Share this page!

Onye Nkuzi Profile picture
Twitter logo
11 Mar, 4 tweets, 1 min read
Ousmane Sonko believes that French influence in Senegal is excessive and unhealthy. That French companies are given undue advantages in Senegal.

Guess what? Knowing what I know about Francophone Africa, I believe him.

And many Senegalese appear to believe him too.
Now Washington D.C. based policy makers, journalists and think tankers believe that Africans see "China" as the "major problem". They have stubbornly and consistently refused to query French motives and actions in Francophone Africa - and they will pay for this.
Quite simply, they are not listening.

I said earlier that I'm not excited about contributing to discussions at Washington think tanks, because no matter what I say, Americans will not listen to me. They will continue to do whatever the hell they want to do.
Same applies to the Senegalese people. They are saying certain things Washington policy makers do not want to hear - and these policy makers will simply pretend not to hear what they are saying, double down support for France & call it a day.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Onye Nkuzi

Onye Nkuzi Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @cchukudebelu

Onye Nkuzi Profile picture
11 Mar
Obama's (and Cameron's & Sarkozy's) main legacy in Africa is the bombing of Libya and the destabilization of Sahel and West Africa;

Not "Power Africa".

But African leaders are not blameless, their weak states were "stress tested" and found wanting.
A lot has been said about "Nigeria's size", but "Nigeria's size" did not prevent it from being destabilized by internal factors and the fall out from Libya. This much trumpeted "size" hasn't provided jobs for young Nigerians (youth unemployment rates are close to 50%).
A state has two functions;
1. Preserve a realm of security.
2. Preserve a realm of prosperity.

Nigeria has FAILED on both counts.

African states exist to serve their citizens, not impress Pan-Africanists across the ocean with their "size" and "potential".
Read 4 tweets
Onye Nkuzi Profile picture
11 Mar
When W.E.B. DuBois and other pioneers advanced "Pan-Africanism", it was very clear what they hoped to accomplish; emancipation of the Black Race - and this meant fighting Jim Crow in the US and fighting colonialism in Africa and the Caribbean.
When Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in the 1930s, African Americans volunteered in their thousands to fight the Italians. This even scared the US State Department.

There was an understanding that the Civil Rights Movement & the De-Colonization Movement were part of the same struggle
The end of Apartheid marked the end of a unifying Pan-Africanist idea. There's no real direction now. No real response to events like Rwanda, Libya, chaos in Nigeria, genocides in Ethiopia or the economic chaos in Africa and much of the developing world.
Read 5 tweets
Onye Nkuzi Profile picture
10 Mar
Nigeria sobers you. In 1960, everyone was an ardent Pan-Africanist, but when Chinua Achebe barely escaped Lagos with his life, he understood that "he didn't really belong there".

He never lived in Lagos after that. After the war, he was at Nsukka, before heading to the US.
Wole Soyinka was a principled activist. Spent months in solitary confinement for opposing a bloody civil war. In the twilight of his life, his compound was attacked by marauding herders - who had no regard for him, his age, or his contributions to the nation.
James Ajibola Ige was an intellectual. Moved in the same circles as Soyinka and Achebe at Ibadan (they were contemporaries). Had a successful political career. Risked his life in NADECO (accurately described Abacha's political parties as "5 fingers of the same leprous hand").
Read 6 tweets
Onye Nkuzi Profile picture
8 Mar
During Mao's "Cultural Revolution", university entrance examinations were suspended and education in China suffered a severe blow. This went on for more than a decade.

Deng was remarkable because he not only reversed the trend, he had to rebuild China's higher education system.
People often talk about Germany and Japan rebuilding after WW2, out of context. Every nation has its own unique context.

In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge killed most educated people, so rebuilding Cambodia means rebuilding an entire generation of professionals, from scratch.
When Belgium granted independence to Congo, less than 20 Congolese had university degrees (Lumumba was one of them), so Congo had to be built from scratch - there was no human capital to build a prosperous nation on at independence.

Korea was poor, but had better human capital.
Read 4 tweets
Onye Nkuzi Profile picture
7 Mar
The African Diaspora was excited about FESTAC 77. 400 African American artistes took part in the event.

It was good for their psyche; "an emerging African power", the "giant of Africa", was in tune with recent progress made by the Civil Rights Movement.
aaihs.org/global-black-c…
But after the 1970s came the 1980s. Most African economies, including the Nigerian economy, collapsed in the 1980s - and many in the African Diaspora (especially those from North America and the Caribbean) quickly lost interest in Nigeria.
Africa is messy, struggles to make progress and Africans exhibit all the vices demonstrated by human beings around the world.

Yet many in African Diaspora are either unable or unwilling to accept this - there's an element of fantasy in their relationship with the "motherland".
Read 4 tweets
Onye Nkuzi Profile picture
20 Feb
I know it is fashionable in foreign policy circles in Western capitals to assume that "Nigeria" = "Northern Nigeria", i.e. "Northern Nigeria is the only relevant part of Nigeria".

This is nonsensical, and it is time to dispel that notion.
Southern Nigeria still have Africa's largest gas reserves, access to the sea, a relatively educated work force and the potential to be West Africa's industrial powerhouse.

We tend to focus a bit too much on "agriculture", but industry matters too.
Under "Nigeria" as presently constituted, Southern Nigeria will not attain its full potential. The first challenge is leadership (at the local level).

In the South East, there is no "leadership". Period. There are placeholders who don't know their left from their right.
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @cchukudebelu has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @cchukudebelu!

Read all threads by @cchukudebelu