Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Salil Shetty the Indian long-term activist on poverty and justice, former director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign and now Secretary General of the human rights organization Amnesty International has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘Nigerian government should address the problems’. Shetty states “A country with global aspirations should also be a country of the rule of law. On that count, Nigeria is failing dismally – particularly when it comes to Boko Haram [Islamic militant group]. …The death of 43 adds to the toll of more than 1,000 people killed by Boko Haram over the last two years, including attacks on churches, outside mosques and in markets. Such an assault from within is a challenge to any country. But Nigeria has to find a more effective means of response than it has to-date. The country is positioning itself as a global player and is seeking a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. The terrible crimes of Boko Haram can never be a justification for a country’s security forces to kill or disappear people with impunity. The security forces’ response is creating an atmosphere of lawlessness across vast swathes of the country. In the words of one Nigerian judge, the authorities’ disregard for due process is “barbaric”. … Unlawful killings, detention without charge, and enforced disappearances are just some of the human rights violations being perpetrated by Nigeria’s security forces in the name of national security which Amnesty International identified in a report launched in November. … The Nigerian government should address the problems, not blame the messenger or deny the undeniable. The Nigerian government owes its own people respect for the rule of law – including by the lawful prosecution of Boko Haram crimes, which we see too rarely. If official lawlessness is denied and goes unpunished, Nigeria will not gain the stability it so badly needs.”

Inspired by Salil Shetty, Aljazeera ow.ly/hYDEp Image source Facebook ow.ly/hYDC8

Chibundu Onuzo the 21 year old Nigerian author of her first novel ‘The Spider King’s Daughter’ has published an article in The Guardian titled ‘Africa and the new white man’s burden’, referring to China taking advantage of the Colonialism shadow still casts over the west’s relationships with African countries. Onuzo states “Kipling’s burden was shouldered by men who felt a calling to civilise the “half devil, half child” peoples who apparently proliferated the 19th-century world. …Things have somewhat changed in the 21st century. Many who take up the load of development do so, if not with guilt – for guilt is too unnuanced a term –, then with an acute awareness of all that has preceded their arrival among the less economically developed of the earth. …So they tread carefully, mindful of sensibilities that are both figment and real. They overlook corruption because it is how things are done in Africa. They laud substandard leaders because it is how people are ruled in Africa. To criticise or hold under too deep a scrutiny is to be accused of being an agent of a new type of colonialism. It is true that the phrases neocolonialism and neoimperialism are not obsolete. …There are cries that China’s is a new imperialism. If so, at least it is new and not trapped in a stagnant history of ex-colonisers and their ex-colonies. Hearteningly, China does not hide its wish to make profit out of its dealings with Africa behind altruism or religion or paternalism. …But if China’s dealings in Africa do not point to an attempt to make Beijing a metropolis, then it is better not to recast the Chinese arrival in Lagos as the second act of the British landing in Eko; it is better that history serves as merely a loose reference for dealing with foreign powers.”

Inspired by Chibundu Onuzo, The Guardian ow.ly/hdFxv Image source Twitter ow.ly/hdFrY