A Letter to the British High Commissioner In Nigeria

Henry Nwokolo

06/01/05

Dear Mr. Richard Gozney

You are looking for our trouble!

The not so recent announcement by your office to ban the issuance of visas to Nigerians between the ages of 18-30 speaks of racist vernacular. The announcement on its own seems like a sinister intent on the part of your country to initiate a new immigration policy towards Africa which is yet to be unfolded. Furthermore, your action is a direct insult on the hospitality of Nigeria and its people. I wonder if this is an attempt to test the pulse of Nigeria before enacting a new direction for your foreign policy (especially concerning immigration) towards Nigeria/Africa?

Before I address the issue that necessitated this letter I would like to acknowledge one singular good in your policy. That good refers to the decision of the High Commission to make its intention clear thereby making it possible for people to hold on to their hard earned monies instead of going through the entire visa application charade only to be refused a visa. For that I thank you.

Now let me address the accusations I made earlier. Racism by definition in the dictionary provided to us by your ancestors is the “act of discrimination based on prejudice, race or gender.” By implication, the High Commission’s action falls under “prejudice” which is explicitly stated in the aforementioned definition. I heard you took offence recently when some Nigerian youths accused your office of racial prejudice by uttering the following “I reject seriously the argument of racism. No, it has nothing to do with that. We (Britain) are a multi-racial country. A large number of Nigerians voted in Thursday’s election in Britain and I saw a Nigerian woman, who served as a Returning officer, announcing some results.”

With all due respect sir, what has your statement got to do with the made accusation? Now I know why you’re a professional diplomat! You exemplify the words of Lewis Thomas when he said “the great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matters at hand.” The matter at hand is that your office singled out an age- group of Nigerians to ban their intent of visiting the U.K and your response is to point fingers at those that are counting votes in London? Wetin concern Ojukwu with shaving stick if I may ask?

I also described your action as sinister and here is my reason. Remember when we used to spend money in your country like it was going out of fashion? Remember when our politicians were buying weekend homes trying to out-spend the Arabs and renting limousines by the month? Remember how easy it was to transfer money to your banks and nobody would disturb your banks or the person that deposited the money? Well my thinking is that you and your government have seen the handwriting on the wall and decided that since those days are not likely to return again, you may as well restrict the amount of people that come into your country. After all, if the people with visas are not improving ‘show’ in your country how would the new applicants help the situation when our own economy is not as robust as it used to be. The logic of your thinking is very impressive because your country may have done the arithmetic and deduced that the plane load of Nigerians visiting these days are not spending as much as before. My white brother, to borrow the slang of my brothers in Warri, “game don change, things no be like it be before again!”

I also accused you by stating that your action is an insult to Nigerians and again I explain myself. You of all people should know that we (Nigeria and Great Britain) have a history that dates back longer than I care to calculate. We have groomed that relationship for so long that I dare say you have benefited more from us that we from you. And you are still benefiting. Your own countryman Richard Branson has been allowed to acquire a hefty share in our national airline through his Virgin Atlantic Airlines. Not only that he is now exploring the potential opportunity in the mobile and railroad industries. Many industries ranging from information technology, to banking to insurance to manufacturing to consulting employ a significant number of your countrymen and yet you have the effrontery to announce this action? It simply is a case of insults upon insults.

The truth of the matter is that even I do not blame you! You have seen us finish! (Please consult one of your Nigerian staff to breakdown the Nigerian slang/lingo.) If only my countrymen and women would act like men of ‘timber and caliber’ this letter would not have been necessary. Had we men that could speak their minds and not be compromised in one form or another, the day after you announced this action every Nigerian with an account in your country would have been forced to close that account and the money remitted back to Nigeria. Every Nigerian child enrolled in your overpriced universities would be brought home. Any industry you have a hand in would be closed and handed over to Nigerians. Every British citizen in Nigeria would be given 48 hours to pack up and go unless area boys will pay them a visit. But will it happen? I am sure you are laughing now because you know my people ba? Can you even conceive of doing this to America or Japan? It is not your fault at all!

Okay let me ask you some simple questions. Supposing McMillan gets a hold of a manuscript written by a 20 year old in Kaduna and their editors are simply flabbergasted by the skill of this young writer that they immediately wish him or her under their stable. Would your office decide to issue a visa to this 20 year old? What if Microsoft’s office in the U.K discovers a young girl in Calabar who casually resolves some of its most complicated compatibility issues with computer networks? Would your office rethink its position on the kid and grant a visa? What if the third son of a herbalist, born to his third wife in Ile-Ife figures out the ingredients for the cure for Aids in his father’s bouquet of herbs? Would Glaxo SmithKline encourage you to rethink your ban and make a visa available to the lad to proceed to the U.K? What about the Igbo trader in Idumota desperate to find a source for his goods? What about the next Pele being groomed on the streets of Obalende just wishing for an opportunity to play amongst the best in the U.K? What about a brilliant student who just won a scholarship to sit amongst greater minds so that she or he can develop and become a meaningful contributor to the development of the human race. Would any of these examples necessitate a change of heart on the part of your commission? If it does, has it not shown your discriminatory stands?

I have heard a lot of reasons to explain your High Commission’s policy and they all sound like diplomatic jingle. In the business of diplomacy, I understand that truth is often twisted to satisfy a future goal. The cost of managing immigration nuisances may have necessitated your actions and perhaps it is a preamble to the larger intent of countries such as yours that are reconsidering their foreign policies on immigration.

Listen, I know your government is fearful of my people and their ‘sharpness.’ Trust me when I say that some of us even open our mouths when we hear some of the antics we pull. But the recently announced policy if anything will bring out the ‘sharpness’ in us that you already know of. You know that your staff will be interviewing a man whose jaw looks like Olumo Rock because of all the years of shaving and he would present you with a birth certificate that says he was born only 15 years ago. If that doesn’t work, He may return the next day with another birth certificate to indicate that he is over 30. All you have done is create more work for your people and expose the fallacy of your thinking that the policy would in some way eliminate a genre of people from the U.K.

You guys need to sit down and reevaluate the need to better Africa. Yes some of us are corrupt, yes some of us mismanage, yes some of our actions can cause an otherwise healthy person to develop brain hemorrhage, yes some of us have strong heads but this is your inheritance and the consequence of your participation in our birth. You do not disown your child simply because you are tired of his friends coming over to your abode. Until the U.K and countries in the so-called ‘first world’ category sincerely help repair Africa, immigration will not seize. If una like go and build another Atlantic Ocean to separate us, people from Badagry would take a deep breath, dive into that water and the next time they come up for air, they will be looking at Big Ben from the River Thames. This is the burden you will have to bear because of the omissions of your ancestors. A contemporary example is the current immigration headache the United States is having with its neighbor, Mexico. While a lot of Mexicans in the United States want to go home, they simply cannot because there aren’t any jobs to feed their families. It is the same thing with Nigeria. While a lot of Nigerians abroad wish to come home, they simply cannot afford to do that because they want to be able to better themselves and their families. The lesson it continues to teach is that no matter the sophistication of border patrols and racist visa bans, people that are desperate will do what they have to do to seek a better life. And that will be the resultant consequence of your recent policy. Genuinely help fix Africa. Insist on transparency from your banks, stop the divide and rule methods you utilize in African policies and I swear you will be begging for 18-30 year olds to come and take your visas.

I have said everything I need to say. Just behave yourself and shake body.

Sincerely,

Henry A. Nwokolo