The House of Representatives on Wednesday moved in support of the review of the Nation’s Foreign policy towards liberating the black man from racial oppression and discrimination across the world.
This followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Hon Garba Dati Muhammad APC Kaduna State at the plenary session presided over by the Speaker Rep Femi Gbajabiamila.
The House mandated the Committees on ‘Foreign Affairs and Diaspora to collaborate to organise a conference of local and international stakeholders towards fashioning comprehensive approaches to the festering challenge of discrimination, annihilation, genocide and “racial cleansing being perpetrated against Nigerians, Africans and black people all over the world”
While moving the motion, Hon Dati recalled that Nigeria attained Independence in October 1960 after British colonial rule that spanned over a century and only after a bitter struggle lasting decades.
He explained that the feat was made possible by the contributions of nationalists and founding fathers of Nigeria nation like Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir (Alh.) Ahmadu Bello and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, amongst others as well as unsung heroes such as the Aba Women’s “Warriors” of 1929;
According to him, the dehumanisation to “which the Nigerian people were subjugated left an indelible yearning to confront denial, discrimination and oppression of any form but particularly on account of the colour of your skin
“Aware that for the aforementioned reasons, on attainment of independence, Africa became the centerpiece of Nigeria’s foreign policy
“Mindful that one (1) in four (4) of every black man on the surface of our earth is a Nigerian”
He noted that the apartheid policy in South Africa was the most compelling instance of racism of its time and in spite of her “infancy” as a sovereign State, Prime Minister, Alh. (Sir) Abubakar Tafawa Balewa directed that a letter Ref. PPS. 27 dated 4th April, 1961 be written to the African National Congress ANC) assuring it .“that on his part, the battle against apartheid had just begun” and so began the dismantling of apartheid after more than one hundred (100) years of its reign in South Africa;
“Further notes that, true to his word, Nigeria lobbied for the expulsion of South Africa from the Commonwealth of Nations in 1961;
“Nostalgic that back those days on account of our corporate and collective integrity that culminated in cross-border dignity, Nigeria did not slumber; Nigeria did not speak from both sides of her mouth; Nigeria roared and never whimpered in the community of sovereign states where the inalienable rights of her racial kind were in issue;
“Bearing in mind that Nigeria rushed to sign every human rights treaty of the time like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 that espoused equality and prohibited discrimination on account of race;
“Cognizant that, as an attestation to these long held values of human rights, racial justice, equity and equality as well as African unity, our Constitution proclaims our “dedicated to the promotion of inter-African solidarity” as the 1979 Constitution did as well as to the “promotion of Ahican integration and support for African unity” and to “mutual respect among all nations and elimination of discrimination in all its manifestations” as the 1979 Constitution also did;
The lawmaker also expressed concerned that there was the continuing and increasing dehumanisation of Nigerians, Africans and black people across the world particularly in the United States, Europe and Asia and that political independence and civil rights legislation do not mean Uhuru yet for black people who continue to live in bondage.
According to him, black people across the world are being indiscriminately shot, dismembered and maimed in places like the United States by none other than agents of the State; being mauled, maimed and lynched by dogs being set upon them by private individuals ‘and agents of the state in Asia particularly Chitta; being subjected to monkey chants in stadia and other arenas around Europe, etc., humiliations, dehumanisations and killings that neither time, money nor material can erase.
“Further distressed that this incessant dehumanisation of black people across the world has compelled helpless black communities to start looking inwards towards resolving their challenges and that this has led to the groundbreaking movement “Black Lives Matter” in the United States and that with the recent police killing of the black man, Mr. George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota and
“That the resultant protests, the “Black Lives Matter” protests are slowly spreading, even if hindered by the Covid-l9 pandemic, across continents.