I HOPPED ON A TIME MACHINE HEADED FOR PRE COLONIAL AND COLONIAL AFRICA

    If you had access to a time machine, where would you go. This time machine could take you back several millennials in history or take you back to a few seconds ago. Perhaps it could transport you all the way to dawn of time to witness the big bang theory for yourself, to see planet being formed and to be a partaker of evolution itself. Maybe you would like to see the great pyramids of Gaza being built or drink wine with Alexander the great, ride horses alongside queen Amina of Zaria or go to war with the spartan army; maybe you would just like to change your breakfast from a simple meal of toast to a spicy jollof rice dish. If you had a chance to use this time machine to go anywhere, what would you do when you get there? Is there an era in history you have always wanted to live through? Or an historical event you want to alter just because it affects the present world unfavorably? If you have answered yes to any of these questions, then friend, we need to find someone to build us a time machine.

Relieving the past has never been encouraged. It hinders the present in a lot of ways and deters the future. Thinking of the past is always a bad idea, you can’t do anything to change what has happened neither can you even go back there so, why live through it again? But what if we could, what if we could actually change the past. With a couple of trips to the past we could change the fate of an entire nation, clan or race of people just by being present in one historical event. So, as you look around you, to your family, your country or to the people you share the same race with, where did you decide to go? The one era to visit for me would be the era of colonialism. It is the one thing that ties my race, my country and my family together with one string.

Way before the industrial revolution of the 1880s that took Europe by storm leading to the annexation of an entire continent, patterns for the successful establishment of a colonial government was already established as early as the 1500s through the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Therefore, colonialism on the African continent began in a series of events; the beginnings of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in African countries under the guise of harmless visits to African monarchs, the penetration of African hinter lands through missionary expeditions, building infrastructures that imposed taxes on the people all up until an official colonial government was formed. Even though we have had various studies and papers about the colonial era, none of us know for sure how colonialism went down since we did not experience it for ourselves. So far, we have only been able to view colonialism through the eyes of people who lived through that time. So how much of a thrill would it be to be personally present in that time, to witness these events for ourselves and draw our own conclusions based on our 21^st century opinions on colonialism.

On my way to colonial Africa, I will tune my time machine so I can make a quick stop to the Africa a couple hundred years prior to colonialism.  In my case I would like to observe the great Oyo empire, the Benin empire, the Mali empire; I will not drop by Egypt, I hear so much about her compared to the other African empires anyway. While I am there, I will try to observe and determine how far away from civilization we actually were. Walter Rodney in his book How Europe under developed Africa states that Africa entered into colonialism with hoes and cutlasses and contrary to what they were promised they still came out of the whole colonial experience with hoes and cutlasses. At more than half a century after colonialism Africa is still stuck with a hoe and cutlass. Walter Rodney was of the opinion as posited in his book that colonialism ultimately interfered with the flow of evolution that we were eventually going to come to at our own pace. If we successfully developed the means and intelligence to make hoes and cutlasses, every other thing was going to come subsequently in our own way. So, I thought long and hard on what I would say to a precolonial Africa filled with people who had just started to witness a teeming of pale faced men with fancy objects. I decided that I would quote to them the words of Okonkwo from Chinua Achebe’s Things fall apart “The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peacefully with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart”. I would deliver to them this prophecy and tell them to make whatever they will of it.

Now to the main subject of my time travel, the colony and protectorate of Nigeria of the 1920s. The 1920s saw the birth of the Nigerian nationalist movement spear headed by Herbert Macaulay and the gang with consisted of names like Orisadipe Obasa, John K Randle, Dr Akinwade Savage, James Johnson, Mojoloja Agebi and subsequently largely acclaimed nationalist figures like Anthony Enahoro, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Tafawa Balewa, Funmilayo Ransome Kuti and many more. By forming nationalist parties and using the power of the media, these nationalist leaders fueled the urge for independence in Nigerians. They achieved this by pointing out the leadership blind spots of the British colonial government in catering to a diverse colony and the racial discrimination of Africans by the colonial government; Nigerians were not considered eligible for top civil service positions; they were excluded from well-kept quarters known as the European reservation area and were generally treated as second rate citizens in their own land.

While Nigeria eventually achieved independence from colonial rule in 1960 as a result of the tenacity of these nationalists, their method in ensuring that freedom came at a cost. Many countries who gained independence from colonial rule suffer varying doses of Neo-colonialism and Nigeria is no different. To secure the governmental independence of Nigeria, different constitutional conferences were held to discuss constitutional reforms that catered to the political needs of the Nigerian colony. To solidify Nigeria’s independence, a constitutional conference was called in 1957 where various nationalists met with the British government to essentially discuss terms in which an independent Nigeria is to function.

Now where am I going with this you might ask. Why would I go through to the trouble of attending constitutional conferences with Herbert Macaulay and the whole nationalist’s movement gang. (Would be a flex by the way). it is an easy deduction for me that when two parties come together to make decisions and one party is stronger, the weaker party usually gets the shorter end of the stick. The odds are even worse when the weaker party has little to nothing to hold over the dominant party; in a case like this, whatever agreement is made is usually of very little benefit to the weaker side, whether they know this or not. This was exactly what the constitutional conference between the Nigerian colony and the British government perpetuated, a very short end to a stick.

Due to the nature of Nigeria’s independence, the new country was still very much under British control. This was the same for many other African countries colonized by European countries. These countries had been declared independent but they would still continue to be exploited by Britain as it still controlled their economy, their policies, their currency etc. Additionally, if I were a European colonial power who had to grant independence to my colony but reserved enough power to influence its new leaders, I think I would pick a set of biddable ones to protect my interest. Even though Nigeria is still unable to shake itself totally free of its colonial influence to this day, a certain level of economic independence was attained at some point. But unfortunately, at the time when a semblance of economic independence was reached, it was already too late. This faulty foundation has extended till today; a set of biddable corrupt leaders loyal to the British colonial government has produced a consistent string of corrupt leaders leading to a corruption epidemic across the continent that is prevalent in Nigeria.

So, as a time traveler present in the Nigeria of the 1920s, I would probably inform the Nigerian society of the need for an actual revolution in taking their independence. I would tell them that even if it would take longer to gain independence, they should not settle for having their nationalism highjacked from them by the very people it stood against. I would tell them that speaking in the language of the colonizer or studying in their country did not change the fact that they did not regard them as equals neither did it change the fact that the colonial masters still needed resources to fuel their country’s economy and would not let go so easily; no amount of constitutional conferences and dialogues in London was going to change that fact. I would inform them that their subsequent decisions regarding our independence was going to lay a foundation to a country that becomes inherently corrupt and lacking despite its vast potential. I would tell them “I am from 2022, the queen just died, you all died a good couple decades ago, we are the poorest country in the world, we are not ranked greatly on the accountability, developmental and economic chart of the world however we are number one in afro beats and banging jollof rice”. While I am at it, I might as well deliver this very important message at a Lagos party, I must attend a party thrown in Lagos in the 1920s.