WHAT I WISH BUHARI SAID
(1) A number of Nigerians use the
migrant routes to come to the UK to claim asylum, saying their lives are at
risk from Boko Haram. Is it legitimate for them to do so?
BUHARI SAID: "Some Nigerians
claim that life is too difficult back home, but then again some Nigerians have
also made it difficult for Europeans and Americans to accept them because of
the number of Nigerians in different prisons all over the world accused of drug
trafficking or human trafficking. I don't think Nigerians have anybody to
blame. They can remain at home. Their services are required to rebuild the
country. If their countrymen misbehaved, the best thing for them is to stay at
home and encourage the credibility of the nation."
WHAT I WISH BUHARI SAID: “Yes,
Colin, it is legitimate for them to do so; as legitimate as it was for a number
of Britons to use the Atlantic route to come to West Africa 400 years ago
claiming to be bringing civilization. I think what human history shows is that
people – Nigerian or British, black or white – tend to go, borders or no
borders, wherever they feel life would be better, hence, once upon a time, the
UK itself exported a mass of migrants to places like America and Australia. How
legitimate was the treatment meted to the original inhabitants of these places
so your own settlers could be accommodated? In our case, our settlers are
arriving at your shores, not with guns and chicken pox, but with a genuine
desire to live in peace with you, to work hard and contribute to the
development of your society. This is not something I think should be wantonly
criminalized in a world that claims to be modern and humane. Now, this is not
to say that we, on the other side, are standing at our borders, gleefully herding
our citizens into rickety dingies heading for Europe. No. But neither is our
vision of the modern world that of a collection of prison states, where the
role of African governments is to act as wardens, whose primary responsibility
is to keep their wards out of Europe.”
(2) Do you think that Nigerians have
an image problem abroad?
BUHARI SAID: Certainly. But we are
on our way to salvage that. We will encourage our countrymen to stay at home,
work hard and make a respectable living at home."
WHAT I WISH BUHARI SAID: “I think
Nigerians are a creative, resourceful and highly energetic people, and a day
and a night in any Nigerian city, Colin, I am certain will prove this to you.
But unfortunately there are these negative stereotypes of Nigerians that the West
seems to have grown quite fond of. But my government is committed to working
hard to remind the world that Nigeria is also the country that gave it Chinua
Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Fela Kuti, Jay Jay Okocha and your very own Chuka Umunna.
And, believe me, there are a lot more where those came from. So, tell me, is it
too hard to ask you to judge us for the care workers and dentists, the athletes
and teachers that are getting up every day, going to work and contributing
their quota – alongside the many upstanding members of other nationalities – to
keep multi-cultural cities like London ticking?”
…………
Please, we can speak in prose to
each other, but when we meet the world, let us speak in poetry.
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