Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Why Nigerians Will Rather Cross the Mediterranean Than Stay At Home, By Ayodele Adio – Premium Times Opinion

TF, the Irunmole Iwe,

The basic principle of life is self-preservation. The essence of social contract is good governance which implies protection of lives of the citizens and their property. 

Government is expected to provide basic ingredients of life: health, education, shelter, job opportunities, enabling environment for the governed to be productive and become useful to the society. 

As the greatest African historian of our time, you have written on all that. Once a country fails to perform its obligations to the citizens it encourages voluntary migration to places they believe could be a safe haven to maximize their natural talents for economic prosperity. 

The fact that Nigerian governments have failed in their moral and political obligations to some of aggrieved citizens, does it give them the liberty to engage in 'mass voluntary suicide?' Why couldn't the 26 Nigerians stay behind and join any of the mass social movements to protest against insensitivity of government to their plight? Perhaps that could have been a turning point of government in the mismanagement of human and natural resources. 

But the truth of the matter is that for anyone to leave Nigeria with the intention of getting a greener pasture in Europe he or she should have some money to make the journey. If the money is used on a small scale business with the help of financial institutions of government, there is no need to engage in a journey of the unknown consequences. As my mother used to say, a three pence that is invested is better than one pound that is laying fallow. That is one of the basic principles of economics. 

I have avoided making references to those scholars you mentioned including the biblical quotations because of my intellectual bias. 

There is no need to run away to any country when our own is not in the state of war and economic stagnation. If one has to leave, it is not for menial jobs in Europe or anywhere in the world. People like you and professionals who left for better opportunities in other parts of the world have added positive values to the collective pride of this country. 

Segun Ogungbemi 

On Nov 13, 2017, at 12:21 AM, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

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Dear sir:

 

Is it a moral issue, as you framed it? Is it "sad" to be a janitor in London?

 

I know you are a philosopher so you have to forgive my ignorance with respect to the comment I made regarding your response on why Nigerians cross the Mediterranean.

 

Are we not dealing with the failure of the state (political management) and individual responses to that failure?

 

The political economy that drives philosophical arguments are deep, and ancient: from "Give us this day our daily bread" (Jesus Christ: religious divinity)  to "Man shall live by bread alone" (Marx: secular divinity). The centrality of political economy was asserted by Marx in the nineteenth century. And throw in Calvin. And even the over-cited John Locke, while not throwing away moral arguments, warned us in very extreme words to be careful of this kind of moral framing, saying, in his own words, men can be "more senseless than beasts themselves" as they invoke religious/moral evidence.

 

With full apologies.

 

TF

 

 

From: dialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Ogungbemi <seguno2013@gmail.com>
Reply-To: dialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Date: Sunday, November 12, 2017 at 5:03 PM
To: dialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Why Nigerians Will Rather Cross the Mediterranean Than Stay At Home, By Ayodele Adio – Premium Times Opinion

 

It is sad that some Nigerians have no shame to be janitors in other countries something they will refuse to do at home.  

You hear advertisements on radio of people who recruit fellow Nigerians for work abroad and the police will not arrest those who engage in such illicit business. 

The society has become morally bankrupt, all it knows is money no matter how you got it. 

It is very sad and extremely painful. 

SO

Sent from my iPhone 

On Nov 12, 2017, at 9:29 PM, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

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https://opinion.premiumtimesng.com/2017/11/12/why-nigerians-will-rather-cross-the-mediterranean-than-stay-at-home-by-ayodele-adio/


Sent from my iPhone

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