Africa: Blair Too Late!

Blair, now in the twilight of his tenure and at the jaws and manacles of history, he suddenly see...Read the full article.

[Oguguo Yakere]

Paul Adujie,

If one goes by your critisism of Tony Blair the way you did ( thanks to the moderator for high lighting that portion) one would so wonder about your sense of value and judgement that the inevitable question that would better be thrown to you would be, what is the difference between that Tony Blair parting behavior and what your hero Obasanjo did with Nigerians????

You see the "you" that I have come to know through your rantings on the web made it hard for me to read the main body of your article. Yes, I do not have time to waste on your aggravating sense of value, so I hardly read you anymore. I beleive I am not alone.

I did however read the caption as NVS deemed fit to show case it. Going by that portion one will only have this to say to you; that you are either camelion or the biggest hypocrite in this NVS.

[aringaranso]

Oguguo,

You see you are not alone.

it seems to me that Paul Adujie is a charge and bail lawyer in NY

So much time to write too many rubbish !!!!!!!

[Frisky Larr]

Adujie Sir,

From the point of view of global politics and world Affairs, your criticism is hitting the right nerve. Everything you said is quite true and cannot be disputed.

As Africans however, we just dont give a damn who rings the bell of our salvation!

[Johntina]

Blair never seized to talk about Africa at least since the Zimbabwean expulsion of white farmers (maybe, to give the impression that British interest was not just for their white farmers). In or around 2003 or 2004, he inaugurated his African commission from which his global campaign for debt forgiveness and make poverty history emanated.
George Bush has also been very caring for Africa, if we can be honest to ourselves, his African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was the first step upon his assumption of office, long before Blair became an Africa "Prime Minister". We cannot ignore the significance of his successive appointment of African American Secretaries of State in his two terms!
How many past American Presidents (including the much celebrated Bill Clinton) gave Africans principal roles in their governments? By appointing an African as secretary of state I believe George Bush ought to celebrate by all enlightened Black people as our greatest American President since Abraham Lincoln. Above all, Bush has been the strongest defender of the Black race in Sudan. Only God knows how bad things would have been in Sudan today, but for the US government.
The question is how many Black African elected leaders have demonstrated the amount of sincerity shown by Blair or Bush so far towards his people and Black Africa as a whole?
The time and energy to criticise Blair should have been channelled towards criticising ones state governor or local government chairman. Neither Britain nor America nor any other country owes Black Africa or the Black race any duty of care whatsoever! I believe we should have no ground for criticising Blair so much because he owed us no duty at all.
Of course one can criticise the British government or its agency like the BBC as I always do on a specific issue, where it arrogates itself the position of un unbiased mediator or news reporter like in the case of Zimbabwe, but not generally or where a foreign Prime Minister is merely expressing concern about the despicable plight of our people. I will never forget Mr. Blair’s statement at the height of the Asian Tsunami media frenzy, that the world’s attention should nevertheless not be diverted from Africa’s plight. He maintained that Africa suffered from human tsunami! I do not approve of Blair’s vision for Africa as I think it is based on white supremacist notion, but I would not devote my time to condemning him for showing concern or even complain that he did no show enough concern when he owed us none…
John Iteshi

[ikechukwu]

At least Tony Blair in the twilight of his regime is not selling the public refineries to friends and cronies. Tony Blair in his final days is not busy engineering increase in PMS Price in the UK. He is not interested in selling the Public utility companies to his cronies, I have equally not heard of frenzy attempts by Tony Blair to start selling lucrative oil blocks to his cronies in his final days. Can Paul say the same of his hero in the twilight of his regime?

MTN just this morning announced the increase in their rates because of increase in VAT that was announced in the twilight of the last regime without recourse to the national assembly is that happening in the UK? Paul, I do not begrudge your views but when it turns hypocritical I have to tell you so. You are holding Tony Blair to a standard you are in the least ready to hold your hero to its one-tenth, this is interesting. You are ready to excuse perfidy in Nigeria but you want to preach holier than thou sermon when it concerns Blair, Bush, etc.

This is really strange I must confess.
Cheers

[mulan]

Originally Posted by Johntina

The question is how many Black African elected leaders have demonstrated the amount of sincerity shown by Blair or Bush so far towards his people and Black Africa as a whole?
The time and energy to criticise Blair should have been channelled towards criticising ones state governor or local government chairman. Neither Britain nor America nor any other country owes Black Africa or the Black race any duty of care whatsoever! I believe we should have no ground for criticising Blair so much because he owed us no duty at all.

I agree on a lot of points in your post especially the part highlighted above.

However, I slightly do not believe that the UK and America as the rest of the west are not to blame for the state of Africa today. I won't dwell on the slave trade or the mass movement of raw materials from Africa to the west centuries ago but will rather mention very briefly some others. It was very self serving the values and politics they left us with upon independence. They have played a lot of roles overtly or behind the scenes in a lot of the violence in the continent for the past 50 years. They fund coups or wars to get their clutches on governments or crude oil or gold or diamond. They write policies and export them to us in our vulnerable times to milk us dry and in turn make us dependent on them. They draft international laws and treaties that will make us not support ourselves and open our markets to them while they are able to continue subsidizing themselves. I could go on and on...but I believe you get my drift.

[akuluouno]

You want Blair's money and yet when he says your election is riddled with fraud you call him names and accuse him of intervention in your domestic affairs.
Chei, what do you people want. As a patriotic Nigerian, I do not think that Blair should have any business with Africa. We are man enough to develop our nation and continent sans interference by the Blairs of the world.

[Johntina]

Mulan,
Please, think again about what you have written! If you really believe that we are not inferior human creatures, then we cannot reasonably blame others for being more organised and able to cheat or manipulate us. How can anyone reconcile the fact that a country like Nigeria with over 70 universities and inumerable Phd holders in virtually all fields of endeavour cannot organise itself well in anyway. We have long passed the age of direct external interference and are now in the age of mental colonisation( external manipulation especially with the powerful weapon of the media (CNN/BBC). It is entirely down to us to sort ourselves out. If we cannot, due to our own greed and primitiveness, free our minds from mental slavery, it is entirely our own failure.
We must begin to sincerely appreciate our failures and inadequacies as a group, before we can sort out our problems.

[Oghre]

If there's any award for commentary Johntina's response is up there with the best of them, this person took the words right of my mouth.

hey,and another thing....something I am starting to notice, seems many here respond to the same articles using different handles. What have you guys got to hide and why the many faces?

[I Love Nigeria]

AGAIN, Mulan is right, so right!

For the record, Africans are not the LARGEST recipients of foreign aid (you can check to verify my assertion on this) Neither is Africa the only recipient of foreign aid! So, the argument as to superiority or inferiority receiving foreign aid.... is unrealistic! And ill-informed.

Secondly, you guys should seek out and read a book by a non-Nigerian, a non-African, he is an American Mr. John Perkins, he wrote a book titled, "Confessions of an Economic Hitman...." http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...=Google+Search it is in the same genre as "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Read books by Frantz Fanon, Jeffrey Sachs etc and you will come to make sense of Mulan's statements up there!

Also read "Planned Obsolescence For Products And Even For Nations!!"
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/...n-for-nat.html
PLEASE NOTE: I did praise Paul D. Wolfowitz, when facts emerged that he was helping Nigeria through his help for EFCC.

I have never claimed to love Britain or Margaret Thatcher, Michael Thatcher or Tony Blair! Britain is not Nigeria and Blair/Bush are not Nigerians leaders who are doing things that will develop, advance and make Nigeria great!

[Jah Guda]

The thing that actually holds us back is our lack of expertise. We depend
on foreigners to turn our natural resources into marketable products. Take
oil as an example, we rely on expatriates; from extracting the crude to processing
and distribution. This is just one example that also applies to all of our universally
marketable resources. If you think of it, this makes our country very vulnerable to
all sorts of abuse and drains our foreign exchange.

Every Tom, Dick and Harry knows our economic secrets; chances are the expats.
know more than we do.
We should be able to integrate all processes, from extraction to distribution; manage
and control the wells, refineries, marketing and distribution.
Nigeria should by now have her very own branded petrol stations (G-Ria) with outlets in Africa,
Europe, Asia the Middle East and America.

[I Love Nigeria]

Bono so ticked at G8 that he flips his glasses;

AMB) G8, Bono: “Italy does little or nothing for Africa”

Rome, 5 giu (Velino) - The leader of U2, Bono Vox, takes Italy to task. And he doesn’t mince his words: “Prodi is intelligent, he has a generous heart, but it seems he will arrive at the G8 with his pockets empty,” the singer told La Repubblica. In terms of aid, and in particular for Africa, he does little or nothing.

“I ask myself why Italy makes so many promises to the African continent without keeping them? It’s a serial laggard,” he said. The country is at the bottom of the OECD table for development aid, giving 0.20 percent of GDP in 2006 (and not the 0.33 percent agreed upon at Gleaneagles), as well as having failed to pay its dues to the global fund for the war against pandemics, Bono pointed out.

What’s more, Rome is getting to grips with a parliamentary debate on a bill, supported by Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema, that would set up a single agency for development aid. The foreign ministry would be responsible for setting policy, currently divided between the foreign and treasury ministries. “If people don’t keep their commitments, people will lose confidence in the political process,” the singer warned.

“Italy is the only country that has seen the volume of humanitarian assistance decrease since 2005, rather than increasing: it has declined by 260 million euros. It’s one thing to break a promise to your own citizens, and another to do it to the poorest people in the world. That’s unacceptable. Because we’re talking about hospitals without electricity and water, about nurses who send children home without vaccinations, about young girls driven into the sex trade because they don’t have a school to go to.

Behind the statistics there’s a human drama. I’ve seen the expressions of these people: they stare at you, blankly.”
(karine rebecchi)

[I Love Nigeria]

Bono Blasts G8 Africa Aid Shortcomings
artist: u2 date: 05/16/2007 category: general music news


Bono has blasted a recent G-8 progress report as a 'cold shower' according to reports.

The U2 frontman has called on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to address the shortcomings at a G-8 summit next month, and to maintain the promise made to double Africa aid to $50 billion by 2010.

"The G-8 are sleepwalking into a crisis of credibility. I know the DATA report will feel like a cold shower, but I hope it will wake us all up," the singer said.


A report from DATA -Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa, the group founded by Bono shows that aid was increased by 2.3 billion, significantly less than the amount needed. It said that Britain and Japan have been the most generous countries so far.

According to the Associated Press, Bono told reporters "These statistics are not just numbers on a page. They are people begging for their lives, for two pills a day, a mother begging to immunize her children, a child begging not to become a mother at the age of 12."

The 33rd G-8 Summit will be held next month in Heiligendamm, Germany.

[I Love Nigeria]

U2's Bono: G8 Not Keeping Money Promises To Africa

(CBS) BERLIN The world's biggest industrial countries are failing to keep up with financial promises they made to Africa, rocker-activist Bono said Tuesday, calling a new progress report "a cold shower" for the Group of Eight.

G8 members in 2004-2006 contributed less than half the amount needed to make good on promises to double Africa aid to $50 billion by 2010, according to a report released by DATA - Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa - an advocacy group founded by Bono, the 47-year-old frontman for Irish band U2.

"The G8 are sleepwalking into a crisis of credibility. I know the DATA report will feel like a cold shower, but I hope it will wake us all up," he said.

Bono is urging German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who chairs a G8 summit in Germany next month, to ensure that members contribute what they said they would.

The report shows the G8 increased aid by $2.3 billion but says they need to increase aid by an additional $3.1 billion to substantially help the people of Africa.

"These statistics are not just numbers on a page," Bono said. "They are people begging for their lives, for two pills a day, a mother begging to immunize her children, a child begging not to become a mother at the age of 12."

The DATA report said aid money that does arrive has an effect. "Every day 1,450 Africans living with AIDS are put on lifesaving drugs," the organization said, and 20 million African children are going to school for the first time, thanks in part to debt cancellations and aid increases.

Still, Bono warns that insufficient increases in aid could reverse progress already made. DATA says the G8 must contribute $7.4 billion this year alone to reach its goal. If Germany makes good on its promises to help Africa, he said, the other G8 members will do the same.

Britain and Japan have contributed most of the aid increase so far, it said.

DATA was founded in 2002 by Bono, Bobby Kennedy and the U.K.-based Jubilee Debt Campaign.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this