The recent state visit to Nigeria by the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, sent me careering down to my kidhood days in faraway Kumasi, Ghana. My first experience with India was through their movies. Indian movies dominated the cinema space in the sprawling Ashanti City run by the Lebanese who built structures where movies were shown. Indian and American cowboy movies competed for my attention. For those who loved romantic songs, gyration and good-looking actors and actresses, Indian movies were unmissable.
But cowboy movies were a different kettle of fish. No songs; no dancing. Only shooting and exchange of blows. When I wanted to feed my eyes with beauty, I turned to Indian films. Whereas, cowboy movies were laced with actions… never a dull moment from start to finish. At times, I found Indian songs rather soporific. This is not to say that Indian movies were not laced with actions. Their swordsmanship often fascinated me. Abu Raja was an accomplished swordsman and I never missed any of his movies. His fighting skills and the smiles on his face were uncommon. But the combative nature of Indian actors was nothing compared to the cowboy versions.
There was this exceptionally pretty Indian actress named Shekira or something like that I fell madly in love with. A close buddy of mine who also had an eye for beauty also rooted for her. We dragged the matter for long until one evening when we decided to settle it boy to boy… once and for all. In the corridor of our compound, a fight broke out between us. As a more experienced movie goer, I swiftly went for his jugular, while grinding my teeth. His eyes popped out as I tightened my grip on his neck, expecting him to surrender Shekira to me. He did not. Instead, he used his number six by jabbing my mid-section with his tiny fingers to tickle me. I responded with an involuntary giggle as my hands flew off his neck.
Freed from my killer grip, he took off like a cheetah and I went after him so fast you would think my feet were not touching the ground. He thought he had escaped as he disappeared into their apartment after shutting the door behind him. He was shocked to find me in the parlour as if I was there before him. I wrestled him to the ground, punctuating every punch with an order for him to surrender Shekira. Then, suddenly, I began to float in the midair. At first, I thought I was going on rapture! Not exactly. The boy’s dad had emerged from the inner room, grabbed me by the waistline with one hand and hurled me into the compound head first. I landed on the concrete floor with a thud.
A motley crowd of tenants immediately gathered. When we were asked to explain what caused our beef, we simply panted away. How could we tell them we were fighting over an Indian lady who did not even know we ever existed. My best friend distanced himself from me for weeks. But one day, I approached him for reconciliation. He was shocked. After the fight, I read about Delilah’s betrayal of Samson, the strongman in the Bible. I told my friend he could have Shekira to himself and wished him the best of luck. I did not give him my reason. And it took me several years to come out of the Delilah Syndrome, having pigeonholed every woman as a potential betrayer and wicked.
Looking back now, I shudder at the thought of being tried and convicted for friendtricide had my buddy answered his final summons as a result of the vicious choke hold. And come to think of it, in my innocence, if I had Shekira at that time, would l know what to do with her the way I would have done today? The answer is blowing in the wind.
Sorry for the digression. Now, back to the topic of the day. Nigeria and India have a lot in common. They were both colonised by Britain… lndia gained its political freedom in 1947. Thirteen years later, Nigeria also became an independent nation. India is the most populous nation in the Asian axis housing about 1.4bn souls. Nigeria is home to more than 200 million folks, making it the most populous nation in Africa.
The Indians have been around long before our independence. The colonial masters used them to build our railways. Today, the system is working seamlessly in India, boasting of a track length of 132,310 kilometres. About 96.59 per cent of broad gauge is electrified. The system has 1.2m employees on its payroll, making it the second largest employer of labour in that country.
Our own railway system collapsed some decades ago. No thanks to operators of high-capacity transportation business. Efficient rail system was a threat to their emerging enterprises. So, they connived to run it aground so their business could thrive. All the infrastructure and massive assets of the Nigeria Railway Corporation have been vandalised across the length and breadth of the country. And our roads have been bearing the brunt, pounded by heavy duty vehicles doing what the rail transportation was meant to do. Efforts by successive administrations to revive the system are like attempting to empty the Atlantic Ocean with a teaspoon! Bandits and criminal elements have not helped matters as evidenced by the attacks on passenger trains. They roll away rail tracks when they are not raiding the trains to harvest kidnap materials.
India, Nigeria’s senior brother, is also an industrialised nation. It is the world’s 6th largest manufacturer, contributing 2.6 per cent of manufacturing output. In Nigeria, our manufacturing sector has been run aground. As recently as the early 80s, Nigeria’s manufacturing sector was a pride of the nation. Many firms have either shut down or relocated to neighbouring countries where their economic climate is salubrious. The driving force, so to speak, was the poor electricity supply, the critical oxygen that powers the economy. It is such a huge shame that despite billions of cash in hard currencies sunk into the power sector by the successive administration over the years, Nigeria can hardly feed its electricity consumers with more than 3,000MW at a go. Whereas, that is the quantum of power that Heathrow International Airport alone consumes. Even at that, the national grid has become obsolete to cope. Today, manufacturing locations across the country have become industrial cemeteries or taken over and converted to churches where millions of jobless Nigerians go to pray for jobs and miracles. Sad!
India also occupies the 4th position as the largest car producer and 3rd in heavy duty manufacturer. Its total vehicle production stood at 28.43 million units as at 2004. Its biggest auto export markets include Latin America, Southeast Asia, Middle East and Africa. Among made-in India cars are Kia Smet, Nexon, Brezza, Volkswagen Vitrus, Honda City, Skoda Kushaq, Hyundai, Scorpio, Jeep Compass and MG Hector.
In Nigeria, we used to have Styre Motors, Leyland, Volkswagen, Anamco and Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria (PAN). While the first three have vanished, PAN is gasping for oxygen. The government could not protect it from the asphyxiation by imported cars and SUVs.
India relies majorly on coal for its electricity generation. Coal accounts for 49.3% or 205.235MW… just as we have abundance of coal in Enugu but long abandoned. Gas provides 24.824MW and hydro supplies 46,850MW. Other sources include solar, wind, biomass, natural gas and electricity. India is also an oil producing country. Its output stands at 728,000 per day but imports 82 % of its oil need. India oil reserves stand at 5 billion barrels compared to Nigeria’s 37.5 billion, making it the 10th largest in the world and second in Africa. Nigeria also has 209trn cubit feet of proven natural gas, making it the 8th largest gas reserve holder in the world and the largest on the continent.
Nigeria caught the vision to become an industrial giant on the continent and went on to establish the Ajaokuta Steel Complex during the Shagari era. Today, that bedrock of our industrustrialisation is now a monument of shame. Shagari’s was sacked in 1983 and that sounded the death knell of the complex. All the steel rolling mills set up to feed from the complex became orphans destined to die sooner or later. Efforts to breathe life into the Ajaokuta complex by successive governments have remained a political reverie because the equipment has either become obsolete or in a state of desuetude.
India is fortunate to have good leaders. It has also enjoyed political stability after the assassination of one of its iconic leaders, Indira Ghandi, in 1984. Nigeria is not that fortunate. Until 1999, Nigeria had not enjoyed any stability. There were frequent regime changes that became the bane of our development. What is more, our democracy has attracted all manner of criminalities such as terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, among other allied crimes.
Modi’s visit and the progress his country has made 77 years after independence is food for thought for our leaders. India was ahead of us by just 13 years at independence but in terms of technological development and in other spheres of human endeavours, it is 130 years ahead of us today.
