Africa: Crude Oil, Gold, Diamonds, Conflict and Confusions!

By

Salisu Ahmed Koki

sakoki23@yahoo.co.uk

There has never existed in this world a continent that is marred by confusions, conflicts and contradictions than the BIG (for nothing?) AFRICAN CONTINENT. Africa is incontrovertibly the biggest and sternly the largest continent on earth; virtually undisturbed by naturally-possessed catastrophic geological phenomena the likes of Tsunami and Katrina; masterfully shaped with horns and curly edges; punctuated with overtly scintillating oasis’s decorated Sahara; snow falling mountains (Kilimanjaro) and breath taking water falls. Another interesting feature of Africa is the roaring and constantly-meandering rivers, the likes of River Zambezi and others like the mysteries characterized big Africa Rift Valley. To those who are fervent on quenching their sight-seeing thirst, the popular Kalahari Game Reserve is there to do them exceptionally good. Mark my words, if you doubt this poor writer, kindly spare some hours out of your hours in life and visit the information section of your Embassy, and once there, click on “tourism in Africa” and not “terrorism in Africa” and see the wonders yourself. .
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Never has Africa been so wonderful than in its ability to nurse, nurture and preserve most of the world’s most treasured and admired cultures and traditions. The Masai people and their accompanying robust culture stands alone to prove my point. Furthermore, in any occupation requiring tact, diligence, strength, patience and friendliness of purpose (forgive my deliberate exclusion of intelligence, it is my believe that intelligence is a relative term here) no doubt you will find an African or rather an African in Diaspora whose lineage traces back to mother Africa. To cite but a few examples, think of the wholesomeness and the meditative role played by the United Nations in the area of ridding the world off needless wars, conflicts and denigrations and see if you can capture the faces of Boutros Boutros Ghali and the incumbent Kofi Annan in your mind, both of them Africans of international refute. Or rather evaluate critically the military prowess and foreign policy implementation of the United States of America vis-à-vis the number of black military officers that fought the 1^st Gulf War and now War in Iraq, or the likes of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Collin Powel. Imagine the boldness and charismatic energies spurred out of the duos of Martin Luther King Junior and Malcolm X vis-à-vis the liberation movements in the US that now positioned the US as the most liberal nation on earth. .
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Another striking example is that of highly meticulous Dr. Rilwan Lukman and incumbent Dr. Edmund Doukuru both Nigerians by citizenship and professionally the past and present presidents of the Crude Oil regulating cartel OPEC, respectively. The one time Judge of the World Court was a Nigerian and by extension a patriotic African in the person of Prince Bola Ajibola. To cut a long story short, Africa is stunningly and stupendously blessed with both human and natural resources plus a vast land that keep on begging painfully for its development. .
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A reasonable deposit of the ever-expensive Diamond and Gold settled beneath the fertile soils of South Africa and Ghana; crude oil weeping profusely in Sao Tome and Principe, Gulf of Guinea, Nigeria and Sudan; Cocoa monopolized in Ivory Coast; Zinc deposits in Zambia and its neighbors; Aquamarine, Amethyst and other sellable minerals dispersedly planted in numerous countries of Africa, the list goes on and on. .
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Nowhere has Africa been so contradictory and confusions-inducing than in its parading of most of the world’s respected leaders and state men of honor who by virtue of their leadership skills, vision of purpose and their mastery of the art of power manipulation and management. To add more color to my argument, I dare not mention here the likes of Nobel Peace Price winner Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, ably cultured Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Mussolini’s orders defying Emperor Gabriel Hail Salasee and Sir Ahmadu Bello KBE of Nigeria to name but a few. In the field of the display of exceptional wit and intelligence, the names of the exceptionally-creative writer Professor Chinua Achebe, Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka, Professor Emeritus Ali Mazrui and Nobel Laureate Wawuru of Kenya to mention but a few. .
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With this army of intellectuals, leaders as well as submissive followers, one would have qualified Africa as the most developed and the most habitable continent on earth, but indeed this is not what is obtained in the continent presently. The so-called civilized people in the West used to brand Africa as the “Darkest Part of the World”. Though painfully insulting, I find it very logical to agree with their assertion and colossal condemnation of this blessed continent, simply because, in spite of the abundance of buried wealth yet untapped, overtly intimidating human capital and vast array of land mass, the larger part of Africa has been enclosed and enveloped by needless man-made wars and conflicts that tends to violently dwarf the socio-economic development of the continent. .
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Come to think of it, up till today, war is tearing apart the likes of Sudan (Darfur), Congo DR, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leon, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, Chad, Gambia and oil rich Niger Delta region of  Nigeria. To cap it up, greed, lust for absolute power and bad leadership is what is to my knowledge bedeviling the BIG AFRICAN CONTINENT and unless the situation is reversed, the continent will forever remain the so-called “Darkest Part of the World”. .
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Alas! Good news is spurring out of this aging continent, the meditative role played by Nigeria relieved war-torn Liberia off its trouble and facilitates the installation through democratic means of the first African woman President in the person of Allen Johnson Sirlef. The ECOWAS, which is a sub-regional body for nurturing brotherhood amongst the West African nations facilitates the genuine cease fire in Sierra Leone and partly doused the Darfur crises. Again, just a week before my penning down of this article, the Verification Commission on Easing Tension between Chad and Sudan has met in Tripoli, the Libyan capital to discuss modalities aimed at easing the tension between Chad and Sudan. Dr. Ali Triki, Secretary for African Affairs at the Libyan General People’s Committee for External Relations and International Cooperation and Mohamed Al-Madani Azhari, Secretary-General of the Community of Sahelian-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) are part of the team working tirelessly towards easing this sordid tension. .
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At least with this good news, it is hoped that all hands will be put on deck to salvage this all-important continent regardless of our color, race or religious inclination. I mean, regardless of one been African or not African, because Africa is stupendously the investors haven of the world (no apologies to Dubai) and if the situation on ground did not favor equitable and risk investment opportunities then all is lost. .
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Koki Creative Media .
Kano-Nigeria