As Queen Elizabeth 11 Is Laid To Rest Today..

AS QUEEN ELIZABETH II IS LAID TODAY..

Remember, she’s not the source of your country’s problem; we are rather the problem of ourselves!

When the Queen passed away over a week ago, I read with dismay how some few persons attributed the problems of Nigeria to the Queen. That was so preposterous! The fact that the entire world mourned her death and would stand still in respect today as she’s lowered to the grave, has indicated her true worth: inestimable!

Starting from our independence in 1960, when the Queen ascended into power in 1952 she immediately acceded to Nigeria’s demand for independence to be granted earlier than 1960. Some parts of the country refused and insisted they are not ready for independence till 1960. We are our problems!

The Queen’s British helped our people fight for democracy, but how do we practice our own democracy today? The worst type in the world. Ours is a travesty. We are so difficult that we change our electoral laws almost every year while the British never touched theirs in centuries. We are our problems!

Yes, the Queen’s ancestors via the instrumentality of the British empire embarked on slave trading in our continent, but who were the sellers? Our own ancestors! They were selling our kinsmen for as little as a piece of mirror and gunpowder. We are our own problems!

When the British colonized us, they exploited us of the same natural resources and economic trees they discovered here. Yes they did, just like any invader would. But they used the little part of the resources then to develop all the areas they tapped those resources from. They used the proceeds of tin and columbite to develop Jos. Our people destroyed Jos. They used the proceeds of coal to develop Enugu, we destroyed Enugu. They developed our sea ports in Lagos, Calabar and Port Harcourt, we destroyed all these towns. They used hides and skin and agric products to develop Kano and Kaduna, we came in to use religion and ethnicity and terrorism to destroy all these towns. We are our problems!

The British built the roads, airports and railways from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri through Makurdi, from Lagos to Kaduna and Kano. Where are the rails today? We destroyed them ourselves and even petty thieves on our streets are stealing the rail lines and pegs while we applaud them, but the British rail system which was the very first in the world keeps improving and modernizing. We are our problems.

The British built my own alma mater – Government College, Keffi. The Queen visited the school herself. A rare specie of palm was planted in the heart of the school, at the ‘discipline ground’ called Queens Park. The plant, which is characteristically of slim stem, rough and white bark has grown to a height of over 40 metres, with its little palm canopy contending for space above with the surrounding heavier trees. The palm tree has thus remained in the park as a treasure. All the structures were erected by the British. How did we improve the school after the British left as recent as the 80’s?

The British empire has given the world some of its best ever inventions. They include, but not restricted to; Steel, Tin can, Railway engine, Flask, Toothbrush, Coat, world wide web, Lawnmower, Electricity, Cement, First successful flight, Spinning frame, Telephone, Bicycle, Lighting Movies and Floodlights, Matches, Hydrogen cell, the Vaccine and discovery of Immunology, Light bulb, Textile industry, ATM, Fire extinguisher, first patented tyres, Telegraph, etc. What have we produced? Our rulers are still talking of antiquated gazettes and grazing routes. We are our problems!

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It is a blunt truism that if Britain never colonized us, we would have been far backwards than we are now. The mentality of our rulers and people have proven this claim. How does Republic of Liberia look today with its almost 200 years of independence? It is as dusty as Naka.

Our independence from British rule is over 60 years and isn’t it a shame that we keep attributing our backwardness to the British empire and some of us blaming the noble Queen for it? While we keep lamenting, wailing and gnashing our teeth and blaming everybody but ourselves, the British colonies in Asia have gone a million miles ahead of us, and some have become even more sophisticated than Britain itself. Go check the United Arab Emirates which were the then Trucial States that gained independence from Britain in just 1971.

How about Singapore which gained her independence in 1965 after the 1957 independence of Malaysia from Britain? Today, the Changi airport in Singapore is more sophisticated than London Heathrow. I’ve been to both. I’ve schooled in Malaysia and the standard of development there is comparable to anywhere in the world. Other Asian nations colonized by Britain who have since gone a thousand miles ahead of us includes – Maldives (1965), Jordan (1946), Brunei (1984), Qatar (1971), Kuwait (1961), India (1947)… Even Israel got its mandate for the formation of the country in 1948 from Britain, just 12 years before our own independence. Where are we among the above listed peers? We are our problems?

As a student in the UK in 2011, I once rode on the same train from Newcastle to Sunderland with Teresa May, who was the then Secretary of Home Affairs before she rose to become the Prime Minister. Every day in the train in Britain, you meet Secretaries (Ministers), Members of Parliament (MPs), but their colleagues and far juniors in Nigeria cannot take the train. The number of cars in our President’s convoy are more than 30, and far more expensive than the 3 cars on the convoy of the British Prime Minister. Our Presidential air fleet has over 10 jets and choppers while the British PM still uses jet from the Royal Air force or British Airways.

We are still crying that Britain invaded and colonized us decades ago and forgetting that some of our ethnic groups are still fighting, invading and killing members of other or same ethnic groups, with no development to add other than arson, carnage, retrogression and trails of blood.

Does Britain or the late Queen still look like our problem? I think the late Queen Elizabeth II deserves apologies from those who blamed her for our own self inflicted problems.

As she join her ancestors today, I wish to thank her for leaving the world better than she met it, and for all her contributions towards the attainment of peace, charity and development of the world, most especially in the Commonwealth countries for which she was the head!

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!

√Franc Fagah Utoo, Esq. LQC (INTI, Malaysia) LLB Hons (Newcastle, UK); MCIArb (UK); BL (Abuja)
•19:09:2022

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