Some Nigerians have taken exception to the presence in Lagos of a road sign, written in Chinese, pointing towards the Lekki Free Zone. I find such complaints disingenuous, belated and completely missing the point. When and where did this rain start beating us?
As originally conceived, the Lekki Free Zone was a development concept targeted at the global investing audience. Of course China was always part of that. However with the turmoil in the world financial system since 2008, long before the destructive tornado that is Donald Trump (#MAGA), the Chinese have remained about the only bloc with any taste for major risks in such foreign undertakings as the Lekki Free Zone. How come there are no major projects, whether white or black elephant, attributable to the US and the West in any part of Africa in the last two decades? If you follow the writings of people like Dr Charles Chukwuma Soludo, (From Berlin to Brussels, etc), you will notice that the West has no intention of coming up with the quantum of investments in Irrigation, Agriculture, Power and Industry, etc as will set Africa on a path of Irreversible Growth. China has seen a lot of opportunities in meeting these needs, albeit skewed inequitably towards its own national interests. Africa and Nigeria simply refuse to do their homework, perform no DUE DILIGENCE and simply sign on the dotted lines. Whose fault? All the West does is to shout after the fact that Africa has gotten a raw deal, while providing no meaningful alternative path. Meanwhile the funds creamed off the top of such Chinese "contracts" are gladly welcomed in US and European banks, with no questions asked. Why would they, when they have hardly done anything to restrict the flow of stolen Russian roubles into their economies? .
The basket case that is Africa is the least of their concerns. . Yes, back to the Road signs to Lekki, written in Chinese. I regard those as a matter of courtesy in view of the large number of Chinese speaking peoples who are currently operating in the Nigerian Economy. For those who imagine that we have lost any part of our shambolic "sovereignty" because of those road signs I advise that we have willingly given up a whole lot more through less visible means. Chinese carmakers and other manufacturers operating just across the border in Russian territory have street signs in Chinese. Putin, leader of a poor almost Third World nation, is smart enough not to complain about minor issues like this. It would make no sense. The hand that gives is usually on top.
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