I have stopped blaming white people for the underdevelopment of Africa because like I always say, the problem is not the white people who buy, it is the black people who sell. If your brother does not sell you, an outsider will not buy you. It’s that simple. Any attempt to focus on blaming white people instead of focusing on ourselves is self-defeatist and fatalistic.
This is why I am refusing to buy the argument that white people or international powers are trying to sabotage Dangote Refinery through the climate change agenda. For starters, climate change activism is a global thing championed by a group that is now known as globalists. Their activism and advocacy affects or has the potential to affect every major oil and gas company in the world including oil and gas companies owned by white people in western countries not only Dangote Refinery. The climate change people are trying to bring down the ExxonMobils and Chevrons and Shells of this world as much as they are trying to bring down the Dangotes of this world. So Dangote Refinery is not the only victim here.
What that NGO was trying to do by trying to hire David Hundeyin to write against Dangote Refinery is not new. They do it even against powerful oil and gas companies in America, Europe and Asia. You may agree or disagree with the climate change agenda. Personally, I am yet to be convinced but for clarification sake, the war on oil and gas companies by climate change activists and champions is a global one and not peculiar to Dangote or Africa or has anything to do with White people underdeveloping black people.
The climate change people declared war on the global oil and gas industry whether in America, China, France, middle east or wherever. They have been spending billions of dollars to attack the activities of global oil and gas giants and countries. There are some countries where they are so strong and powerful that as a politician, there are places you cannot win if you are not against oil and gas companies. America is an example. In fact, there is a pending “Green New Deal” that the Biden administration adopted and is waiting to implement which will practically kill the oil and gas industry in America and boost renewable energy. Yes, you heard that right.
If that deal sees the light of the day, powerful oil and gas companies in America will close down. So the climate change war on the oil and gas industry is not a “white people are underdeveloping a black people thing”, it is a global war which will affect more western owned oil and gas companies than the ones owned by the Dangotes. But guess what? These oil and gas companies are fighting back. While the climate change people are spending billions of dollars to kill the oil and gas industry in favor of renewable energy, the oil and gas industry are also spending billions of dollars to make sure that doesn’t happen.
They will sponsor politicians and political lobby groups who will defend their interests whether in the legislature or executive. This is why even after five years, America is yet to sign the Green New Deal. Currently, politicians in the Democratic party are in favor of banning fracking (related to oil and gas) while politicians in the republican party oppose them. The republicans do not buy the whole climate change drive and are seriously opposing them. America today has more oil and gas than Russia, Saudi Arabia and all the top oil producing countries but the current American government is not interested in exploring more oil because of these climate change politics.
This is why Trump (a republican) when ever he goes to an oil producing area in America will tell them how the current government is destroying the American economy with its proposed ban on fracking and anti-fossil fuel politics fueled by the climate change agenda and then he promises them that when he wins, he will “Drill Baby Drill” meaning he will return to more oil and gas exploration and drill for more oil and do more fossil fuel business as opposed to what the climate change champions are saying. So the point is, this war is global and at the moment, it has affected and is affecting more western owned oil and gas companies than Africans.
The Dangote people should be ready to fight against the climate change people like the ExxonMobils, Chevrons, Shells and other global oil giants are doing. This has nothing to do with white people underdeveloping Africa. Since they have been preaching climate change this, climate change that, and gotten many developed countries to sign countless deals promising to commit to reducing their carbon emissions, how many of them have complied ? The Chinese government is still buying more oil, the Indian government is still buying more oil, China is still buying coal and the Saudis are still making more oil money than ever.
Do you know how much these climate change people have spent on international media stations to damage the business of global oil and gas companies in the West ? Yet some western governments have refused to bend the knee. They are still encouraging more oil and gas trade, exploration and activities in their countries even when giving speeches that they will do something about. The whole point here is, the Dangote refinery will fail if the Nigerian government allows it to fail and not because white people want to underdevelop black people. So for me, I think this whole focus on white people or westerners is diversionary and misplaced.
The climate change people will continue to spend billions to damage oil and gas companies anywhere in the world and not just in Africa. Dangote should be ready to invest in fighting them like other global oil and gas companies are doing. Like the American oil companies are doing, like the European oil companies are doing, like the Asian oil companies are doing and like the middle-eastern oil companies are doing. It’s not about Europe underdeveloping Africa. This is a global war that Dangote must fight too to survive. As they are sponsoring articles against oil and gas companies, you also sponsor articles against climate change people. That’s how it’s done.
Like I said, this is a distraction to the real issues where instead of blaming our own people for their failures and sabotage, we conveniently focus on white people. If you look at the problems with Dangote refinery and the whole saga, the issue is more internal than external. Who are those people importing oil from Malta ? the Dangote group made mention of the failures of the NUPRC to implement the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). Is it white people that are in charge of NUPRC ? Is the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) a white people’s law ? How come your leaders cannot implement your own country’s law and you are now pointing fingers at the West ? Point your damned people.
The Chinese government, the Russian government, some European governments run by conservative parties, the UAE government, the Saudi Arabia government and the American government when it was under Trump were all protecting the interests of their oil and gas companies even against the globalist led climate change agenda. Now that the Nigerian government is failing to protect a critical oil and gas industry, we are now wanting to blame the West ? This is how we have been blaming the West for all our underdevelopment for years and ignoring the real problem within. I don’t buy it one bit. Face the Tinubu government. That’s where the bucks start and stop.
So yes, David Hundeyin was approached to write against Dangote refinery by some climate change NGOs. If David had accepted the job, it would be like one out of 1000 anti oil and gas and pro-climate change articles out there. In the end, it is the Nigerian government that will decide not the West. Do you believe a single article from David Hundeyin will get the Nigerian government to close down or frustrate a $20 billion Dangote Refinery? The only thing that will get the Nigerian government to close down or frustrate that refinery is if the Nigerian government wants to close it down for economic and political interests. Not even an article from Barrack Obama or Elon Musk or the entire CNN or the EU or even the United Nations can do that. The Nigerian government that I know have defied international voices in favor of their crooked economic cronies and interests.
We always talk about Western organizations paying Africans to sabotage African interests. Do you know how much American powers spend paying some Chinese citizens to help them sabotage China ? Do you know how much China spends on some American rogues and think tanks and even media organizations to get them to sabotage America ? Do you know how much these big countries are spending on internal spies and agents in their rival countries or how much Multinational corporations are spending around the world to sabotage their rivals in other countries ? You think it is only Africa that is being sabotaged ? Do you know that there are Americans working for the Chinese government to sabotage America ? Heavily paid. There are Russians on the payroll of America paid to sabotage Russia. There are Asians, individuals and organizations heavily funded by America and Europe to sabotage their countries too. Do you know how much these powerful countries spend on espionage and counter-espionage against themselves ? The world is a jungle. While these other countries realize this, and put systems to protect themselves, Africa is always crying victim and whining all the time instead of putting their asses and houses together. You think it is just about Africa ? The only reason why it always succeeds in Africa is because our government is weak.
So I repeat. What that NGO was trying to do with David Hundeyin on Dangote Refinery is not new. They do it even against powerful oil and gas companies in America, Europe and Asia. You may agree or disagree with the climate change agenda. Personally, I am yet to be convinced but for clarification sake, the war on oil and gas companies by climate change activists and champions is a global one and not peculiar to Dangote or Africa or has anything to do with White people underdeveloping black people.
Instead of looking at who wants Dangote Refinery dead from the outside, we should look at the inside. That’s where the answer has always been. That is where the answer to our underdevelopment and poverty and everything all these years has always been. Inside not outside.
Caleb Onyeabor is a Nigerian intellectual, an avid advocate for political justice, social justice, and economic justice.
Author of Diary of a Messed Up country and How Elections Are Won and Lost – Truth About Defeating Bad Guys. Follow him on Twitter via twitter.com/calebdeecee @calebdeecee
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