OPINION: "DARKNESS AT DAWN"..... By Arthur Mgbokwere

"At independence, each African country was trusted with powers to govern themselves. This period was supposed to have served as a period of re-awakening; a time to correct the mistakes of the past and set their Nations on developmental paths like their counterparts in the Americas and Asia. But this was not to be as the people trusted with political powers started seeing themselves as lords of the manor and their countries their fiefdom, to use and do as they pleased". 

"African leaders deliberately killed their countries through greed, corruption and dictatorship. Instead of leveraging on the abundant human and material resources in their different countries, they voluntarily made the hand of the clock to stand still, blew out the light that was about to shine and turned the continent into darkness at dawn and made the dreams and aspirations of their fellow country men and women a stillborn". 


According to history, civilization started in Africa within the River Nile region in Egypt before others took a cue. 

As can be seen from the Biblical and historical accounts, Egypt developed a very strong civilization at a very early stage with well organized structures of State and other areas, including mining and agriculture.

The Ancient civilization of Egypt was copied by the Greeks who developed on it, giving birth to the Hellenistic era when Greek language, philosophy and art held sway in the known world before its decline. 

The Egyptian civilization did not only spread north but also down to Abyssinia (Ethiopia), Nubia and Axum. These kingdoms flourished for several centuries before the Common Era and contributed to the development of the world in their own various ways. 

It is on record that at the height of its Empire, Nubia spread from East Africa up to the lands of Palestine (Israel, Syria and Palestine) before being defeated by Assyria who pushed them down to Egypt and beyond. 

Aside the kingdoms of Egypt and East Africa, other Empires sprang up in the north and west. Carthage to the north posed a big threat to the Romans who fought very bitter wars with them and in the Second Punic War Hannibal marched the Carthaginian Army which comprised of about 60,000 soldiers, 6000 horses and 38 elephants across the Alps Mountain in the cold winter, a feat that has never been surpassed ever since and inflicted heavy damage to Rome and her armies. 

Like her counterparts in North, East and Central Africa, West Africa was not left out as different civilizations and Empires thrived before the advent of Europeans into Africa as has been attested to by European scholars. 

The Malian, Songhai, Kanem-Bornu, Ashanti, Ife, Bini Empires etc have been listed as world class with great civilization and arts that could match any in the world. Mansa Musa, the greatest ruler of the Malian Empire was said to be so rich that till date his name still ranks among the 10 richest people of all times, alongside King Solomon of Israel. 

Before the emergence of Christianity and Islam, Africans had their indigenous religions. They maintained a high level of discipline and honesty. Hunger was alien to them as they had more than surplus while the land could boast of abundant mineral resources. 

Despite the occasional wars which characterized different phases in world history with Africa as no exception, trade flourished smoothly for centuries, opening up new corridors which brought about harmony within the diverse tribes in the continent as recorded by scholars of history. 

The discovery and colonization of the Americas played a vital role, albeit a negative one in the fortunes of Africa. 

With the discovery came immigrants who left Europe in droves and settled in the Americas. They formed a Colonial Government and encouraged their citizens to engage in commercial agriculture as against their usual subsistence system. Thus they started plantations so large that the labour from the fragile Red Indians could not sustain them, hence the resolve to turn to Africa for the acquisition and supply of slaves to the New World. An exercise which drained the continent of needed manpower. 

Before the abolition of the slave trade, Europe had manufactured so many goods that the need for a new market arose and what better place to turn to than Asia and Africa. Thus, the scramble and partitioning of Africa began. 

Having partitioned Africa among themselves, the Europeans did not waste time in claiming their booty. Each Colonial Master used all means available to them to subdue and subjugate the local populace and bring them under their whims. 

The European Colonialists did not hide their actions as they carted away mineral resources from Africa, both liquid and solid to their home countries to better the lives of their people. Raw materials from Africa were transformed into finished goods and brought back to Africa and sold at exorbitant prices. 

Artifacts from Africa were looted and displayed in different European museums, thereby uplifting the tourism industry in Europe with foreign exchange accruing to them and improving their economies while those of Africa were exploited and left to rot. 

The Colonialists, while despising Africans and making them look inferior in virtually every aspect of human endeavour, encouraged them to abhor anything African and see them as fetish and uncivilized. They encouraged them to dress and act like them and embrace their life style and indeed anything European as the best. Religion, especially Christianity was employed as a weapon of deceit and pacification while the people were exploited on all fronts. They dared not revolt as that would amount to disobeying the teachings of the Bible. 

To ensure that Africa remained dependent on them, the Colonialists encouraged the study and teaching of art subjects, especially linguistics with little emphasis on science and engineering, a deliberate act which ensured that Africa depended on them for many science and engineering feats. 

Each colonizing country made their language the Lingua Franca of their Dominions while the native languages were referred to as vernacular and discouraged at certain places and gatherings, even when all the people present were of the same tribe, a trend which has continued to this day, and currently threatening the existence of some language which, if care is not taken, may go into extinction in a couple of years. 

It is obvious that the Europeans did not come to Africa to develop it but to get what they could and improve their own economies. Thus, the many social amenities they introduced were basically to improve the living standards of their people charged with the responsibilities of governing their colonies and by extension woo the unsuspecting Africans into doing their biddings. 

To create an internal rivalry among the people, different tribes with diverse languages and cultures very alien to each other were lumped together and forced to cohabit, with the intention of creating mutual suspicion among them rather than mutual understanding, while the Colonialists became the beneficiaries of the forced creation. Same still affects most African countries till date. 

Having created the countries of their choice and given them the names of their choice, the Colonial Masters settled down to the business of governance but instead of encouraging unity and healthy rivalry among the Federating States the reverse became the case as they favoured some tribes over the others. They deliberately made sure that they were lopsided in their appointments and distribution of the nation’s common wealth. Regions backward educationally were given political powers and encouraged to hang on to it at the detriment of their peers. A good example being the North – South dichotomy in Nigeria. 

In some countries minority tribes were handed over political power at independence while the majority tribes were left gapping in awe. This has led to unhealthy ethnic rivalries, hatred, ethnic cleansing, armed conflicts and wars in different African countries after independence while the Colonial Masters hovering as vultures, swooped in as Neo-Colonialists to sell their weapons, milk them of their raw materials or oil under the disguise of mediation and technical assistance and after the war, they lend them huge sums of money (money made off their raw materials and oil) at high interest rates. Thus, paying back these debts became a problem, making them still dependent on these European powers. 

Sometimes, the European countries ensure that their African counterparts support whatever stand they take at the United Nations General Assembly with the promise of canceling their debts even when such stands are wrong and anti democracy. 

In as much as we blame the Europeans for truncating the golden period in African history and instituted the Trans-Atlantic Trade or trade in black slaves which resulted into constant raids among communities in their quest to satisfy the insatiable demand for slaves, hampering trade and development as people could not move freely for fear of being captured and sold into slavery, especially the young men and women who were the prime targets; a period which can be likened to the Dark Ages in Europe when little progress was made. It is worthy to note that the Colonial era also brought about a number of innovations and the introduction of modern amenities into Africa which the African leaders were meant to tap from and develop to serve the continent better. 

At independence each African country was trusted with powers to govern themselves. This period was supposed to have served as a period of re-awakening; a time to correct the mistakes of the past and set their Nations on developmental paths like their counterparts in the Americas and Asia. But this was not to be as the people trusted with political powers started seeing themselves as lords of the manor and their countries their fiefdom, to use and do as they pleased. African leaders deliberately killed their countries through greed, corruption and dictatorship. Instead of leveraging on the abundant human and material resources in their different countries, they voluntarily made the hand of the clock to stand still, blew out the light that was about to shine and turned the continent into darkness at dawn and made the dreams and aspirations of their fellow country men and women a stillborn. 



Darkness at Dawn 
By Arthur Mgbokwere 
07034198888 Email: arthurmgbokwere76@gmail.com