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OPINION…Africa Condition: Interrogating Destiny, Destination and the Doctrine of Compensation

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Who Moved My Cheese? —COVID-19

Ralph Waldo Emerson who propounded the theory of Compensation in 1841, argued that Nemesis is as certain as night begets day, that all unjust accumulation of wealth, power and privileges by a person/ ethnic group/ nation-state/ continent/ race/religious group are not tax-free. In other words, unwritten but certain ‘Terms and Conditions’ apply to such vices as rapacious greed, exploitations and oppressions.
*The end game of nature is optimisation of benefits, but for every benefit, a commensurate tax is levied. And when too many benefits accumulate unjustly in the hands of an individual/ nation/race/ethnic group, it will ultimately corrupt and ‘’worm worms*”

Nature’s tax net is so vast and water-tight that the oppressor’s will not just pay the regular tax like PAYE, but it will also, through nature’s own mechanism, pay special VAT, withholding tax and penalties for every infraction that leads to abnormalities in the world. Conversely, capital appreciation and capital gain from nature’s fixed deposit account await the oppressed on its assets that are unjustly appropriated through unbalanced transactions.

*When nations try to steal from each other to enrich one by impoverishing the other, two violently unbalanced conditions are created which lead to chaos. But Nature always completes her transactions, her book always balances, somehow*

The question as to why Africa has remained the least developed continent and what should be done to upturn the sorry state of things are two hot questions that will continue to engage researchers until the condition is reversed.

In the paragraphs that follow, we shall interrogate the roles of destiny, destination and Emerson’s doctrine of compensation.

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First, Compensation.

*Nature abhors monopolies and fights exceptions, it opposes halfness and resents stillness. Every condition in nature is subject to impermanence. There is an opening in nature, nothing can be given, and most benefits go to the highest bidder. Power, wealth and fame befriend the audacious*

Roman Empire was once the highest bidder for power and wealth at a time in history, then the UK, followed by America. But today, it is China.

*Once, briefly though, there was a world’s Duty-Free Shop created by God in the garden of Eden but which had since been shut down by God himself after the biblical Adam and Eve misdemeanour*

Consequently, all meals are served a la carte. Crime and punishment are two sides of the same coin, or two branches on a tree, growing out of one stem. Punishment is the fruit which secretly ripens within the seed of oppression or greed.

*A race or an ethnic group cannot do wrong without ultimately facing the consequences of wrong. No infraction of love, beauty and trust will go unavenged*

Furthermore, every breach of social, economic and political equity in intra community or international relations will not go unpunished.

In Nature’s ledger book, inventions that advance humanity and multiply happiness are credited on one side while infractions by a race or nation-state are debited on the other side.

*The world is essentially a spiritual living organism constantly seeking for balance. It is debt-free- it owes no one and no one owes it for long. For she is a ruthless debt collector, her debt recovery mechanism is incorruptible*

The world is governed by human laws but nurtured by nature’s unwritten norms and code to maintain the equilibrium.

This was why nature put it in the mind of Valdimir Lenin to midwife the creation of the defunct USSR as a counterbalance to Europe and America domination. And when Russia became too overbearing and dangerous to the world, Nature again put it in the mind of Mikhali Gorbachev to introduce reforms (perestroika and glasnost) that led to the dissolution of the old USSR. But since Nature is anti-monopoly, it has caused China to rise and serve as countervail to America’s hegemonic tendency.

*The Whole is inside the Dot, nature is present in every one of its particles. Everything in the universe mirrors Mother Nature. The dualism and polarity of life are sacrosanct. Equity, justice and fair play are not forever impeached, though they may be postponed. For the dice of Nature are forever loaded*

Sometime, somewhere, somehow- everyone pays- directly or indirectly. Individual/ nation-state/ ethnic group/race/ continent/religious movement- they all retire their IOUs either voluntarily or by force administered by Nature’s Labour Prefect. Some pay by instalments, some wholesale.

*That which you steal from the world, the world will steal from you. What you lose on the swings, you gain at the roundabouts*

The ongoing global climate chaos is part of the settlement process for the overdue invoices from Nature. Nature’s ledger book debit balance arising from the over-exploitation of the world’s resources has created a huge imbalance- which has to be settled aggressively.

In July 2021, China and Europe witnessed an unprecedented flooding, similar to that of the Biblical flood which CNN aptly described as ‘’once in a thousand years event’’. Rain that is meant for one year came down within 3 days.

*Meanwhile, America, Europe and the UK have some invoices that are long overdue for settlement, and the figures are staggering. Slave trade, colonialism and ne-colonialism are sins against Africa and people of African descent which the West must settle voluntarily or the two empires may go into Nature receivership, sooner than later.*

UK’s Brexit misadventure was part of the chain of events leading to the fulfilment of Compensation theory towards the unbundling of the UK. By the time Scotland exits from Britain and Ireland follows, Britain will become that small, inconsequential English country it used to be before The Act of the Union of May 1st 1707 that gave birth to the United Kingdom.

*In Nature, no debt cancellation, no tax exemptions, no debt-forgiveness- only IOU* (I owe you).

In the animal Kingdom, scientists’ shocking revelation is that the chosen ones are not yet born, no creatures are favourites, the immutable law of Compensation governs the jungle- it balances every edge and every defect. The same thing goes for human beings.

The king of the jungle-lion, for instance, is dangerously powerful but yet dangerously vulnerable at old age.

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Jellyfish have no brain whereas a leech has 32 brains and they both get their needs met.

*The theory of mechanical forces confirms this: what is gained in power is lost in time and conversely*

Every excess begets a defect, every defect an excess. That invisible levelling force that puts down the overbearing individual/ race/ nation-state/ ethnic group/ religious group is ever present and prepared to simultaneously promote another that is most fit and ready. Such must have attended Nature’s home lessons and passed with distinction in critical life subjects. Also, such must have gone through a rebirth and make full payment to nature’s current account.

*China did. Africa has not*

*China, at the beginning of its second coming knew that the world’s ‘’Duty-Free Shop’’ was shut down by God himself immediately after Creation due to gross mismanagement by the two store keepers: Adam and Eve. Consequently, China’s first action was to build a system that is self-reliant, independent of IMF, World Bank, Europe, and America during the foundation-laying years*

It was Chinese kidneys powering China’s second coming. It worked.

*This is where Africa is missing it big time thinking that the then World’s Duty Free Shop located in the present day Iraq that was shut down by God has been re-opened by God in Shanghai, China. Wrong*!
If it’s going to be, Africans must build Africa.

Nothing is wrong with Africa’s Stars, Mother Nature has been generous to Africa with numerous blessings: huge natural and mineral resources and excellent weather, a COVID-19- resistance- weather.

*More than 30% (Aljazeera) of the untapped world’s mineral resources, 22.7% (UN) of forests, 60% of global arable land (roughly 600 million hectares of uncultivated arable land, CNN) are located in Africa. About 20% of the world’s population is Africans, I.e., when you add the over 200 million people of Africa descent to the population of mainland Africans*

It looks strange that a continent with these multitude of blessings (DESTINY) should be the last-in-class.

Then, is poor visioning (destination) the problem?
Africa never lacks plans of actions. There have been several visions that fell flat, the recent one being the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when in 2000, Africa under the UN umbrella set eight targets to be achieved in 2015. These included halving extreme poverty and hunger, empowering women and promoting gender equality, providing quality universal primary education and good health care services and ensuring environmental sustainability among others.
Africa scored F9s in most of those parameters,
unfortunately.

*With the AfCFTA ( Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, there is an urgent need to hit the ground running and increase intra-Africa trade from 20% to about 50% within the next 3 years*

*To Emerson ‘’the world looks like a multiplication-table or a mathematical equation, which, turn it how you will, balances itself, take whatever figure you will, its exact value, nor more nor less, still returns to you”*

Therefore, at this juncture, concerning Africa’s sorry state, we ask: which battle is Africa fighting? Or Is Africa suffering from systemic and cultural defects? Is the law of compensation absolute and why has it not worked in Africa’s favour concerning its huge receivables arising from the slave trade, colonialism and neo-colonialism unbalanced transactions? Can any race or nation-state outsmarts the Compensation doctrine?

Africa’s best time is now. And here’s why.

*A weakened West, dangerously ageing Japanese population, hugely overstretched America, distracted India, distressed Russia, fumbling Turkey, over ambitious China in cold-war with America and a divided, tumultuous Middle East provide a global perfect storms for Africa to rebuild its civilisation, carefully working under the radar by harnessing and leveraging the continent’s huge blessings and the technical know-how of her people in the diaspora*

*In conclusion, it is in America’s and Europe’s enlightened self-interest to settle the 400-year old receivables they both owed Africa through slave trade and colonialism by paying just $3.6 Trillion reparations to African-Americans and Africa which represents just 10% of their combined 2020 GDP of $36 Trillion ( America- $21 Trillion, Europe, $15 Trillion)*

Allowing Nature through the law of Compensation to balance the ledger book in her own way and time will definitely cost the two continents much more, including, but not limited to, the untimely decline of their empires.

*However, Africa, too, must realise that Nature will not do for her what she is expected to do for herself. To make the law of compensation work in her favour, Africa needs to expunge from her mentality the idea of a ‘’duty-Free-Shop’ existing somewhere in Shanghai, London, Brussels, Washington or Tokyo. There is no Duty-Free-Shop anywhere on planet earth. God had since abolished it*

True, Compensation Doctrine affirms that *impermanence and *Rhythmic Balanced Interchange* (RBI) are the basic laws that govern the world. Nonetheless, it is still a *Self-Help- World* (SHW).

*Africa’s competitive edge includes the 600 million hectares of uncultivated, arable land which she can use to feed the world with organic food. The chances are 9:1 that the world will rather patronise a well packaged organic food from Africa than the Genetically Modified foods from Europe and Asia*

Two, the world’s youngest populations are in Africa, roughly 50% of the population is under 20 years. Africa leaders should stop using their youths as political tugs and ethnic and religious warriors.
Killing in the name of God, a practice that is still rampant in some African countries but which you can’t find in most progressive Muslim countries like UAE and Qatar is, to say the least, barbaric and anti- modernisation.
*The youths should be deployed to take front seats row in the 4th Industrial Revolution Limousine car that is just about to take-off. The future will be ruled by Artificial Intelligence (Ai), Internet of Everything (IoE) and Cloud technologies*

Here, Africa has an edge: the median age of 15.4 years in most African countries is an unbeatable edge, which when put into optimum productive use, will remove Africa father and father from the treadmill of mere existence and closer and closer to abundance.

Thirdly and finally, *Africans: Love Ye One Another.*

And, Stop self-hate!

Author: Tim Akano


Articles published in our Graffiti section are strictly the opinion of the writers and do not represent the views of Ripples Nigeria or its editorial stand.

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