DAVID Pratt’s article in the Sunday National on troubled Nigeria rather misses one important point (Stuck in the middle, February 10). Democracy has held. It is thankfully an election it is facing, not another military coup, and this may give Nigeria some more of the time it needs to eradicate some of the monumental corruption that is a fact of life in this huge state. I cannot call it a country.

But with 200 million of a population if dwarfs the rest of Africa and it is forecast to be the fourth biggest state in the world with 400 million people by 2025.

There are two major roots for Nigeria’s problems. Firstly it is a colonial construction knocked together for UK convenience. There is no other reason for its existence. There are at least six major tribal groupings in it and more than 300 different languages. Historically in the north there were feudal Islamic Emirates (and by any standard civilised societies) for well over 1000 years before we came along and interfered with them.

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The huge and rich Yoruba empire around the cities of Benin and Ibadan which dominated the south-west was hundreds of years old when we came and it fiercely resisted the British troops. In the east the Igbo society in political terms would have put much of Europe to shame with its network of communities which actually elected its leaders before most of the people in our parts of the world enjoyed such privilege.

The Igbos of course are Biafra, and they are moving again towards an independence referendum which gives us shared interest with them.

The massive tribal incoherence of the state of Nigeria makes government a nightmare. Scrutiny is destroyed by tribal loyalties. The federal government in Abuja is riven continuously by partisan interest. Its political parties are almost fluid as elected members flit about from party to party. Accusations of corruption are the tool used on a continuous basis against all parties as all parties are riven with corruption on an unimaginable and pervasive scale. And it is almost impossible to exist and operate in Nigeria without corruption down to the lowest street level. Sadly the general population have no choice. In fact it is doubtful if they actually see tips, bungs, brown envelopes – call it what you will – as corruption. It is a way of life. Nothing gets done without it. Any official anywhere with a little power over anything takes very full advantage.

The other major root of Nigeria’s problem is oil. Vast oil revenues have meant that nothing else has to work in Nigeria. Nothing has to be efficient. Nothing has to run well. Taxes don’t have to be charged or collected. Nigerian dollar or pound billionaires sitting in the US or UK may not agree, but oil has been Nigeria’s curse. And, of course, the oil is in Biafra. Oops. But what happens in Nigeria is that the federal government hands out huge sums of money raised from oil revenues to all the 35 states in Nigeria, who as a result don’t bother collecting any significant revenue. And all is well – until the oil crash recently, when there was no money for the states – and government workers didn’t get any pay for months.

So Biafra and Scotland face the same political problem. Nigeria and UK both need their oil.

But what has any of this got to do with us? Scotland, of course, has played a disproportionate part in Africa – James Bruce, Mungo Park, David Livingstone and, in the Nigerian context, the magnificent Mary Slessor for instance. We have an interest and some debts as a major component in the colonial administrations which seriously interfered with the the natural developments of African societies. For myself I spent nearly 15 years in education, training young ladies to be teachers, among some of the most generous, warm and friendliest people in the world, many of them more comfortable with me than they were with other “Nigerians”. And I recognised what we could and should do for this problematic continent.

Nigeria dominates Africa but is not alone with an exploding population. And the massive problems this projected doubling every 20 years will bring not only to Africa but to the rest of the world. We have huge technical know-how in so many areas. They have huge need and hardworking populations. Electricity provision, for instance, over huge areas of Africa is problematic but we can help them sort it. There can be huge shared benefit if Scotland goes to Nigeria. – a hugely fertile federal state with 30 cities bigger than Glasgow and a significant educated population. Being Scottish we have always been able to think big. The greening of areas of the Sahara to Nigeria’s north which was once forested is the sort of good idea a Scotsman would have – and help solve the imminent food problem of areas of West Africa. (Ideas how we would do that on a postcard, please).

Laying aside the flights of fancy, however, a contradiction.

Nigeria and West Africa will only be united when it all splits up from the mess we made and into its component communities in which they can elect people from their own communities and hold them responsible for their governance, then seek common cause with their neighbours. A bit like the EU, in fact.

Dave McEwan Hill
Sandbank, Argyll