What Nigeria and Nigerians Can Learn From India and Indians

THE ALTERNATIVE

By Reno Omokri

I was rather disappointed at the news that Nigeria was not among the new member countries admitted into the BRICS group of nations at the 15th BRICS Summit, which held in Johannesburg, South Africa between August 22-24, 2023.

And sadly, I have seen some pundits shrug it off as no biggie. Actually, it is a big deal. We need the BRICS countries more than they need us. And one BRICS nation in particular has a lot to teach Nigeria.

What some Nigerians fail to understand is that both America and Russia have lost their global positions as dictating superpowers. The new world super power are the BRICS nations. They control more of the world’s resources than either the US, Russia, or even the EU. They have a greater population than the US, Russia and the EU combined. Their economies are also growing faster than the U.S., Russia or the EU. That is why Nigeria has to join the BRICS nations and make it BRINCS, with the N representing Nigeria.

If indeed we did not apply for membership, then we ought to. We have a lot to gain and nothing to lose. The very first thing that will happen if we are in the BRIC bloc is that our passport will become stronger. And once that happens, trade will blossom. And the effect on our economy will not just improve our GDP, it will also positively affect the value of the Naira and reduce our dependence on the US dollar. Nigeria should apply to be a member.

Already, India is taking advantage of the cartel to buy and sell with other BRICS nations in Indian Rupees.

As at August 27, 2023, twenty two nations had signed on with India to conduct their bilateral trade with that Asian giant in Rupees, including Bangladesh, Belarus, Botswana, Fiji, Germany, Guyana, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, New Zealand, Oman, Russia, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, and the United Kingdom.

If Nigeria had such an opportunity, we would not even need the I&E forex window that is putting such a strain on our currency. There is really no need for us to reinvent the wheel. Let us do what India is doing.

Being non aligned is not helping us. And in fact, being non aligned is itself to be aligned to those in that alliance. History will forgive our leader if they take bad decisions. But history will not forgive us if we fail to take any decisions and instead, we just sat on the wall.

And it goes beyond the BRICS idea. We have much to learn from India as a fellow former British colony.

Mumbai in India was renamed Bombay by the colonialists. After they kicked colonialists out, India changed the name back to Mumbai. They did this to many other Indian cities.

India has gone behind just nominal independence to actual independence, and moved on in the continuum of maturity to interdependence with other nations.

India rejected Britain’s religion and language but accepted their technology, and today, they have landed on the moon with their Chandrayaan-3 moon rocket, which failed where Russia’s rocket failed. Now, tell me, who is the real superpower? Is it a Russia that is bogged down in Ukraine, or an India that is bunked down on the moon?

Africa and Nigeria gobbled up Britain’s religion and language and did not embrace their technology, and today, we have landed in debt to India. Our English may be better than India’s, but India’s condition is certainly better than ours. It may be time for us in Africa, and especially Nigeria, to consider if having the largest church auditoria in the world has done us any good, especially when we do not have a military-industrial complex to boast about.

And sadly, in Nigeria, English and either Christian Religious Knowledge or Islamic Religious Knowledge are often compulsory, but science is not. We have Bibles translated into almost every language in Black Africa, yet, it is rare, very rare, to find a science textbook translated into any African language.

And when I write against our fascination with obsolete courses like sociology, philosophy, anthropology, political science, library science and so on, Africans and Nigerians attack me. Now see!

And it is not just that India is thriving within the BRICS consortium of nations, individual Indians are taking over the world.

The CEOs of Adobe, Albertsons, Alphabet (Google), Arista Networks, Chanel, Cognizant, Flex, Honeywell, IBM, Micron Technology, Microsoft, Motorola Mobility, NetApp, Novartis, Palo Alto Networks, Starbucks, Vimeo, Wayfair, and YouTube, are all Indians.

So, how and why have Indians acquired so much corporate power in America?

Indians are the richest ethnicity in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Please fact check me. But how do they do it? The first major purchase that a Black African, African American, or Afro Caribbean buys after graduating from university is a car. But the first major purchase British Indians and Indian Americans buy after they graduate is a house.

And since a car loses value with time, while a home gains value over the years, Indians increase in wealth. Plus, Indians hardly rent. They consider it transferring their wealth to others. They will usually graduate and stay in their parents houses and save money that would have been paid as rent to buy their own homes.

But many Black Africans, African Americans, or Afro Caribbeans can’t wait to get out of their parents home and rent, thus spending the bulk of their income making their landlords rich. It is time we as Black people should learn from Indians. Wealth equals power and that is why an Indian is vice President of America, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

We need to focus on two things. Education and research and development for the purpose of building our own military industrial complex.

In Nigeria, we can rally round a firm, like Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company Limited, and make it our own Tata. Because one thing we learn from India is that we need our own home grown military-industrial complex. Elsewhere, I have written about how Nigeria can develop Innoson and I do not intend to repeat myself.

Next, we have to tackle our out of school children population, because without that, we will continue producing poverty.

But beyond tackling the out of school children conundrum, we also have to domesticate our education.

What do I mean? Indian schools do not teach students in English, although English is a subject pupils learn. Rather, schools teach students in Hindi, or another indigenous Indian language.

And that will help us solve our out of school children challenge, because the reason many children are out of school is because we have an English based school system and they can only speak Hausa, or Yoruba, or Igbo.

We have been able to translate The Bible into almost every known language in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, few, if any science, technology, engineering and mathematics books are in Black Africa’s language.

And until we domesticate STEM education, like India did, we are going nowhere. It is better that we have science books in Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and other Nigerian languages, than to have Bibles and Qurans in our various languages.

Let us learn to build rockets, cars and refineries first, then we can learn to speak King’s English later, if at all. I saw the scientists that put India’s Chandrayaan-3 rocket on the moon. They were interviewed on global news networks. Their English was horrible. Their accents were awful. But their science was perfect.

I would rather it was said of Nigeria that our English was nothing to write home about, but that our science was much celebrated at home and abroad. That is what we can learn from India!

Reno’s Nuggets

Love is a verb. Only action can give it meaning. You can’t say you love somebody, and the only thing your love brings are romantic words. Action speaks louder than words. That is why many women lose their love to other women who love by giving generously. As a woman, don’t claim to love your man, and he showers you with gifts on your birthday, but on his birthday, all you do is come to social media to post, ‘a king was born today.’ Read Scripture. After the King of kings was born, He received gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Your own gift is only word of mouth. Oponu!

#FreeLeahSharibu #RenosNuggets

Reno Omokri

Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Globetrotter. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year 2022.