The other side of the Turkish-Africa Summit

President Muhammadu Buhari would have us believe that he left Abuja early for Turkey to avoid sycophants turning his 79th birthday into a party in the face of the aggressive level of insecurity at home. A more determined group of sycophants baked him a layered cake on arrival. He told them he was eager to […]

President Muhammadu Buhari would have us believe that he left Abuja early for Turkey to avoid sycophants turning his 79th birthday into a party in the face of the aggressive level of insecurity at home. A more determined group of sycophants baked him a layered cake on arrival. He told them he was eager to retire to his farm, fully aware that in or out of Aso Rock, his protection is assured more than that of an average man in Daura. His critics deride his false modesty as his admirers sent him their best wishes.

We all know that our president spares nothing to escape the foul air he has created at home for any meeting abroad. What we have yet to see is him attending naming ceremonies of his fellow rulers. That optic would not be far from the fact that people way past their childbearing age ruin Africa.

From Istanbul, the news wires were filled with the narrative that Turkey has a cache of security gadgets to keep Africa’s ruling cliques safe from the bloody wars that their inefficiency has created across the continent. Emphasis was placed on sophisticated drones in a way that mocks Nigeria’s big celebration of the fabrication of a homemade drone, it named Gulma under the Jonathan administration.

Social media celebrates the stories of young talents constructing drones with scratch metal and flying them with elation across Nigeria. Our government does not encourage local talents they prefer wasting our reserves purchasing finished products.

Thanks to the craftiness of the so-called developed nations, Africa and Africans would be fighting pockets of wars and insurgencies with these empty figureheads at the helm. Their gathering in Turkey and the enthusiasm with which they posed for photographs after signing documents they had hardly perused shows that these ones are not designed to break the neo-colonial yoke.

The Turks are smart. They know that Africa is for the taking. The British, German, Belgians, Portuguese and the French have left their marks here. Lately, the Chinese are marking huge chunks of territories. The self-sufficiency of Africa is not in the interest of any adventurer. Our people gloat at imported second-hand over the glitter of a rugged one made by a talented local carpenter. We cherish fresh wheels on potholes than homemade ones. Our artisans imprint foreign logos on their best creations to attract us.

So, apart from Buhari, who perhaps might look like a scarecrow in a suit, 80 per cent of the so-called African leaders at the summit were decked in imported suits. The guns, bullets and other armaments emboldening the banditry and insurgencies plaguing Africa have marks of our developed friends. In their speeches, they have the interest of the continent at heart, while their blood factories work night shifts to produce the instruments that feed our wars.

If China could stamp its imprints on Africa, what stops Turkey that is strategically appealing to the snazzy taste buds of our ornate leaders gathered in Istanbul. Yet, only weeks ago, an Egyptian friend of mine drew my attention to the damage that the near collapse of the Turkish economy is doing to Africa’s Maghreb region. Tayep Erdogan’s policies have led to a 21per cent devaluation of the Turkish lira. African-Arabs that pulled their investment and life savings from the ambiguity of the so-called Arab Spring invested it in Turkey. Overnight, most of them watched their life savings lose 50-70 per cent of its value! For Turkey’s friends, when that country sneezes, their own world catches Covid.

Where else could any wise leader look to shore up its economy than Africa? Our continent harbours a substantial chunk of the world’s mineral resources, yet, it harbours the world’s poorest. Africa remains an attractive virgin for economic despoliation. Colonial superpowers arranged flag independence in such a way that the emergent ‘independent’ nations would forever be dependent on their benevolence for survival. It is ironic that these pseudo-nations spend millions every year celebrating flag independence.

Nowhere else is this more pronounced than in Francophone Africa. Here, France made even the token notion of independence unattainable. Engrafted into the ‘independence’ constitutions are policies that make them vassal territories of France. The price of rebellion or attempted emancipation is death – physical and economic. This explains the presence of pseudo-democracies, monarchical succession and outright military dictators tacitly endorsed by France.

Ironically, these states share boundaries with Nigeria. To them, the Turkey-Africa summit is nothing but a vacation. By their pact with France, they cannot buy arms not made in France. They are forbidden from training their own army while the French must station its boots on the ground. The French have the right of first refusal for all and any mineral resources found or extracted in these countries.

It does not end there, 85 per cent of the foreign reserves of these nations must be deposited in a French bank, which trades with and does what it pleases with it without question. If the vassal states want a part of their deposit, they must formally apply to France, which reserves the exclusive right of refusal. If approved, the money is given as a loan with interest. You can see why these countries enjoyed their Turkey staycation!

Given this scenario, it would be interesting to know how these French vassal states expect to get the support of Turkey in their quest to fight the insurgencies that now plague their nations and ours.

Erdogan is smart. Africa has the resources that everyone is looking for. African leaders are not smart enough to put the interests of their countries over and above their own pecuniary interests.

Like his friends, Buhari went to Turkey with his wife. On this trip alone, 16 African leaders and 102 ministers attended the summit. That is Euronised or dollarised foreign exchange for Turkey. The delegates arrive with cash and leave with exciting consumables. While in Istanbul, they are exposed to ‘investment opportunities’ in Turkey. Their stolen wealth would find a safe haven there. Turkey is the gateway to Europe. I’s secularity is already a magnet for religious pilgrimage.

To Nigeria, Turkey is the go-to-place for parents seeking overseas education for their wards. The schools are cheaper than those in Europe or North America and mostly run foreign syllabus. The children guard their religious piety while advancing their educational pedigree. Its graduates stand better chances of migrating to Europe or further than if they were educated in Africa.

With the kind of leadership in Africa today, there is little hope for the growth and or emancipation of the continent. In spite of its collapsing economy, Turkey’s economy has better prospects than that of any African nation. The country has enough money to lend to beggarly African leaders flying executive jets to borrow funds that mortgage the future of their people. We would need another millennium to escape the huge debt burden. With the gradual rejection of fossil fuel, there is zero hope that this would happen – ever!

Nigeria is hugely indebted to Turkey and Buhari would borrow more if offered. There is everything wrong with a nation that borrows to finance corruption. It is sad to witness a continent so blessed yet so blighted by the avarice and cluelessness of its leadership.