This Niger Republic crisis is Bola Tinubu’s chance to aspire towards being a Kwame Nkrumah

Ayo Akinfe

[1] For the first time in a long while, I was feeling very inspired in February 2021 when I read President Patrice Talon of Benin Republic’s proposals about how he would like to see Benin Republic merge with Nigeria and become her 37th state

[2] Not surprisingly, Nigeria’s intellectually bankrupt leaders immediately distanced themselves from the idea but that is only because they are ignorant. As things stand, Africa has 54 nation states, most of which are not economically viable and the status quo is simply untenable

[3] Africa accounts for 18% of the world’s population, just 3% of global trade and a mere 1% of world manufacturing. That is because most of her nation states are simply canon fodder for the rest of the world, producing primary commodities which are bought at rock bottom prices, then manufactured and sold back to them as finished goods with a 500% mark-up

[4] Most African nations are simply too weak to do anything about this, so the relentless exploitation continues. The only antidote is to get rid of the nonsensical colonial boundaries and build viable economic entities with a little bit of teeth and clout. Nothing infuriates me more than hearing intellectually-challenged Nigerians calling for the balkanisation of their country even more. With your tiny weak states you face economic strangulation in the hands of giant nations like China and India with their populations that are in excess of 1bn

[5] Just take the case of Benin Republic for instance. It has a population of 11m people but a meagre gross domestic product (GDP) of $14.3bn and paltry annual budget of $2.15bn. Most local government areas in Europe have annual budgets bigger than that of Benin Republic, even those with less than 50,000 inhabitants

[6] Over 40% of Benin Republic’s income comes from cotton exports. In a world where everyone is moving towards synthetic fabrics, cotton simply has no future. Benin Republic’s other main money spinner is the port of Cotonou which is effectively part of Nigeria as about 90% of the goods that comes into there are destined for Nigeria. There is no justification whatsoever for the existence of two separate nation states

[7] Kwame Nkrumah was the first person to highlight the perils of the proliferation of nation states across Africa. Indeed he made the point in 1965 when he opened the Akosombo Dam on the River Volta, constructing it to supply electricity to both Ghana and the then Upper Volta (Burkina Faso). Other West African heroes like Thomas Sankara, Amilcar Cabral, Leopold Sedar Senghor and Sekou Toure all highlighted this vision during their lifetimes

[8] At the stroke of midnight on March 6 1957 when Ghana became independent, President Kwame Nkrumah said: “For our independence is meaningless unless it leads to the total liberation of the African continent.” By the same token, any economic development in Nigeria is meaningless unless it leads to the economic emancipation of the African continent. If all our West African neighbours are living off starvation budgets of $2.15bn a year, it is inevitable that their citizens will migrate enmasse to Nigeria if her economy is growing

[9] This Niger Republic crisis offers Bola Tinubu a unique opportunity to etch his name in stone. He could go down in history as a legend by initiating amalgamation talks with a view to turning Ecowas into the Socialist Republic of West Africa, starting with the merger of Nigeria, Benin Republic and Niger Republic

[10] Nigerians are the architects of their own misfortune. Where are the massive demonstrations asking the federal government to take charge of the situation by filling the vacuum created by France pulling out of Niger Republic. How dare the Nigeriens start carrying Russian flags when they should be carrying the flags of their southern neighbours and advocating an immediate merger