Opinion: Still on Nigeria/South Africa imbroglio

Posted by admin Headlines Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

The relations between Nigeria and South Africa over yellow fever vaccination took an alarmingly embarrassing turn recently with both countries deporting the citizens of each other. The ostensible reason for yellow fever vaccination was what both countries needed to unleash the age-long hostilities and rivalry on one another.

This is the same South Africa when I was an undergraduate of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) were the predominant faces in our Faculty of Law as students enjoying the largesse of the Obasanjo military regime in terms of free school fees, accommodation and feeding. The same Nigerian government were in the forefront of the war against the Apartheid regime in South Africa, just to liberate the citizens of that country. Nigerian telecoms and satellite TV sectors are today dominated by South African companies at the expense of local investors. It is obvious that one of the parties to this seemingly – international – friendship is not honest in reciprocating the good gestures of the other.

In all this, I will blame the Nigerian government for being too naive and lackadaisical towards the protection of her citizens particularly (corporate and individuals) against the unfriendly attitude of some foreign governments particularly the South African government.

Today, in terms of economic disequilibrium, South Africans are milking Nigerians to the highest heavens in terms of what we pay for DSTV/Multichoice subscription and phone calls (MTN) compared to what they in South Africa pay. To compound this economic malady/inequality, the Federal Government recently allowed HITV (a local pay TV) to be driven underground with so many of its Nigerian workers now thrown into the unemployment market. Is that the sign of a caring government? Everybody expected the government of Nigeria to come to the aid of HITV by bailing it out instead of allowing the powerful Multichoice to outsmart it. Nigerian phone users are today the largest financial contributors to MTN’s fund drive, on the entire African continent where that company is operating, yet when its headquarters was to be built by the company, it was taken to Ghana.

The issue of yellow fever as claimed by the government of South Africa is only a smokescreen against the real bad-belly of that government against Nigerians. And if one must ask; which is worst, yellow fever or HIV/AIDS to which the South Africans have since become the major exporters? And how many South Africans visiting Nigeria have ever been repatriated on grounds of being HIV/AIDS carriers?

How a responsible government should behave by protecting her citizenry has been exemplified by the Italian government’s query to the British government over the Boko Haram killing of an Italian citizen in Nigeria only last week. Can Nigerian government through its foreign missions do same? Not at all. Otherwise, numerous Nigerians maimed and killed (some deprived of their life-savings) in Libya and Cote d’Ivoire recently during those countries political uproar would not have been slaughtered and deprived by those African countries.

•Fred Agbaje Esq, 51, Popoola Street, Pedro Road, Shomolu, Lagos State.wp_posts