Ibadan Toy: Why The U.S.?

By Olawale Salau 

The end of year 2013 was an open letter season in Nigeria. It is pertinent that we as a nation continue to make the maximum use of this popular medium of communication, while it is in vogue. Unlike other letters that are flying around at the moment, mostly political, this one is to raise some issues that must be well checked by our governments at all levels.

On Sunday, Dec. 22, 2013, a mysterious flying object was in the news. It was falsely reported that  a US spy drone flew into a toilet of a house in southwest Nigeria’s State of Oyo.

Few days after the news went viral on social media, the police in the state described the flying object  as a toy.  Investigation had shown that the electronic object was a Christmas gift for a child.

The item was set flying to the glee of the child-owner but unfortunately crashed into a house within the neighborhood.  One of Nigeria’s leading newspapers  quoted aviation sources as saying that the spacecraft with registration number TX 5803, inscribed on a black battery is a drone which must have taken off from NASA base in Texas in the US.

The source added that the battery attached to the spacecraft powered it and enabled it to move around so that it could do the bidding of those who sent it.

In that report, there was speculation that the suspected drone is United States’ latest spying venture in Nigeria, but the story was unfortunate and misleading.

Expectedly, public outrage grew and stakeholders began to express concern about why the US would extend its espionage to Nigeria.  Several questions were raised without answers. What information does the US want or already have about the civil wars, insurgencies and political standoffs that will shape the continent this year?

After-all, the United States and Nigeria share a strong partnership when it comes to security cooperation. Both nations’ military have enjoyed a close collaboration which is an essential element of their overall bilateral engagement, including equipment transfers such as the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Chase, now the NNS Thunder, joint missions such as medical civic action programmes plus completed and ongoing training programmes in both countries.

The United States and Nigeria have ties to each other at every level.  At some $5 billion, Nigeria is the second largest destination for US private investment in Africa. One big lesson for the U.S. can be lifted from a recent poll that suggested that the U.S government should stop meddling in the affairs of other nations.

According to the survey, 52% say the United States “should mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along the best they can on their own.” Just 38% disagreed with the statement.

“This is the most lopsided balance in favour of the U.S. ‘minding its own business,’ in the nearly 50-year history of the measure,” according to the Pew Center for People and the Press, which conducted the survey.

Nevertheless, continuous protests against U.S. surveillance tactics across the world recently after reports revealed that both the citizens and leader of European countries were targets of the National Security Association’s anti-terror surveillance programme for some time now.

Famously. it began with reports in various European publications based on releases made by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who is living in Russia after disclosing classified surveillance details to the press.

The outrage and follow up began to reveal information on the NSA’s methods, including the monitoring of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone.

We cannot rule out the fact that the Western World, led by the U.S. has had a huge impact on the continent and culture of Africa. This impact has been neither dominantly positive nor negative, but it is clear what the Western World should accomplish in the future in respect to Africa.

They have done some good things for Africa. One of the most obvious things the west has done to help Africa, is aid. The American public has been in overwhelming favour to help aid and educate Africa, especially on their HIV/AIDS crisis.

Since the end of the Cold War, western political engagement in Africa has tended to be static. There have been some important exceptions such as the international intervention in Somalia led initially by the United States in the early and mid-1990s, support for achieving a comprehensive peace agreement between northern and southern Sudan in the first half of this century, and deep concern about the situation in Darfur since 2003.

Most of the financial support, although without troop contributions, for UN peacekeeping operations in Africa also came from western countries.

It is important to note that the West use problems such as terrorism and piracy in Africa to extend their military bases on the continent to protect its own interests.

They  don’t pay attention to why the rebels spring up on the continent. Different African organizations such as ECOWAS, AU and other regional groups are ready to solve the problem of  insecurity on the continent and they would like to cooperate with Western countries only in training of army staff, in exchanging of intelligence information and in supplying of military equipment.

In many ways, Africa is the future and is increasingly relevant on the world stage.  But conflicts persist. Piracy is a growing problem along the continent’s western coast. There’s the aftermath of revolutions in North Africa. Civil wars have erupted in the Central African Republic and the world’s newest nation of South Sudan. And an insurgency is raging in Nigeria that could get a lot worse.

From the Sahara to Somalia and down to the Democratic Republic of Congo, these are the civil wars, conflicts and threats that will shape this part of Africa’s narrative in 2014.

It has been predicted that Nigeria will remain a serious piracy hot-spot in 2014. In this regard, Nigeria in collaboration with her allies need to organize training for the Navy to combat piracy, but not to deploy foreign troops on its territory. Using the slogan of the global war against terrorism Western countries are continuing policy of double standard. The U.S. should stop intervening in other countries and be more consistent on human rights.

They support movements if they combat political regimes that fail to dance to the tune of Western countries.  In this case, Western media don’t publicize full data about victims of the activity of the groups.  This strategy was used during the war in Libya against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. Now Western countries are using same strategy in Syria to dethrone B. Assad.

Over the past few years of the crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Bahrain, the U.S. government has showered the regime with tens of millions of dollars in military aid. The Obama administration has not imposed any sanctions on Bahrain or on Bahraini officials for human rights abuses.

•Salau, a journalist and public affairs analyst, wrote from Lagos. •Email: [email protected]