“We prefer self-government with danger to servitude in tranquility.” Kwame Nkrumah
It is interesting how the result of the Scottish referendum according to which 55% of Scottish voters said no to independence in a historic vote has become another source of so-called lesson for Africa. When will Africa be tired of some unhelpful received wisdom and received “lessons” from Europe? Or better still when will Africa pro-actively show that it has a lot to offer the world from its historic struggles and accomplishments, despite the current challenges? Certainly Africa is more quotable on Independence than any country in Europe including Scotland. Better put, it is Scotland that must learn from the struggle of Africans for independence from colonialism and slavery (with Scottish connections!) and not the other way round. The historic facts are in support of Africa. Late Julius Nyerere of Tanzania once rightly observed that “Ghana was the beginning, our first liberated zone. Thirty –seven years later-in 1994-we celebrated our final triumph when apartheid was crushed and Nelson Mandela was installed as the president of South Africa”. Ghana won independence in 1957, after 100 years of British colonialism and almost a decade before Martin Luther King made the prophetic speech “I have a Dream” in America. Freedom and liberty to Ghana and indeed Africa was a fall out of series of struggles and pressures led by late Dr Nkrumah, who was imprisoned several times by the British. Mandela noted that the events of 1957 in Accra which led to the historic pulling down of the Union Jack and its replacement with Ghana flag were sources of inspiration against apartheid which was courageously defeated in 1994. The point cannot be overstated therefore that Africa has a lot to teach the Scott’s on how to struggle and attain independence and not the other way round. Many have rightly venerated pastor King’s dream speech, but the first dream speech was that of Nkrumah who prophetically declared that “Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up to the total liberation of the African continent”. Since that historic speech colonialism, Nigeria fought and got independence in 1960, Angola in 1976, Zimbabwe in 1980, Namibia in 1990 and in general liberty reigns in from Cairo to Cape Town. There is no doubt that last week’s Scottish votes counts signified deep democratic/Self determination aspiration for freedom, some 1,617,989 YES (45%) votes for independence compared to the NO 55% 2,001,926 votes. However Scottish liberty aspiration is nothing compared with the democratic enthusiasm of South Africans for freedom in 1994 when African National Congress had a Popular Yes vote of 12,237,655 for democracy and abolition of apartheid.
The Afenifere Renewal Group, ARG, reportedly said “Nigeria’s disintegration can only be averted if the wisdom now on display in the United Kingdom on devolution of power and self-determination is urgently brought to play in the Nigeria’s governance model” . In a press release, signed by Olawale Oshun, its National Chairman, the ARG asked for “full devolution of power to the constituent units in Nigeria, including corresponding fiscal powers and resource control.” Certainly Nigeria does not need Scottish referendum before it appreciates that it must return to genuine Federalism. Please note: return ( genuine Federalism) because until the military intervention of 1966 Nigeria once devolved powers to the functioning vibrant federating regions. Afenifere compares ‘like’ with “unlike” when it points to Nigerian reality to draw attention to a nonexistent “lesson”” from Scotland. The truth is that Nigeria is already a sovereign state compared to a dependency, Scotland. What the latter desired is not some devolution of powers contained in the political promissory notes of Prime Minister David Cameroon already a subject of acrimony with the Labour Party opposition leader, accused Ed Miliband. Indeed United Kingdom, (inclusive of the disappointed Scotland) may have to learn from the imperfect Federal structure of Nigeria. Nigeria’s national conference (with the signatures of Afenifere delegates!) preceded the Scottish referendum. To this extent the search for a functioning Federal republic of Nigeria does not depend on the outcome of the Scottish referendum. There are enough policy recommendations in the National Conference’s reports to make our Federation work better.
But lest we forget. David Livingstone (19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish missionary and an explorer in Africa. He was also an imperial reformer and anti-slavery crusader, and advocate of commercial colonial empire. But that was after 200 years of slavery perpetrated by both the Scots and English in West African including Nigeria. Following the 1707 Act of Union between Scotland and England, Scottish merchants joined the English trade routes. The notorious Trans Atlantic slave trade worked like this; “Goods such as cloth, copper and guns were shipped from Britain to West Africa to be sold or exchanged. There, captive Africans were bought and taken to the West Indies or America and sold as slaves. The enslaved people worked on the plantations, producing raw materials such as sugar, rum, tobacco and cotton, which were shipped to Britain. Two major trading ports in slaves were Port Glasgow and Greenock”. Germany, Russia and China had rightly reacted to the Scottish referendum based on their historic experiences and interest. Africa must do the same instead of imagining some “lessons” in a referendum in which Africans and African interest never counted anyway.
Issa Aremu mni (comradearemu@yahoo.com)
