Letter

Telling the whole story on Nigeria

Dear healthmatters — I was disappointed by the news item on Nigeria (News in focus, issue 23). I don’t think the whole story was told. You seemed to have succumbed to the stereotypes about Africa propagated by mainstream media. For them, Africa is largely a place for coups, corruption, disasters and dictators, famines and... game parks.

On the other hand, the West is depicted as a force for good, highly principled, upholder of ‘democracy’ and ‘human rights’. Events in Africa alsways have to fit into this framework.

Take the case of Ken Saro-Wiwa. The typical media story is made up of three elements. The incident: an atrocity in Nigeria. The perpetrators: a military regime. The standard response: claim the moral high ground, demonise the dictators, call for sanctions. End of story.

Given the ideological and corporate bias of the media, one can understand this treatment but I hoped for a more holistic analysis from a health journal. Was Nigeria the sole player in the drama? Are there larger influences at work?

Three important elements were left out of the story. First, the unjust international economic order which favours the West and is policed by institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank. Second, the flourishing arms trade, especially in resource-rich regions of the Third World. Third, the predatory multinationals.

The international financial institutions continue to create much poverty and inequality, and with it a breeding ground for repressive regimes. Christian Aid’s ongoing campaign for economic justice challenges IMF and World Bank policies for contributing to ‘economic hardship and unfair trading relationships’. In 1993, sub-Saharan Africa paid £196m more to the IMF than was received from it. According to the Debt Crisis Network: ‘Evey man, woman and child in sub-Saharan Africa now owes £261 to the rich creditors of the North — as much as many Africans earn in a whole year.’

The BMJ has recently drawn attention to the health consequences of the arms trade, pointing out that Britain, like the US, continues to sell arms to countries — including Nigeria — which use them to violate the human rights of citizens.

Finally, the role of Shell. Saro-Wiwa wrote from jail in August 1995: ‘At the root of my travails lies Shell, which has exploited, traduced and driven the Ogoni people to extinction in the last three decades. The company has... left a completely devastated environment and a trail of human misery...’