Is Nigeria losing her diaspora? – By Charles Soludo

Nigeria’s huge Diaspora population can be a portent force for national transformation. But the structure of the first generation Diaspora is changing fast; homeland consciousness among the next generation of Diaspora is waning; there is a crisis of identity; and the structure of Nigerian federation is such that future generations of Diaspora without explicit ‘state of origin’ cannot serve the nation. Does Nigeria run the risk as perhaps the only big country that will not continue to reap the dynamic benefits of her estimated 17 million Diaspora, scattered all over the world?
According to Wikipedia, the Greek word Diaspora (‘scattering, dispersion’) originally referred to “the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland” or “people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location”, or “people settled far from their ancestral homelands”. In this generic context, an Igbo who lives in Kano or Lagos is no less of a Diaspora than a Fulani who lives in London. Here, we restrict the term to refer to ‘external Diaspora’ — Nigerians who have ‘settled’ or live abroad (outside of Nigeria) for whatever reason. We exclude descendants of those who left as slaves (Africa’s first and authentic Diaspora)—and majority of them were said to have left from present day Nigeria—and focus only on the post-colonial Diaspora who voluntarily fled because of all kinds of ‘hardships’ or in search of better opportunities.
Everyone hoped that the massive brain drain would eventually turn into ‘brain gain’ which, besides money includes what the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe defines as social remittances—‘ideas, practices, mind-sets, world views, values and attitudes, norms of behaviour and social capital (knowledge, experience and expertise) that the diasporas mediate and either consciously or unconsciously transfer from host to home communities’. Usually the first generation of emigrants suffers a certain crisis of identity, with one leg in the host country, and another in the ‘home’ country to which they endlessly hope to ‘return’ but which less than 10 per cent actually do. The first generation emigrants remit money to their families, relatives and friends; build houses they hope to return and retire into, plus other investments. They sorely miss ‘home’.
If you believe the World Bank’s figures, Nigeria received about 10 per cent of its GNP in 2012 as remittances (about $21 billion). Some interpret these to be remittances by the ‘Nigerian Diaspora’. A caveat on the figures is important. They are total (recorded) inward remittances: we don’t know what proportion is from Nigerians on short-term assignments– non-residents abroad (consultants, short-term workers, students, diplomatic staff, visitors, etc) versus those who have ‘settled’ or are resident abroad (Diaspora). Let me add that no one (not even the World Bank) knows for sure the nationality or ancestral origin of the remitters. We don’t also know the remittances through unrecorded, informal channels—cash transfers through friends and relations. Part of the remittances are for consumption; others for portfolio and capital investment. For the moment, let us assume that a significant proportion of the remittance comes from the Diaspora population. It certainly helps to reduce the big hole created by the outward ‘remittances’ (mostly capital flight?); is twice the Federal Government’s capital budget, and is essentially what sustains many households in Nigeria. Can this be sustained?
Many do not fully understand the demographics of our Diaspora. It is a common mistake to think of Nigerian Diaspora in terms of those professionals and educated work force in North America and Europe. No one has the correct figures, but it is reasonable to estimate that three out of every four Diaspora are in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. I am willing to bet that there are more Nigerians in Douala, Cameroon; Ghana; Congo DRC and Southern Africa than there are in Europe and America. Those in the western world left mostly as students or educated work force. Disturbingly the huge emigrations to Asia, Africa and Middle East in the last two decades are mostly semi-illiterates, and largely lost in the underground economies as traders, and indulge in all kinds of criminalities. To survive, they marry citizens of the host country and set up families that in all probability will never set foot on the homeland. Of the estimated 17 million Diaspora (if that figure is correct), this group constitutes what I call the bottom 13 million and most of them are, as it were, lost.
In Europe and America, there is a serious tightening of immigration rules/laws, and hence a halt in the growth of first generation emigrants. The dynamism of future Diaspora contributions to national transformation will therefore come from the children and grandchildren of the present day Diaspora. Here lies the problem. Are these children and subsequent generations of Diaspora conscious enough to think of Nigeria as ‘home’ worthy of any contribution? Having lived in Ethiopia, UK, and USA myself, I have often asked my friends in Diaspora if or when they think that their children will ever remit money or ‘go home’ to develop Nigeria.
The reality of the world, despite globalization, is that there is still the ethnicity of capital. A careful disaggregation of the ethnic origins of FDI flows might show that Asians—Japanese, Chinese, etc — still invest mostly in Asian countries, while Americans and Europeans mostly invest among themselves. The transition economies of former Soviet Republics receive much of their FDI from their European brothers and sisters in Europe and America. It is not surprising that African countries receive much less FDI than would be predicted by the fundamentals of their economy, whereas other countries in other regions receive much more even when they reform less. It is estimated that about 50 per cent of the FDI into China in recent decades came mostly from the ethnic Chinese in Diaspora. The same is for India. Israel is said to receive most of its FDI and assistance from Jews all over the world. The ethnic Diaspora not only remit money—remittances and FDI, but also provide a veritable source of networks for opening markets for trade abroad.
Africa and Nigeria suffer from two kinds of outflows. First, a sizeable proportion of the private sector wealth is held abroad. Collier and others had estimated that about 40 per cent of the non-land private African wealth is held outside of Africa. In addition, it may not be inappropriate to also surmise that at least 40 per cent of Africa’s most talented and skilled manpower reside outside of the region.
Unfortunately, the crisis of identity and loss of homeland consciousness caused largely by what, for want of a better terminology, I describe as the bleaching syndrome of the emigrants may deny Nigeria/Africa its future Diaspora. Bleaching syndrome is a phenomenon whereby Africans, and particularly some ethnic Nigerian groups are in a haste to deny who they are, and distance themselves from their roots. The bleaching process starts with what some might see as ‘little things’ – their names and language. First, many are willing to adapt their names to suit the preferences of the Westerners. I have met scores of Nigerians who grew up in Nigeria with their beautiful African names (which have meanings) and who suddenly now answer all kinds of funny ‘foreign’ names. Some tell me it is to make it easier for the westerners to pronounce their names. Check out the names they give to their children! I am told that your name is part of your identity. Never mind that no westerner would shorten or change their name to make it easier for you to pronounce and would take serious offence if you don’t pronounce it properly. The US is the world’s classic melting pot. Even at that, it amazes me how people can still identify some others as being of Irish, Jewish, Greek, German, etc descent – just by their names.
The second symptom of bleaching and perhaps the most serious is that they start losing their language and fail/refuse to teach their children their native language in the mistaken belief that the further away they are from their language, the more ‘civilized’ they have become. This contrasts with other ethnicities. For example, wherever you go, ethnic Indians, Chinese, Latin Americans, still speak their language (in their homes and among themselves) even after several generations of settlement in the place. The implication is that even after several generations, the Diaspora can return to the ‘homeland’ and fit in easily.
In the case of Africa, the pressure to adapt and be ‘accepted’ in the West forces them into extreme forms of self-rejection or bleaching. The tragedy of this self-rejection is that it is manifesting in a second phase— the first phase happened during slavery. The slave owners recreated their slaves into new personalities—gave them new names; gave them a new language; and it was only a matter of time and generations could no longer trace their exact roots. I meet dozens of ‘next generation’ Nigerian Diaspora who simply tell me that their ‘parents come from Africa’. Totally disconnected and disoriented, the next generation Diaspora can at best only see Nigeria as being of tourist interest, and I don’t see the consciousness or attachment that would make them remit money or want to transfer technology to Nigeria.
Nigeria needs a new template for Diaspora engagement. So far, the response is at best ad-hoc and pedestrian. One out of every six blacks in the world is a Nigerian. Strategically, Nigeria can embark on a programme of building a new black race/African consciousness with a motherland mentality and commitment. The focus should broadly include the entire black race in Diaspora—African Americans, Caribbean, South Americans, etc. They remain the hidden dynamite for Nigeria’s transformation. The black race cannot rise if Nigeria continues to slumber. However, for Nigeria’s potentials to explode, it needs the global networks of all black talents. As stated earlier, capital still has some skin colour! Moshood Abiola promised to make Nigeria the ‘home to the black race’. Let us get started!
But for this to happen, we need to redesign Nigeria as a true melting pot for the black race. With our current awkward federalism and its insistence on ‘state of origin’ as basis of engagement in literally every aspect of the formal economy, we cannot develop citizens with ‘national’ consciousness. A third or fourth generation Diaspora who decides that he has had enough of America or Europe and decides to relocate to say, Nigeria as his ‘motherland’ would still have to continually answer the question of his state of origin— to be adjudged a ‘true Nigerian’. Of course, such third generation or so Diaspora has no state of origin because even the parents may have also been born abroad and with their names now as Jones Smith, Peter Bird, etc. So, even when you have a fourth generation Diaspora with a passion to belong and contribute, the system treats her/him as a ‘stranger’. If any of them relocates to Nigeria, he cannot serve as a Minister or serve in any government establishment where ‘federal character’ is required. That is why I have argued in my previous column that the state of origin should be removed from the Constitution and replaced with ‘state of residence’ and I am glad that the idea has elicited nation-wide polling and debate. Constitutional amendment is the place to start!
CP-Africa

Lagos to get cable car mass transit system by 2015

For the first time in the history of Nigeria, a cable car company, Ropeways Transport Limited, is set to launch a cable car mass urban transit system in the nation’s commercial capital, Lagos.
This followed the signing of a 30-year franchise agreement between Ropeways Transport Limited, the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) and the Lagos State government recently.
Under the terms of the agreement, Ropeways Transport will this November begin the construction of towers, stations and connecting network cables along various routes covered in the first phase of the project, namely, Ijora – Iddo, Iddo – Adeniji; Apapa – Oluwole, Oluwole – Adeniji, Adeniji – Obalende, Obalende – Falomo, and Falomo – Victoria Island. The project is expected to be fully completed and commissioned by early 2015.
Speaking on this development the Chief Executive Officer of Ropeways Transport Limited, Capt. Dapo Olumide expressed his belief that the Lagos cable car transit system would provide an alternative means of mass transportation in the city and it will help ease the current transportation hassles in Lagos and help restore dignity to commuting because the current situation hampers economic development within the city and negatively impacts the quality of life of it’s residents.
“By complementing existing transport modes, the Lagos cable car transit System will play its part in reducing the traffic congestion in the city,” he said.
According to him, studies show that Lagos will become the world’s 3rd largest city with 25million inhabitants by 2015, with approximately 12 million daily passenger movements and trips in the Lagos Metropolitan Area, set to increase at a rate of six per cent per annum.
“The existing metropolitan highway infrastructure is severely constrained, with journeys to and from work within the city regularly exceeding three hours.

“In addition, studies carried out in 2009 on vehicle registration shows that an additional 200,000 vehicles are registered annually in Lagos State. This equates to 222 vehicles per kilometer of road in Lagos, which by far, outweighs the national average of just 11vehicles per kilometer of road, with vehicles estimated to contribute more than 70 per cent of the ambient air pollution in Lagos,” he said.
These problems, he said, can be effectively eliminated with this new technology.
“Presently, there is need to ameliorate the existing congestion on the three bridges connecting Lagos Mainland to Lagos Island and to provide a link between Apapa and the Central Business District on Lagos Island, and also to link Victoria Island with the Central Business District of Lagos Island. These are what we hope to achieve with the launch of the cable transit system,” Olumide said.
On the safety of the cable car system, the Ropeways CEO described it as one of the safest means of transport worldwide.A 2009 study by the Vancouver Metropolitan Transport Agency in Canada determined that passengers are 20,000 times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident in a vehicle than in a cable car.
According to him, when completed, the Lagos Cable Car Transit system will incorporate several standard safety features, including auxiliary drives and hydraulic brakes to prevent passengers being stranded, lightening protection on towers, ropes and stations, as well as, solar panels on each cabin roof to provide power for cabin interior and exterior lighting. There will also be passenger monitoring with CCTV and audio communication links and passenger address systems.
BusinessNews

PDP, Nigeria’s biggest problem, says Kio-Briggs

SAM OLUWALANA 

Niger Delta woman activist, Ann Kio- Briggs, has identified the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the main hindrance to Nigeria’s development.
Briggs, who spoke with our correspondent in Port Harcourt, also took a swipe at the Niger Delta governors for not justifying the huge resources they have been entrusted with over the years.
She said: “PDP is the worst thing that has happened to Nigeria. PDP sees itself as the owner of Nigeria, but Nigeria owns PDP, not the other way round. You and I, the electorate, the people, have allowed PDP to get away with what they have gotten away with. The day Nigerians wake up and say to themselves, PDP will no longer be the problem of Nigeria, PDP will no longer hold power that it holds.
“How can a political party say that it will rule, not serve, or govern, but that it will rule Nigeria for 50 years? I am speaking for myself and I want to believe that there are others that will share my sentiments and my belief. PDP will not rule me for 50 years as far as I am concerned. I will say what I want to say about PDP and I am saying that PDP is the problem of Nigeria. I also went further to say that Nigeria is the problem of the Niger Delta.”
The 60-year-old activist also said the governors of the South-South states had not justified the huge funds committed to their trust.
However, Briggs contended that the states from the region should be collecting more than the 13 per cent derivation funds been allocated to them at the moment.
NationalMirror

N150m Not N5bn Budgeted For Prostitutes, Destitute Rehab

The FCT Administration (FCTA) has denied that the sum of N5billion was proposed for rehabilitation of prostitutes and destitute in Abuja saying only N150 million has been budgeted for same in the 2013 budget.

In a statement by the Special Assistant (Media) to the FCT Minister, Nosike Ogbuenyi, the the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) pointed out that rehabilitation of destitute and commercial s^x workers (prostitutes) is part of the schedule of its Social Development Secretariat. According to the statement, “the empirical truth is that the entire budget of the Social Development Secretariat for the 2013 fiscal year is N4.7billion only”.

The sum of N150million only out of this amount is for evacuation and rehabilitation of destitute, prostitutes (commercial sex workers) and other vulnerable persons, the statement added.

Naij

‘How We’ll Form Biafran Govt on February 20’

Abia State-born Ben Onwuka and his pro Biafra group, Biafra Zionist Movement (BZM), became popular after they were arrested in Enugu on November 5, 2012 for re-declaring the Republic of Biafra at an open space in the coal camp area of Enugu.

Close to 100 of them alongside Mr. Onwuka were picked up by the police, as they were marching round the streets of Enugu with Biafra, United States and Israeli flags. For the next 38 days, the group languished at the Enugu Maximum Prison. Onwuka grew up in the United Kingdom and has lived in London for 28 years. He studied Law and International Politics. He practiced law for about 10 years in London.

“It was from there I decided to return home because the means that Biafra issues have been fought have not been internationalised. The international community does not understand or does not know the aspirations for independence by the Biafra people. And to do that Biafra must align itself with the United States of America; though it’s difficult because of Great Britain; and at the moment I am categorically assured that the United States, Israel and France are on our side.

And with the US on our side we will defeat Britain diplomatically, in order that Biafra can be independent,” Onwuka said. Fresh from prison custody, Onwuka, who says there is no going back in the struggle for Biafra, recently addressed a press conference announcing February 20, as the date fixed for the inauguration of the Biafra government in Enugu. In this chat with our reporter in Enugu the BZM leader shares his prison experience and also threw more light on the February 20, inauguration of Biafra government.

 TalkOfNaija

Three Policemen Shot Dead As Gunmen Attack Elumelu’s Convoy

Tragedy was averted on Saturday night when the Chairman of House of Representatives’ Committee on Health, Mr. Ndudi Elumelu, narrowly escaped being killed after his convoy was ambushed by unknown gunmen at Eku community in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State.
One of his police escorts , however, lost his life in the tragic incident as he was shot dead while three of his aides were seriously injured when the heavily armed gunmen opened fire on his convoy.
The lawmaker however, escaped miraculously from the gun attack as his personal driver was able to manoeuvred the vehicle from the attack scene to safety.
It was gathered that he was on his way to Asaba from Warri when the convoy was attacked by the gunmen at about 3.25 p.m at Eku.

 

Insiders source said the gun men opened fire on the police escort, a Hilux Jeep, killing the police man instantly while his aides sustained serious injuries in the attack that lasted for about 15 minutes,
“The convoy of Hon. Ndudi Elumelu was heading to Asaba and somewhere at Eku was waylaid by four gunmen. The Police orderly was shot dead while three of his aides sustained serious gunshot injuries”, a Security source disclosed.
Naij

PHOTO: Meet 105 Year Old Woman , Oldest Person On Facebook & Driver In California

105 year old woman, Edythe Kirchmaier, who is the oldest person on Facebook and arguable the oldest driver in America and even the world was on the Ellen Degenerees show.
In a world where the average mortality age is about 67, Edythe Kirchmaier who still talks well- with a great sense of humour, walks and even drives is nothing short of amazing.
The Santa Barbara resident who has been on the roads for 86 years  renewed her license the day after her 105th birthday this year, to become California's oldest driver. 
Edythe has also never had an accident or gotten a driving ticket. Fascinated by the great grandmother of 17, American comedienne Ellen Degenerees brought her on her show.
Speaking to Ellen last tuesday, she said: "I'm the oldest living driver in California and maybe the United States. I do have a secret - but if I tell it it won't be a secret...and laughed".
When I learned to drive, there were no rules of the road,' she told Fox News. 'The roads were narrow and there were no signs saying 55 mph or anything like that.'

I think I’m a pretty good driver. I feel safe about getting my driver's license renewed because I’ve never had an accident.'
'I just couldn't imagine myself without a car. It just didn't feel very good.'
Mrs Kirchmaier moved to California with her husband Joseph. They were married for 70 years until he died in 2008 at the age of 98.
She still volunteers for Direct Relief International, a charity she has given her time to for 40 years.
Mrs Kirchmaier now drives a 1997 Dodge Caravan and her license is valid until 2017.
Coming close to revealing the reason for her healthy age she said she had always been positive. "I've always been very happy,' she told Ellen.
'I had a happy marriage and have a wonderful family. I stay positive. If something happens and I can't do anything about it - I don't worry about it.'
Naij