It falls on Nigeria to lead the African continent to the Promised Land 

By Ayo Akinfe 

(1) Today is May 14. On this day in 1897, Great Britain signed a treaty with Emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia, creating bilateral relationships between Ethiopia and British Somaliland. It guaranteed the rights of the citizens of both territories and opened the door to trade between them 

(2) Although not exactly an agreement between equals like say the Anglo-Prussian Pact, this agreement was a far cry from the “protection” treaties signed between Britain and say the Oba of Benin, Sultan of Sokoto, Obong of Calabar or Alaafin of Oyo, which were wholly one-sided 

(3) Abyssinia or Ethiopia was one of the few African empires actually respected by Europeans as being inhabited by civilised people. Just like Egypt, Cush and Axum, they were not enslaved as they were regarded as people with a culture, tradition, religion and history. They were certainly not categorised as “natives” like us. In plain language, native meant savage 

(4) Today, Ethiopia is making something of a comeback and claiming its place among Africa’s giants. Basically, Africa is centred around Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, DR Congo and Ethiopia. If these big five sort themselves out, the continent will enjoy unprecedented economic growth and global political clout 

(5) One of the biggest tragedies of Africa today is that she is balkanised into over 50 disparate nation states, many of them unviable and forever destined to be weak, poor and uneconomic. Were we back in the 19th century, this big five would just have carved up the continent between them. There is simply no justification for some nation states we see today 

(6) When I look at Sudan for instance, my heart bleeds. Khartoum, used to be the last outpost of the Egyptian Empire. In the southwest of the country, the people of Darfur are Bagarra, identical to our own Shuwa Arabs in Borno State, while in South Sudan, the people are East Africans like those of Uganda. Post-1960, Sudan should have been carved up between Chad, Egypt and Uganda. One just needs to see how straight the border between Egypt and Sudan is to appreciate the fact that it was drawn with a ruler. Nigeria has to correct these anomalies going forward 

(7) Once upon a time, the whole of Europe was one nation called the Roman Empire. This is when they moved out of the darkness of savagery and into civilisation. The Roman Empire took over from Ancient Egypt as the world’s only super power. We then saw unprecedented developments with the construction of ships, cities, temples, etc. The consolidated strength of the empire made it a colossus. Emperor Constantine then took this to new heights when he adopted Christianity as the official religion, making Europe the defender of the faith 

(8) We are no longer in the 17th century so Nigeria cannot march her troops across borders but alas,something needs to be done. A situation whereby Africa with its 1.3bn people out of a global total of about 7.5bn only accounts for 4% of world trade is totally unacceptable. The only antidote to this is a fusion of our nations to create five or six giants that can compete globally 

(9) Just to put things into perspective, on this same day in 1811, Paraguay gained independence from Spain. Today, Paraguay is nowhere more developed than Nigeria despite having a 150 year head start. With a tiny population of 7m and a GDP of just $44bn, I question whether the nation is viable. Why Paraguay has not merged with Brazil is totally beyond me 

(10) If we want to be honest, it is up to Nigeria to carry on from where Ancient Egypt and Abyssinia left off. To us falls the burden of making the African respected again. That process, however, involves merging many of the continents nation states. Are we ready for that challenge? Our challenges are good to enormous in Nigeria. The responsibility of being the world’s largest black nation is a huge one!

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