‘America owes Africa development, not aid’

The trans-Atlantic Slave Trade officially ended with the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. But in this interview, Ibrahim Iliyasu Gadu, founder of a new pro-African organization, GreenWhite Africa Global says the body is embarking on aggressive campaign for the United States to commit itself to Africa’s development as a mandatory requital for the centuries of […]

The trans-Atlantic Slave Trade officially ended with the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. But in this interview, Ibrahim Iliyasu Gadu, founder of a new pro-African organization, GreenWhite Africa Global says the body is embarking on aggressive campaign for the United States to commit itself to Africa’s development as a mandatory requital for the centuries of the inhuman trade. Excerpts:
What informed the decision to found this organization?
A lot of the status and prestige America enjoys today in the world is derived from the presence and contribution of its African component.  From the dawn of the first American settlement in Jamestown in 1619 to date, Africans have made phenomenal and unquantifiable contributions to development of America in all facets of the country’s life.
Therefore, this body was formed to demand what America has done for Africa despite the forced labour of some 13 million Africans, 10.7 million of whom arrived the Americas-majority of them from Nigeria.
Which areas did Africans help in the building of America?
To give a clearer picture of what is meant here, below are samplers: The slaves worked in mines and plantations producing sugar, tobacco and cottons that were shipped to Europe.
During the American Revolution and war independence from Britain, a band of African Americans led by Crispus Attox who became one of the first martyrs of that war, were the first to sneak into Boston harbour to sink and set fire to British ships carrying cargoes of Tea into America triggering the war of American independence. From that time to date, African Americans have fought and distinguished themselves gallantly in every war America has fought in defence of the country’s interests around the world.
Much of the economic and physical infrastructure of America was built by Africans; these include the White House the official residence of the American President and the city of Washington D.C itself.
There are also such iconic American cities as Chicago, the home of the skyscrapers, which after being destroyed by fire in 1871, was rebuilt in glass and steel using Africans.  Others are: New York, Atlanta, Detroit, Memphis etc.
In Sports, Music and Entertainment; It is quiet unthinkable for the NBA or American Football and American Sports generally with its multimillion worldwide audience and multi billion dollars’ worth without African American stars. Then bear in mind that round the clock there is no radio or television station anywhere in the world that does not play African American music or feature African American acts.
Yet for all their contributions to the prestige and glory of America, African Americans have continued to suffer and battle the deeply embedded institutional and attitudinal racism of the American system.
In concrete terms, is your organization demanding for reparations for Africans affected by the Slave Trade as similarly made by late Moshood Abiola?
We were inspired by what Abiola did. But ours is a much more sustainable demand. Africa is not reckoned at the same level as the America-Europe relations. The GreenWhite Africa Global hopes to use its campaigns to focus on obtaining the same form of strategic relationship which exists between USA, Europe and the Jews. We want to see for instance, the huge trans-Saharan routes built by the Americans, our railways, oil and gas and other sectors.
America owes Africa a huge debt of gratitude for the contribution of Africa to what it has become today. It owes Africa huge back charges for the economic disruption and despoliation, for the depopulation of the African continent and the slavery and subjugation of Africans in the Americas.