferior. Our teaching hospitals like the UCH in Ibadan were so good that even foreign leaders came for medical treatment.
Our doctors, from Dr. Nathaniel Thomas King who graduated from the University of Edinburg medical school in 1876, were so good that they were in great demand worldwide. No, this was not just in the past; we continue to produce excellent doctors. One of them, Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye, a 1988 medical graduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University, has in America, successfully operated on an unborn child to remove a tumour. Lynlee Hope was 23 weeks when Olutoye removed her from her mother’s womb, operated and returned her into the womb.
So what is wrong with our healthcare is not the lack of personnel; we have simply failed to put on our thinking cap and ensure we move our country on the path of development.
As it is in the health system, so is it in the mass media. We have produced some of the best journalists in the world like the Enahoro brothers; Anthony and Peter. By 1891, we had a well-produced newspaper, the ‘Lagos Weekly Record’. I have read excerpts of Nigerian journalists sustained reports and opinions on Lord Lugard to the extent that the colonialists had to remove him as Governor General in 1919. In 1925, two strong newspapers were established, the ‘Lagos Daily News’ by Nationalist, Herbert Macaulay, and the ‘Daily Times’.
We continue to set the phase and Nigeria, today, has the best media organisations in Africa and some of the most resourceful journalists in the world. But the media that awards the ‘Best African Journalist of the Year’ is the 37-year old Cable News Network (CNN) established in Atlanta, United States. The irony is that we are happy when we win such awards, when we should rally Africa and be giving such professional medals.
We are a football-crazy nation, like many countries are in Africa. Nigeria has had great teams like the Stationary Stores which could whip the best teams in the world. Despite the fact that football has become far more popular in the country, our league has almost been killed. Pitifully, we now fight over which European club to support and sometimes this degenerates into violence with people killed.
Yet Africa has produced some of the best footballers in world; Thunder Balogun of Nigeria, George Weah of Liberia, Algerian Zinedine Zidane who played for France, and one of the greatest footballers of all times; EUSEBIO da Silva of Mozambique who because his country was a colony of Portugal, played for that country. Eusebio was so deadly a striker that he netted 733 goals in 745 matches. He played 64 times for the Portuguese national team and scored 41 goals for them. He was the first recipient of the European Golden Award (1968) winning the award again in 1973.
The disgrace to African football is capped by the fact that it is a radio station, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that awards the ‘African Footballer of the Year’ Before the station, it was the ‘France Football Magazine’ If we begin to think differently as a people, we can reverse all these.
It is because we have not taken our destiny in our hands, abandoned our citizens and failed to provide Africa the vital leadership it needs, that people like President Donald Trump will continuously insult us and our race. In his latest rantings, Trump had said when Nigerians go to America, they become so awed that they refuse “to go back to their huts” Trump assumes we live in huts and not in houses like the rest of the world. I must admit that he is a bit brighter than his racist followers who think we live in trees. Trump’s grandfather, Friedrich Trump had in 1885, migrated to America as an underage boy of 16. Generally, Nigerians do not migrate at such tender age to US. Secondly, if we are an upright country, we would have educated Trump to the effect that we had an earlier civilization than his native Germany whose people first came to world attention after their contact with the Romans in the First Century BC.
Yes, there are huts in Africa as there are in all parts of the world, but that is not the level of African civilization. Some 3,000 years before Christ, Africans had large houses and palaces. The pyramids which shame the so called Trump Towers thousand times over, were mainly built from 2575 BC-2150BC. One of them, the Khufu Great Pyramids was 480 Feet high and built with 2.3 million stone blocks. The ancient Mali, Ghana and Songhai Empires were noted for their huge structures and houses. Here in Nigeria, the Ile Ife Empire had big houses and paved roads by the 12th Century, and other empires like the Benin and Oyo had big houses and huge palaces.
But we have failed to annex our resources and build our country, so people like Trump can cast aspersions on us. Just think of the fact that the most educated group of people in the United States are Nigerians. The US Census Bureau had in its 2006 official survey reported that 37 percent of the Nigerians in America have at least a first degree, 17 percent of them have Masters Degrees while 4 percent have doctorate degrees. In comparison, only 19 percent White Americans have a first degree, 18 percent, a masters, and 1 percent, a doctorate.
We can reverse our underdeveloped status by having a critical rethink, clear the mist from our eyes, and build a New Nigerian with a New Song. Welcome to 2018.
