By Kayode Emola

In the world we live in today, many leaders cling to power as though it is their birthright. In turn, this affects their sense of judgment, thereby undoing years of hard work and personal sacrifice. In the end, it is the masses and several others who will suffer the consequences of that action.

Last week, the UK had local elections in England and parliamentary elections to the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales. If the results were anything to go by, it was a complete disaster for the central Labour government that lost over 1,500 council seats in England and the Welsh Labour government in Wales.

As a matter of fact, the First Minister of Wales, Eluned Morgan, lost her own seat and the ability to return to the Welsh Senedd. The first of its kind in any government in the United Kingdom. Yet, all these events did not faze the Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer, into action, other than a mere press conference.

Even though he consistently said he took responsibility for the bad turn of events, he has fallen short of reading the handwriting on the wall. Even in Biblical times, we were told that the great King Nebuchadnezzar read the handwriting on the wall and couldn’t sleep until it was interpreted and remedial actions taken.

It seems that this is not the case for many modern leaders of our time. They cling to power as though it is their birthright, and power revolves around them. I know many good councillors in England who lost their seats and many good people who lost their seats in Wales for no fault of their own.

However, when political leaders don’t learn to do the right thing when it’s time for them to leave the stage, then disaster is bound to strike one way or another. Sir Kier Starmer had even tried to postpone some council elections before he was threatened with court action and made a U-turn. This must show desperation in leaders who believe they have a point to prove and still haven’t completed their political assignments.

Which brings me to what the Yoruba nation would have looked like if we had taken our independence out of Nigeria when Ghana took theirs in 1957. The Yoruba government of Chief Obafemi Awolowo scored first in many areas of development, such that we even had a TV station before France.

The Yoruba government of Western Nigeria gave every child free education that even benefited those who were not originally from Yorubaland. The Yoruba government had an agricultural program that encouraged farmers and made sure every cocoa brought to the Cocoa House was duly accounted for and adequately paid for.

All these great achievements of the 1950s were thrown away for a greater project of building the Nigerian dream. One which will continue to bite the Yoruba people hard into the future unless we decide to sever all ties with anything that has to do with Nigeria.

For all intents and purposes, most Yoruba people do not know that the pain and suffering we are currently experiencing in Nigeria is artificial. Many young Yoruba who live in the homeland have never experienced good governance in their lifetime; therefore, they wouldn’t know one if they saw it.

Fela sang about bad governance a lot in his songs, but his greatest frustration wasn’t with the government, some of the time, but with the people. Even though his song titled “My People Are Useless” was aimed at the government that had previously referred to Nigerians as undisciplined and useless people. Fela knew he was a lone voice fighting for the good of his people, who would not raise a finger when he was in harm’s way.

It would be good for leaders to know when to call it a day. This will save their country and its people from unnecessary hardship that may befall them because of their action. If Sir Kier had seen the handwriting on the wall before the election and knew what was coming, I’m sure he would have chosen a more honourable path.

His claim that the British people gave him a clear mandate of 5 years is just a ruse to continue to perpetuate himself in office. As it stands, if he has any goodwill for his political party, this is the best time to quit the stage and let another person take the reins; if not, the Labour Party as we know it in Britain will become one of the minority parties and nothing to reckon with in the near future.

I pray and hope that when our Yoruba nation eventually comes, God will raise for us leaders who will do their best for the country. They would be ready to call it a day when the time is ripe and not behave like many African heads of government, where the only place they are taking themselves and their country to the grave. My prayer is for God to raise men like Nelson Madiba Mandela who will see power as a privilege and not a birthright.

By Kayode Emola

Over 2 months into the US/Iran war, the effect is beginning to unravel before our very eyes. Anyone observant of the world’s affairs and the effect of globalisation knows that it’s going to take a while before the world’s economy goes back to where it was before the war.

Unfortunately for mankind, whatever goes up in our world economy finds it very difficult to come down, irrespective of where we find ourselves on this planet. It is as though the forces of nature are constantly waging war against our pockets.

Take, for instance, the market of “just in time” we have become accustomed to. This has made the world’s economy into a global village where goods and services are readily available with the click of a button. That economy has been tested very hard by the US/Iran war, and it is about to crack. What happens from here will very much depend on the direction the negotiations between the US and Iran take.

The prices of commodities are beginning to skyrocket even though there hasn’t been an active military campaign since April 7. The damage from the month-long continuous bombardment is leaving countries around the world reeling from the effects of the war.

Many airlines across the globe are now cutting flights drastically, like in the case of Lufthansa, which cut down over 20,000 flights in April. Or Spirit airline that practical shut its door for good yesterday in the US. These are just a few direct consequences of the war between the US and Iran. The indirect consequences down the line may not fully unravel until many months later.

Once travel is disrupted, the movement of goods and people from one location to another becomes problematic. This, in effect, affects the prices of everyday supplies that we need to function. Eventually hurting every one of us in one way or another.

The funniest part of this whole situation is that many people in Africa are unaware of what is going on. Some more than others are feeling the pain because their essential commodities have gone up in price.

The most important thing is for countries in Africa that are blessed with good vegetation, arable land, and natural resources to begin to utilise them for their own benefit. This will mean going the extra mile in ensuring that external factors like the war in Iran don’t affect the prices of everyday goods.

As for us, our Yoruba people, the time is now to consolidate on what has been built by the Awolowo government in the 1950’s. We need to dust all the good works of that government and see how we can build something that would withstand unforeseen circumstances now and into the future. This is the only way we can shield ourselves from any external factors that we cannot influence.

At least, the Dangote refinery in Lagos is a blessing in disguise for the Yoruba people and the entire Nigeria at large. Were it not for that refinery, Nigeria would have been in total shambles right now, not least with an epileptic power supply. This is why the Yoruba nation must prioritise the production of its own goods and services that it consumes rather than the reliance on offshore markets or other countries.

By Kayode Emola

Recently in the news, we saw how the rise of Xenophobia in South Africa is tearing the African community in South Africa apart. Not what you would expect exactly 32 years after the end of apartheid South Africa.

One would ask, what really happened to South Africa since the return to black rule in 1994? Afterall, with a GDP of nearly $500 billion and just about 60 million population, they are still the largest economy in Africa. Would they have achieved that feat on their own if the white folks hadn’t built that economy.

That really isn’t the issue here. The main issue is that majority of the black South Africans are reeking in abject poverty with no way of escape. So, the easiest thing to do is to blame it on immigrants as though they are the cause of the problem.

The truth is Africans are being left behind in an ever-changing world. As an immigrant myself to the United Kingdom, I have achieved far more than many core British people whose ancestors were originally from Britain. I do not believe that my migration to Britain threatened the existence or survival of the locals. On the contrary, I believe I have added more value to the British society and to its progress and enriched its culture.

Which leaves me to conclude that the problem with the black/brown South Africans is not that migrants are overwhelming their society. Rather, it is a failure of the African leadership to build a good framework for sustainable development.

Many Africans always blame slavery, colonisation and neo-colonialism for the underdevelopment of Africa. As true as these things, they aren’t the major obstacles to our real development. Our real underdevelopment stems from the greed of a few individuals among our black folks who are so determined to steal from our collective commonwealth for their own personal gain.

With an economy the size of South Africa, the average person is supposed to be earning a decent $8,000 to $10,000 annually. Enough to make a good life for themselves, and their immediate family. However, the reality is that GDP doesn’t mean anything to anyone who is just scrapping by.

Estimate from the South Africa statistics department in 2023 shows that nearly 40 percent of their population live below the poverty line earning less than R1,300 ($80) per person per month. With that kind of poverty brings resentment to any successful group or groups of person(s) supposedly perceived to be taking away the wealth of the local population.

This is part of the real reason behind the Xenophobic attitude of our South African brothers whom many African countries defied all odds to stand with in their dark days. Despite, the growing South African economy, it shows that globalisation is not actually improving the lives of the ordinary man on the street. This is the same across several African countries on the continent.

It’s easy to blame the leaders of many of these African countries, but we must equally blame the followers who do not know how to hold their leaders accountable. African leaders get an easy pass despite their mismanagement of the economy in their countries propped up by international organisations and foreign government. Partly because of a docile and an uninformed population.

If our Yoruba nation must succeed, we must make conscious effort to ensure that no one is left behind. There must be specific programs by the government to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry, let alone go to school with an empty stomach.

The level of poverty in the continent is so high that it should revulsed our leaders. However, seeing that our leaders are far removed from the common man, they feel disconnected to their plight. We who are custodians of leadership must ensure that the right policies are in place to genuinely lift millions of our people out of poverty and not just cosmetic dressing.

That is the only time we too as Africans can benefit from globalisation. If not, our people will continue to wallow in poverty, blaming everything on our ancestors and the government without they themselves taking responsibility for their own personal development.

I urge our African people to wake up whilst there is still the opportunity so that we too can benefit from the globalisation the world is experiencing. This will stop the blame game, because the last time I checked, migration is a net contributor to any economy and not the other way round as some myopic people will have us believe.