i honestly hate to sound like a dumb blonde, but i can't ignore the matter on ground...actually, take that literally because that is the only thing i have been baraged with all day. unfortunately, people expect lawyers to have an idea about everything and would stop me on my way to raid the office snack bar er...the gym, and ask me random questions about things they hear in the news which i am clueless about.
so today the whole office is agog about the week long south africa/nigeria match. for those of you living under a rock/in other countries with your own problems/dont care, heres what happened (the nigerian version of the story clearly). here we were, sitting down minding our own business and dodging bullets from boko haram when we heard on the radio that over 125 nigerians had "AGAIN" been deported from south africa for the flimsiest of excuses. the word 'again' is used not because the same 125 had been deported before, but because nigerians have long been subject of the raging xenophobia in south africa. naturally, i flipped the radio station and moved on with my life because in all the times past when nigerians have been deported from literally all countries in the world, their arrival back home was the last we ever heard of it. i even thought to myself, at least they had money to even go to the south africa sef so let them come back home and rest.
next thing i know, i come to work the next day and see some headline about the minister of foreign affairs spewing fire and brimstone plus the minister of health defending our yellow fever processes to the high heavens and the senate voicing support for the executive and vowing retaliation...so here i am thinking, hang on a minute y'all! is this all related to that simple deportation of yesterday? a deportation that was not the first in nigeria's history? a deportation like all the others? what on earth is going on?
so heres the real story. see, nigeria is on the list of countries that are prone to yellow fever. because of this, we are one of the countries whose citizens must be immunized against yellow fever, given yellow cards to prove this immunization, and have this yellow card as part of their travel documentation when going to countries that demand it. think of it like tagging cows, you know, the infected ones. so anyways, apparently the south african government woke up one day and decided that nigeria does not vaccinate its diseased citizens before spreading them like cotton seeds around the world and into south africa. they also decided that most of the yellow cards issued to nigerians to travel were bought on the open market and not evidence of any actual immunization. of course you know that the south african government has the duty to ensure that its already largely HIV ridden citizens are not further exposed to such an instant killer as yellow fever. i gasp at the mere thought.
and so, for the first time in the history of my being alive, the nigerian government suddenly decided that its citizens were worth more than target practice for boko haram and niger-delta militants, and decided not to let this one slide. some versions of the story state that a nigerian senator was included in the diseased 125 that were so shamefully deported. frankly i dont care.
the honest truth is that for whatever reason and for whatever it is worth, a nigerian has been treated as a third class global citizen for way too long. we have been bashed at home and abroad by people who have no greater moral standing and are as corrupt as (or in many cases, even more than) we are. we have been degraded, embarassed, ignored and insulted at entry terminals and by other nationales in every corner of the globe for far too long and if it never happens again, let this one incident send a clear message that if nigerian citizens must take crap, we will take it from those in whose good books we must remain (cue US and UK). not people who we literally stuck our necks out for when they were not allowed to use certain bathrooms in their own country during the apartheid era. we sang songs for these people, we made no pretense about our condemnation for how they were treated and we sponsored some of their best minds in our schools. if anyone should accord us a semblance of loyalty, it should be south africa and this is not how to show it.
so in the spirit of truth i will say that all is not right with our internal procedures around the said yellow fever card issuance, but he who alleges must prove. except the people you are sending home have tested positive to yellow fever, or you caught them red handed buying the card, or they are albino with yellow eyes and running temperature, then next time keep your allegations of impropriety to yourself. besides, with the globally acknowledged HIV infection levels in south africa, they are not one to call anyone else an epidemic risk. ever.
see y'all around peeps.
so today the whole office is agog about the week long south africa/nigeria match. for those of you living under a rock/in other countries with your own problems/dont care, heres what happened (the nigerian version of the story clearly). here we were, sitting down minding our own business and dodging bullets from boko haram when we heard on the radio that over 125 nigerians had "AGAIN" been deported from south africa for the flimsiest of excuses. the word 'again' is used not because the same 125 had been deported before, but because nigerians have long been subject of the raging xenophobia in south africa. naturally, i flipped the radio station and moved on with my life because in all the times past when nigerians have been deported from literally all countries in the world, their arrival back home was the last we ever heard of it. i even thought to myself, at least they had money to even go to the south africa sef so let them come back home and rest.
next thing i know, i come to work the next day and see some headline about the minister of foreign affairs spewing fire and brimstone plus the minister of health defending our yellow fever processes to the high heavens and the senate voicing support for the executive and vowing retaliation...so here i am thinking, hang on a minute y'all! is this all related to that simple deportation of yesterday? a deportation that was not the first in nigeria's history? a deportation like all the others? what on earth is going on?
so heres the real story. see, nigeria is on the list of countries that are prone to yellow fever. because of this, we are one of the countries whose citizens must be immunized against yellow fever, given yellow cards to prove this immunization, and have this yellow card as part of their travel documentation when going to countries that demand it. think of it like tagging cows, you know, the infected ones. so anyways, apparently the south african government woke up one day and decided that nigeria does not vaccinate its diseased citizens before spreading them like cotton seeds around the world and into south africa. they also decided that most of the yellow cards issued to nigerians to travel were bought on the open market and not evidence of any actual immunization. of course you know that the south african government has the duty to ensure that its already largely HIV ridden citizens are not further exposed to such an instant killer as yellow fever. i gasp at the mere thought.
and so, for the first time in the history of my being alive, the nigerian government suddenly decided that its citizens were worth more than target practice for boko haram and niger-delta militants, and decided not to let this one slide. some versions of the story state that a nigerian senator was included in the diseased 125 that were so shamefully deported. frankly i dont care.
the honest truth is that for whatever reason and for whatever it is worth, a nigerian has been treated as a third class global citizen for way too long. we have been bashed at home and abroad by people who have no greater moral standing and are as corrupt as (or in many cases, even more than) we are. we have been degraded, embarassed, ignored and insulted at entry terminals and by other nationales in every corner of the globe for far too long and if it never happens again, let this one incident send a clear message that if nigerian citizens must take crap, we will take it from those in whose good books we must remain (cue US and UK). not people who we literally stuck our necks out for when they were not allowed to use certain bathrooms in their own country during the apartheid era. we sang songs for these people, we made no pretense about our condemnation for how they were treated and we sponsored some of their best minds in our schools. if anyone should accord us a semblance of loyalty, it should be south africa and this is not how to show it.
see y'all around peeps.
Comments
Secondly, SA has a vast black but poor majority, who have become caught up in the delusion that Africans are trooping there to steal their non existent jobs, that feeds their xenophobia. Sadly this delusion pours into the political ruling class. I'm tempted to bring up their nymphomaniac, polygamous president who evades the scourge that is AIDS by showering after exposure, but I digress. I wonder if they take any steps torward self empowerment, education and whatnot (via their elective leaders), rather than cry wolf when educated Africans emigrate there. Immigration is a great resource, as the example of US clearly shows, and the sooner we learn to tap into it, as opposed to demonize it, the better. My two cents :)
Hope the two Govts learn their lessons about foreign diplomacy and the importance of good vaccination practices.
How did they ascertain that it was fake? mschewww. rubbish