The “whiteman” is not that stupid!

The recent debt forgiveness for some poor and highly indebted nations in Africa and other nations around the world is indeed a commendable gesture made by those nations whom these huge monies is owed. Although, the idea for the forgiveness and the actual act of the forgiveness have received mixed criticism, suffice to say, the act is a tremendous leap toward assisting these poor nations in their fight against poverty. One would hope that the leaders of these nations would understand the golden opportunity they have to turn things around in their nations, should they be wise. While I would love to see that Nigeria’s debt is forgiven, I seem not to see the basis for it despite the president’s previous world tours to campaign for the issue. As Nigerians continue to wonder why in spite of the president’s numerous trips and [his] campaign, our debt still hang[s] on. The bottom-line, I would argue, is that the “Whiteman” is not stupid! Some may think and even publicly argue that the western powers do not wish Nigeria well and all that or that they like to frustrate the advancement of Nigeria by holding us accountable to pay our debt. Whereas, I couldn’t completely disagree that there are nations around that do not wish us well, as some may argue, but I have to contend that the “Whiteman” is not so stupid to forgive Nigeria her debts at this moment. Why?

More than anything else, a debtor has the responsibility to pay a debt collected on the terms for which it was collected. Nigeria’s leaders, for whatever reason, collected and signed the terms of these huge debts they should have known would cripple and destroy our economy. Therefore, if Nigeria still owes these monies, the western nations we owe these monies to are not to be blamed. If anything, Nigeria must hold responsible the leaders that got us into these debts to explain what they did with the debts. Nigeria must ask the signatories to these loan disbursements, and their accomplices, to step up and tell Nigeria where they’ve taken the monies to.

What Nigeria should understand is that the “Whiteman” understands, as it was reported recently, that we have made over “$400 billion” since our independence and that most [of] this money was embezzled by our leaders and kept in foreign accounts. It is sad that sometimes people don’t think rationally before they embark on a journey that, from its inception, is doomed to fail, as our president’s debt campaign has demonstrated.

Why should a “Whiteman” be as stupid to forgive our debts when, before their very eyes and in their various nations, our leaders have assets and bank accounts that are worth so much more than we as a nation owe them? It is absolutely absurd that any creditor, who knows and, who has physical evidence that a debtor has the wealth to pay back a debt should forgive the debts.

Why should a “Whiteman” forgive Nigeria’s debt when in fact a few individuals, our former looting leaders and their colleagues, can indeed pay off our entire nation’s debt – if they may only use a fraction of what they have stolen from Nigeria and hid overseas in foreign accounts? It is never a good investment for any one to let go debt that can otherwise be paid for by a debtor, especially when the debtor can afford it.

Why should the western nations forgive our debts when our leaders are not being responsible with our nation’s wealth? Forgiving Nigeria’s debts when we still parade crooks, sycophants, and embezzlers as our leaders is not possible! The “Whiteman” is not stupid to forgive our debts only for our leaders to continue to enrich themselves and impoverish the populace. The primary reason for this debt forgiveness, as some nations have benefited from, is to help beneficiary nations alleviate poverty in their land and provide better social amenities for their citizens. For as long as Nigeria’s leaders continue to act irresponsibl[y] with the nation’s funds, as well as perpetrate corruption, no western nation would understand any reason why our debts should be forgiven.

To drive my point home, Nigeria simply does not need any form of debt forgiveness but what Nigeria supremely needs is the cooperation of these western nations to repatriate all Nigeria’s stolen funds back into our economy. If the western nations are willing to help alleviate our poverty, the sincere path to take is to help prosecute the perpetrators involved in stealing Nigeria’s wealth and lodging them in overseas accounts. Send the monies back home to Nigeria. If our leaders are sincere about our progress they should stop fooling around and begging for debts forgiveness in the midst of our vast wealth. What needs to be done, if I may suggest, is get our stolen wealth back home to us.

Once again, what Nigeria needs is not debt forgiveness but the repatriation of our stolen monies that are in western nations’ vaults. Not only should these huge sums of monies be sent back, but it should be sent back with compound interest!

Here I stand!!

Emakoji Ayikoye, Nigeria World.com, June 29, 2005