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-------- Original message --------From: OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com>Date: 28/02/2020 16:03 (GMT+00:00)To: OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com>Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sv: Nigerians love Trump!
--Toyin Adepoju.
The fact you are able to contribute to debates the way you do means all hopes are not lost as you suggest. I make bold to assert that Nigeria is at the cusp of the technological revolution that can bridge the gap as you suggest midwived by the inexorable digital revolution. You said the human resources needed for such revolution is enormous, but that is because Nigerian intellectuals needed kept leaving for overseas destinations worsening the problem.
Most of those who first left did not like going but were FORCED by the policies of the military wing of the Northern hegemonists led by Ibrahim Babangida ( I know there are other waves some of whom are on this forum who behave as if they are a race apart simply because they are in the diaspora and talk down AT their Nigerian colleagues. Nothing is to be gained by following them) The situation today is different. Nigeria is a democracy
Im sure you saw Kperogi's impending examination ( with allied scholars) of the digital revolution in Africa. It leapfrogs scholarship back to the future in the 70s and then into the 21st century.
Nobody in the 70s Nigeria thought they had to go and sit in western capitals to produce first class scholarship. The impending revolution is an all- encompassing REVOLUTION prefigured by the digitizing God Elegbara. Books produced anywhere in the world especially in the West will conveniently be delivered into the devices of the financially able as well as onto the university servers for collective use of students for reference purposes. Not everyone will be affluent enough to be able to access materials at first but in my time not everyone was able to attend university even as comparatively cheap as it was ( even as at today just over 30% of Britons had College education)
By and large with apposite government policies interested middle class members will be able to take advantage of modern educational facilities.
There is no need to continue to think pessimistically that things will continue in a downward spiral. The downward spiral began with the irresponsible clan of Shagari politicians. Irresponsible political soldiers continued led by Ibrahim Babangida having sabotaged Buhari's naive hope all were with him in the higher echelons of the military. Unknown to him northern hegemonists merely changed guards and not intent, using him as the first smokescreen.
The Nigerian populace through BLOOD and sweat stuck to their guns and in a historic first virtually chased their military from power. They will eventually chase away the tribe of self serving politicians from this lot.
Before Margaret Thatcher came on the scene not many Nigerian would want to emigrate to the UK in view of the comparative "feel good factor" of both countries which weighed heavily to the Nigerian side. The British decided to sit up and tidy up. In those days as I related on this forum my late cousin could not suffer himself to complete the second leg of his post graduate diploma to earn his Masters because he felt he would be missing too much the feel good factor of Nigeria wasting another year overseas. The converse is the same for many Nigerian intellectuals today. Going about with him as an undergraduate when he returned I could vouch for the feel good factor he would have missed had he stayed put overseas.
I said the British decided to sit up and tidy up. Nigerians can do that. The move is already underway. It will not happen overnight.
Contribute your own quota.
OAA
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.-------- Original message --------From: Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com>Date: 28/02/2020 13:32 (GMT+00:00)To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sv: Nigerians love Trump!
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let me try and respond to this little by little bcs there is so much to discuss on the subject.
first, this discussion is about 2020, not the relatively ancient times of the genesis of Aluko and Falola and Echeruo, not the 70s when Nigeria was a different country. ancient bcs its only a few decades into the past but the negative changes since then are enormous.
later generations of remarkable scholars exist in nigeria but i see them as swimming agst a prevailing tide.
i was a student in Nigeria in the 80s so i am in a position to respond to that first hand. my teachers were very good.
but i later discovered that one at least of our course syllabi , taught by an exceptionally good teacher, was at least ten years behind the global trends in the field, trends set by Western scholarship, and which we were not able to follow bcs SAP had devalued our currency.
The devaluation at that time was benign compared to the current situation.It shows in the contents of bookshops I have visited in Lagos and Ibadan. This dent has affected scholarly texts particularly forcefully.
books from the West, the centre of global knowledge development, perhaps even about knowledge on africa and even perhaps in such sub-fields as Yoruba Studies, are not readily affordable.
the environment naija scholars are working in is at least 100 years behind that of the West.
the gap has widened with each decade since the 60s.
with the way the political culture is developing, scholars would be unwise to hope for this gap to be closed. only a developmental revolution can close it. the human and material resources required are enormous. there is no evidence closing this gap, talk less overtaking, is on the agenda of the political class.
so, scholars are largely on their own.
the environment in which knowledge is developed in Nigeria is inimical to achieving the best possibilities of those working in Nigeria.
In spite of challenges in the West, responding here to Kadiri and Gloria, the conditions there for the development of knowledge are a million times better than in Nigeria.
these are highly developed economies gong strong for centuries. the nigerian economy is described as big but what really, is its scope of production?
Thus, asking scholars in the US to come back to Nigeria is not an option. It makes no sense. I like to be polite but I am using that preceding expression to describe the sheer sentimentality replacing painful realities such a demand suggests.
We need to assess the facts.
sensitive qs are being asked.
delicate qs.
one must not downplay the achievements of naija based academics.
are professors not being created in nigeria, OAA asks.
professors are being created in nigeria.
my argument is that naija based scholars are badly served by a poorly developed environment, of which a low level of development of the publishing culture is one expression.
is there any point arguing the fact that nigeria's book and possibly journal publishing culture is weak and therefore is inadequately empowering to scholars?
would the scholars here not do better in a culture rich in publishing in general and in academic publishing in particular?
Qs raised by OAA- should we all relocate to the West or close all naija unis?
Such a response may be seen as defeatist bcs its unrealistic.
we need to build our own knowledge eco-system.
dialoguing with each other and the world in a manner affordable to us.
cultivate robust book and journal writing and publishing cultures.
buy or otherwise access the books and journals from the West and around the world and summarize their contents in cheap textbooks.
while writing books and articles that develop new knowledge, making sure these are within the range of the average income in nigeria.
the goal is diffusion of knowledge as broadly as possible so as to create a populace that can better dialogue with itself and with the world.
print is expensive, meaning a focus might be in digital publication.
i visualize libraries that acquire the latest texts from around the world, which scholars in nigeria will use in writing textbooks.
another approach is to purchase the rights to print these books for cheap purchase in nigeria. Indian publishers do that with SUNY Press books on India which the Indian partners then sell globally online. Oxford UP seems to have done something similar in India using its own name. The books, in these two cases, however, are printed on lower quality paper than the Western published counterparts, but in terms of content they are the same book.
those are my thoughts for now.
it seems my invocation of the names of falola and wariboko as evidence of enableenys not readiy acessib;e in nigeria
i have mentioned adeshina afolayan at UI, and now mention olajumoke yacob-haliso at babcock, whose work i am being exposed to on account of their role in the Toyin Falola scholarly network.
i am also aware of peju lawiyola at unilag.
all people i know about by chance.
they are powerful scholars.
afolayan and yacob-haliso, however, have the advantage of falola's relationship, a US based scholar who, by dint of sheer personal effort and geographical positioning, commands enormous resources through which he is able to position any interested person within scholarly projects that advance their careers at a level of global competitiveness.
otherwise,
--On Tue, 25 Feb 2020 at 12:40, OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com> wrote:
--Toyin Adepoju:
While I await your response I ask: are professors not being made in Nigeria? I know for a fact that in the 70s and 80s ( at least in the Humanities the US recognised that many Nigerian professors out classed the US counterparts hence poached them; the tenor of learning and degree outcomes outshines comparative US class comparisons.
The Aluko example you cite ( and Falola) were largely made in Nigeria. You are only looking at the finished product. Are the Echeruos still not the intellectual literary power house they were in the past even if they are still in Nigeria and not diasporans?
The Adamu politicisation can be offset within the system by upscaling and absorption into the Nigerian private university system.
OAA
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-------- Original message --------From: Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com>Date: 23/02/2020 12:43 (GMT+00:00)To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sv: Nigerians love Trump!
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Even with that sad experience, Gates' huge achievement as a scholar and in building Black Studies at Harvard remains undiminished.
Gates is exactly where he should be in the world, fighting the battle fr human equality where he can be most effective.
If Kadiri were essentially right, as Ibrahim claims, Falola, Wariboko, Adebanwi at Oxford etc would not be professors in the US and UK, not to talk of being particularly honoured professors.
So, the Kadiri declaration is not factual.
The truth is more nuanced.
Race issues in the West is a work in progress.
Even then, the situation there is far better for most than in a country like Nigeria, where the question of progress may be described as being in limbo.
Kadiri has called for the return of diasporans to build the nation.
Bolaji Aluko, on this group, once heeded such a call in the GEJ era, in which he was lifted from his comfortable existence as a professor in the US to build a university from scratch, from bare earth, in Otueke, the town of the President himself.
He did so.
What eventually happened to him?
When the next President came to power in 2015, he appointed as Minister of Education Adamu Adamu, a brilliant though deeply Northern Muslim centric writer as demonstrated by his essay on Soyinka's suggestion of Northern Muslim warlords as being behind the 2011 Boko Haram resurgence, a writer whose highest educational qualification has been described as a masters in journalism and no background in educational administration, but depicted as being loyal to Buhari.
Adamu Adamu immediately removed the new VCs installed by GEJ in the former President's initiative in founding a number of new universities. In removing these and perhaps other VCs, he replaced them with fellow Muslim Northerners, largely from a particular state- dont recall which state now.
So, Aluko, a man whose grand dreams for building a centre of science and technology were obvious since he shared them on Nigerian centred listerves, a vision fed by his professional background as a professor of engineering who had spent a good part of his career in the world's most technologically advanced nation, and who had at least one patent to his name, as I observed from researching his name at the US patents office, was so removed after four years.
Aluko put a brave face to it, insisting that the VCs tenures had expired but we know that plucking such professionals from such a different environment and planting them here, only to disengage them, and in that way, after four years, particularly with a figure who had built an institution from nothing, is not a confidence inspiring endeavour.
I keep quiet for now bcs the situation is so painful I might not be able to sufficiently coherent if I continue now.
I had drafted an elaborate response to Agbetuyi's limited understanding of my insistence on recognising the systemic disenablement of human potential that too often characterizes Nigeria but will have to post that later.
We need to recognise our inadequacies, celebrate those who are making the most of the situation while working towards moving from this situation.
It is suicidal to relate to the situation as adequately enabling or as not something representing deep cause for alarm.
toyin
--On Sat, 22 Feb 2020 at 16:12, Ibrahim Abdullah <ibdullah@gmail.com> wrote:
He is essentially right. White folks see black bodies irrespective of your accomplish or whatever. Ask Mazrui; Skip; Kongi et al. You're a nigger irrespective of your towering claims to humanity.--
Sent from my iPhone
On 22 Feb 2020, at 12:23 PM, segun ogungbemi <seguno2013@gmail.com> wrote:
"All Black Africans, and regardless of their educational and economic accomplishments, have always been treated with contempt and disrespect in the US and Europe, not only because of the colour of their skin but, because of their past history as enslaved and colonized people." KadiriThis is a general statement by Kadiri cannot be proven to be true in all cases. The reasons of his proposition are because of their skin, past history of slavery and colonization.Segun Ogungbemi.
--On Fri, Feb 21, 2020, 12:40 PM Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com> wrote:
thanks Segun but could you disclose which aspect/s of Kadiri's summation you see as flawed?
toyin
--On Fri, 21 Feb 2020 at 13:08, segun ogungbemi <seguno2013@gmail.com> wrote:
Kadiri,With due respect, you are very wrong.Your research is not thorough and please don't make a general statement on this matter.Prof. Segun Ogungbemi.
--On Thu, Feb 13, 2020, 2:32 PM Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:
--All Black Africans, and regardless of their educational and economic accomplishments, have always been treated with contempt and disrespect in the US and Europe, not only because of the colour of their skin but, because of their past history as enslaved and colonized people. When shall we, Black Africans, stop pretending to be liberal and face our historical and current racial realities so that we can really be free and independent?Racial freedom and pride are never individual but collective. If prejudice were to be personalised and individualized, there would be nothing like racism either in America, Europe, or anywhere else in the world, since every mankind would be responsible for the consequence of his or her action regardless of the skin colour. Historically and hitherto, adhering to white American middle-class norms has never shielded Black people, African American or African immigrants, from humiliation, insults and persecution in the US. Why then is it so attractive and enticing for Africans to emigrate to the US where Black Americans are known to be regularly treated as sub-citizens, sub-Americans and sub-humans on the ground of their ancestral African skin colour? No one is praising Donald Trump from banning Nigerians from immigrating to the US, rather he is being back-patted for not being hypocritical for awakening Nigerian (African) intellectuals from there slumbers, by reminding them that as long as their home continent remains economically and industrially backward as it is today, in spite of education and availability of raw materials, they can never be respected as human beings in the US, Europe or anywhere else in the globe.
In the 1960s, Muhammad Ali was prosecuted for refusing to be drafted into the US Army to fight in Vietnam. During the trial, the Judge asked him if he hated white people. Replying, Muhammed Ali told the Judge that if a lion were to suddenly enter the court room, everybody would run away from the court room, not because of hatred for lions but because of the known characters and behaviours of lions. Africans do not need Trump or any European fascist to tell them not to emigrate to America or Europe when from experience Africans know who came to capture them as slaves and where they were taken to work as slaves; who declared them, the natural resources of African land and forests as their colonial possession; who are African's oppressors and exploiters; and who are the discriminators who declared Africans as inferior human beings. The agitation for independent Africa from our enslavers and colonialists was premised on the inhuman treatments being perpetrated on us, the Africans. Yet, and since independence, we Africans have been crawling back to the same oppressors, exploiters and persecutors for economic salvation even when Europeans and Americans have been telling us not to come to them while at the same time their ships anchor daily at Africa's Sea Ports to load crude oil, copper, coltan, iron ore, agricultural products, etc., to Europe and America. At moment, thousands of Africans (mostly Nigerians) are said to be perishing daily in the Mediterranean sea while trying to sail to Europe by sea. Already in September 2014, the then President of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh , speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, called on the UN to investigate the crime of genocide on African refugee boats which he suspected were being intentionally sunk at the coast of Italy by the Italian coast guards. The major problem confronting Nigeria (Black Africa in general) today as I see it, and to borrow the expression of Malcom X, is the attitude of the African intellectual house negroes that have become accustomed to the comfort of living near their Euro-American masters and imitating their livestyle and as such have come to regard racism as an individual, and not a collective problem. The African intellectual house negroes pretend as if racism began with Donald Trump's presidency even when Klux Ku klan and Black Lives Matter, preceded his ascendant to office. Mimicing Euro-American intellectuals, the African intellectual house negroes believe that being educated in fluent spoken and written English, or French, or Spanish, or Portuguese, language and wearing European clothes have transformed them into white men. Whenever African intellectual house negroes visit Africa, they give false impression to the people at home that everywhere in Europe and the US is full of gold and diamonds. Seeing the modern day African intellectual house negroes, one is sadly reminded about the observations of the first colonial Governor General of Nigeria, Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, as stated in his 1922 book, The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa thus : In character and temperament the typical African of this race-type is a happy, thriftless, excitable person, lacking in self-control, discipline and foresight, …//… His thoughts are concentrated on the events and feelings of the moment, and he suffers little from apprehension for the future, or grief for the past. …//… He (the African Negro) lacks power of organisation, and is conspicuously deficient in the management and control alike of men or business. He loves the display of power, but fails to realise its responsibility. …//… He is very prone to imitate anything new in dress or custom, whether it be, …. the straw hat and trousers of the European, however unsuited to his environment and conditions of life. Perhaps the two traits which have impressed me as those most characteristic of the African native are his lack of apprehension and inability to visualise the future and the steadfastness of his loyalty and affection. …//… The Europeanised African is indeed separated from the rest of the people which no racial affinity can bridge. He must be treated - and seems to desire to be treated - as though he were of a different race (p.69-81). No normal African should like what late Lugard said and nowadays Trump say, about us, the Africans, but why are the African intellectuals within and outside the government acting to confirm Lugard's and Trump's prejudice against the Black race?S. Kadiri
Från: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> för Kissi, Edward <ekissi@usf.edu>
Skickat: den 9 februari 2020 02:15
Till: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Ämne: USA Africa Dialogue Series - RE: Nigerians love Trump!--
My people, What have we become?
Have we become so hateful of ourselves, one another, and our governments, that we now find favor in the bosom of those who deride us?
After many years of leaving Ghana, studying abroad, and finding a suitable job for myself in America, after my studies, my tastes and preferences have undoubtedly changed. What I once defended as an acceptable life in Ghana in the 1980s is no longer appealing to me in 2020, with the benefit of exposure to life in North America and Europe. I visit Ghana regularly, a place I still call "Home." It is not everything I see there, and have to live with in my frequent visits, that I prefer or admire. But I am also mindful that those I left in Ghana have done so much to live their lives without me. And as much as they hate their government,, they have forged their lives within and without the political environment in which they live. In fact, they are so proud of what they have managed for themselves within that context that they would not countenance any outsider's contempt for them and their living condition. Not even one of their own returning for a visit, let alone an American president who has been so fortunate in his life that he has no idea how people in Africa, who have to deal with the consequences of America's global policies, live.
So I continue to be perplexed by how some Nigerians have held up Trump's contempt for them and their country as an acceptable, even encouraging indictment, of them and their government. Do these Nigerians lack the basic sense of pride, or hate themselves so much that they find comfort in derision? Or they hate their leaders so much that they fall in love with those who find Nigerians contemptible. That is sinking to the depths of despair.
Trump has not disguised his contempt for Nigerians and Africans. That any African will find this Trump view of them praiseworthy is unfathomable to me. And the fact that some Nigerians see Trump's assessment of them and their nation as an appropriate spur is as shocking as it is startling.
My people, the antelope might not have much meat on its hind legs, but it does not live in the forest eternally hateful of what it has to run with. The tortoise would like to trade its fatty limbs for the antelope's in the brisk and risky life of the jungle. After all, pride lies not in what others have that we would prefer, but what we are struggling, even sluggishly, to achieve that we can call our own.
If there is anything that is comforting about Trump and Trumpism to Nigerians--- and indeed all Africans---it should be that Trump exhibits the stupidity, absurdity, and incompetence of many of our leaders in Africa. He has brought the once vaunted American presidency to a level of leadership in Africa once occupied by Idi Amin and Jean Bedel Bokassa. Folks, Does this in Caesar seem worthy of love?
Edward Kissi
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Toyin Falola
Sent: Saturday, February 8, 2020 5:51 PM
To: dialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Nigerians love Trump!
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Trump trashes Nigeria and bans its immigrants. Nigerians love him for it.
Tough talk, candor and resilience are admired in my country. The president is perceived to have these traits.
A busy street in Lagos, Nigeria, recently. President Trump has called for a ban on immigrants from Nigeria. (Pius Utomi Ekpei/Afp Via Getty Images)
By Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani is a Nigerian writer and journalist based in Abuja. Her debut novel, "I Do Not Come to You by Chance," was named a best book of 2009 by The Washington Post. Her latest novel is "Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree."
Feb. 7, 2020 at 11:28 a.m. CST
ABUJA, NIGERIA
President Trump doesn't want Africans flooding into his country. But let's be honest. Who really does? Certainly not any other world leader of this era. Trump just happens to be the one bold or uncaring enough to say the quiet part out loud. He's the rare white politician sparing us the trouble of deciphering what he might think. And Nigerians love him for it.
Nigerians are generally dismayed by his latest travel ban, which severely restricts immigration to the United States from our country and five others. The reason given for this collective punishment is our government's failure to share certain relevant security information with the United States and international security agencies. But the ban is not likely to dent the prevailing attitude toward Trump here. The data has been consistent for the past three years, and the most recent survey, published by the Pew Research Center in January, shows that almost 6 in 10 Nigerians believe that Trump will "do the right thing regarding world affairs."
My hairdresser, Yimi Kolo, a 37-year-old mother of four who speaks little English but listens almost all day to a radio station that transmits in pidgin English, told me last week that she just loves Trump for his toughness. He says what he is going to do, and he goes ahead and does it. Her opinion was unsolicited, inspired merely by the mention of Trump's name on the radio while she was plaiting my hair. The perception of Trump as tough, no-nonsense, blunt, pro-religion and entertaining could be in part why a majority of people in this deeply religious and most populous country in Africa like him. Like a fire eater, he swallows every challenge that comes his way: Stormy Daniels, Russia, Ukraine, impeachment. Each time it appears as if he's down, he rises, seemingly stronger. It's like watching an action movie, or the best reality show Nigerians have ever seen — expressions of wonderment and wild laughter can be heard when people gather to discuss him.
Utterances that make Americans cringe don't seem to faze. When he says or does something that Americans consider racist, I receive emails from American friends, most of whom proudly hate their president. They apologize on his behalf or express their embarrassment. And they expect that this will surely be the turning point, when Nigerians finally begin to join them in detesting Trump. "Hopefully his approval rating will go down over there," wrote my novelist friend James Hannaham. "This guy, we gotta get rid of him. So toxic! So unbearable!" But the 45th president of the United States has so far not done or said anything that Nigerians have not been able to rationalize. Not yet. Not even the travel ban.
Trump has spread more hatred of immigrants than any American in history
Trump once described African nations as "shithole" countries. Many Africans agree. Ask the multitudes risking death by drowning to escape to Europe. In 2017, the bodies of 26 Nigerian young women and girls were recovered from the Mediterranean Sea, following their attempt to reach Europe in a rubber boat. Out of 181,000 migrants who arrived by sea in Italy from Libya in 2016, about 11,000 women and 3,000 children traveling alone were from Nigeria, according to the United Nations. In 2015, the European Union agreed to a nearly 2 billion-euro trust fund for African countries to help stop migrants from reaching Europe. "EU development aid is increasingly being spent to close borders, stifle migration and push for returns of migrants to Africa," according to a report published by Oxfam in January. "European governments seem determined to prevent migration at any cost," said Raphael Shilhav, who wrote the report. Trump is giving voice to a sentiment apparently shared silently by others.
AD
Nigerians have never been under any illusion about the world wanting to welcome random Africans with wide-open arms, but that has not stopped us from dreaming and trying anyway. In a 2018 Pew survey, 45 percent of Nigerian adults said they planned to move to another country in the next five years — the highest percentage of any nation surveyed. On reporting trips between 2016 and 2018 to Edo state in the south, the origin of most Nigerians crossing the Mediterranean, I came across villages where the majority of the youth had left for Europe, and the people who remained were mostly elderly. I saw advertisements for church services proclaiming themes like "Abroad Must Favour My Family This Year!!!" Across Nigeria, religious meetings offer special prayers to influence the hearts of consular officials. Those seeking divine intervention in their migration plans or visa applications are invited to attend.
In the past year, Nigerians I know have had cause to pray for God's intervention, after acquiring a U.S. visa suddenly became a task more herculean than ever. People who have traveled freely to the United States for decades were suddenly being denied visas without explanation. Newspaper columns registered their shock and anger, and local media covered the alarming situation widely. Even securing an appointment at the U.S. Embassy has become difficult, with applicants sometimes waiting up to five months for a chance to be interviewed. I confess to having needed emergency prayers myself as I waited at the American Embassy in Abuja some months ago and watched as dozens ahead of me were denied visas by the consular officers sitting behind glass screens. After I stood for three hours in a queue that snaked all the way out of the building, my tourist visa was successfully renewed.
International media reports on the travel ban have described Nigeria with glittering phrases: It's "Africa's largest economy" with a "booming tech ecosystem," whose migrants are "among the most educated and successfulimmigrants in the United States." But it is also a greatly diverse country that has produced the Boko Haram terrorist group, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and now parades as its West Africa arm; the "Underwear Bomber," Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear on a flight headed to Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009; and the crowds that poured into the streets of northern Nigeria (a mostly Muslim region) to celebrate the attacks on the twin towers in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. I was chatting with a group of people in Abuja recently, and every one of us agreed that it would be unwise for Trump to pretend that threats from northern Nigeria don't exist. He needs to protect Americans from Nigerians whom even we Nigerians need to be protected from.
AD
But Trump would surely have been accused of amplifying the fissures in our country if he had banned travelers from only a particular region, we conceded. And so we all must suffer for the transgressions of some.
Most local frustrations about the travel ban are directed at the government of Muhammadu Buhari, rather than at Trump. Multiple local media reports have said that the Trump administration tried for more than a year to work with the Nigerian government to upgrade our country's information-sharing procedures and avoid the ban. But Nigeria failed to meet the minimum security requirements for verifying travelers' identities and singling out those who may pose a national security threat. "The current Nigerian administration may have its deficiencies and deep faults," said Atiku Abubakar, an opposition leader and former presidential candidate, in an open appeal to the United States on Twitter, "but the Nigeria people ought not to be punished for their inefficiencies."
As soon as the ban was announced, quick action replaced lethargy. Buhari immediately set up a committee to "study and address" the security requirements that will get Nigeria off the list. In a meeting with the U.S. State Department this past week, Nigeria's foreign minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, promised that the government would soon complete the process of making information on criminal history, links to terrorism, stolen passports and the like available to Interpol and other relevant international agencies. It's frightening to think that none of this was being done before now. Nigerians' romance with Trump may end someday, but not over this travel ban, not when it is so difficult to prove beyond any doubt that Trump's motive was simply bigotry and malice.
AD
During the 2016 presidential election, a prominent Nigerian politician tweeted that it would be good if Trump won because America would become too busy dealing with him and his drama to poke its nose into other countries' affairs. That joke went viral in Nigeria. Perhaps that is another reason Nigerians love Trump: With all the outlandishness his presidency has unleashed, he has shown that America isn't some ideal place where leaders and the media and the opposition always conduct themselves with decorum. He has exposed the "African" in all of you.
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani is a Nigerian writer and journalist based in Abuja. Her debut novel, "I Do Not Come to You by Chance," was named a best book of 2009 by The Washington Post. Her latest novel is "Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree."
Toyin Falola
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
104 Inner Campus Drive
Austin, TX 78712-0220, USA
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Saturday, February 29, 2020
Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sv: Nigerians love Trump!
Toyin Adepoju has great suggestions
to rejuvenate, rebuild, and strengthen
the Nigerian Academy. Ochonu, Falola
and others have also contributed to
this challenge in cash and kind,
funding and institution building.So
we can appreciate these proposals.
The issue of Western dominance,
and how the
West got there in the first place;
the enormous challenges
faced by Black scholars within
its Academy; and the myth of
a bountiful unimpeded, stress -free
intellectual architecture, therein -
are issues that must not be
ignored and swept
under the carpet, however.
☹️
It may be fruitful to separate
and delink these two areas of
critical discourse. "The West
is best" and "I❤️the West"🌹🌹
tropes, at the worst, are infantile
and diversionary, and simply
consolidate Western & Eurocentric
triumphalism.
So we anticipate and look forward
to more meaningful proposals
on the first issue from TA.
GE
Sent from my iPhone
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