Yali’s question is profound, particularly so because it strikes at the heart of an enigma in human history – the roots of global inequality. Another feature in the social change series.

By ETEOBONG ITA

Jared Diamond is a geographer, historian, ornithologist, and author of “The Third Chimpanzee”; “Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies”; “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed”, “The World Until Yesterday”, and “Upheaval: How Nations Cope with Crisis and Change”.

The Third Chimpanzee was published in 1991. By combining evidence from anthropology, evolutionary biology, genetics, ecology, and linguistics, Diamond examined human evolution and its relevance to the modern world.

Guns, Germs, and Steel, was published in 1997. In this book, Diamond investigates why Eurasian peoples conquered or displaced the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Aboriginal settlers of the area known today as Australia, and Africans. In other words, what circumstances limited the conquered or displaced?

Published in 2005, ‘Collapse’ is about how societies choose to fail or succeed. In his attempt to identify why they collapse or continue to thrive, Diamond not only examines past societies, he also considers what contemporary societies can learn from these historical examples.

In “The World Until Yesterday”, published in 2012, Diamond asks what the West can learn from traditional societies. 39 traditional small-scale societies of farmers and hunter-gatherers are surveyed, to gain insights into how they deal with universal human problems.

Published in 2019, ‘Upheaval’ delves into how nations cope with crisis and change. The author examines if nations can learn lessons during crisis, in the same way people do. The nations scrutinised were Australia, Chile, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, and the United States of America. Alongside, Diamond identified four modern threats: climate change, extreme inequality, nuclear weapons, and scarce resources.

Guns, Germs, and Steel, is a ‘short history’ of everybody for the last 13,000 years. Long story short – In July 1972, by chance, Yali and Jared Diamond meet at a beach on the tropical island of New Guinea. Diamond had already heard of Yali – a local politician touring the district at the time. So, in actual sense, who is Yali? He is confident, unassuming, charismatic, full of probing questions, and also a good listener. Although Yali had never ventured beyond his land, and had no more than secondary school education, he demonstrated an intense desire to know and to understand.

The unanticipated meeting at the beach paved way for interactions between both men. While the tension between the two societies Yali and Diamond represent was familiar to both men, conversation remained cordial. Then Yali asked, “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?” Yali’s question is profound, notably so because it strikes at the heart of an enigma in human history – the roots of global inequality. Yali posed his question in 1972. In his attempt to answer Yali’s question, Jared Diamond wrote Guns, Germs, and Steel, twenty-five years later.

Much has been written and said about Guns, Germs, and Steel, as well as Yali’s question. Indeed, views and opinions have been mixed, no surprise there. Concerning Yali’s question, P. Kerim Friedman – associate professor, Department of Ethnic Relations and Cultures at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan, used Nigeria as an example. According to Friedman, ‘Nigeria (environmentally blessed with some of the largest oil reserves outside of the Middle East) used to be one of the richest countries in the world. Corruption, aided by Western banks who provided the means of funnelling the majority of the nation’s GDP into private bank accounts, and deep cultural divisions between North and South, destroyed that wealth. Yet there are still many, many, millionaires and billionaires in Nigeria, and their collective wealth would be enough to give them plenty of “cargo” … So, no offence to Yali, but his question should be: Why is cargo distributed so unequally both within and between our societies?

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

From 18 to 19 February 2023, the 36th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the AU convened in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia. This year, the theme is “The Year of AfCFTA: Acceleration of the African Continental Free Trade Area Implementation.” AfCFTA is one of the flagship projects of Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want. AfCFTA is a long-term development strategy of the African Union (AU), to reposition the continent as an economic bloc. According to figures, AfCFTA is the biggest free trade accord worldwide. By eliminating nearly all tariffs, plus a sizeable economic bloc of 1.3 billion people, with a combined gross domestic product of €3.1 trillion by the year 2034, AfCFTA is envisaged to boost intra-African trade by 60%.

Between Nigeria, AfCFTA, and the AU

Spanning an area of 923,769 square kilometres, the Federal Republic of Nigeria – with its population exceeding 200 million people – is Africa’s most populous country, and the world’s sixth-most populous country. Not only is Nigeria a regional power in Africa, it is also an emerging actor in global affairs. Its economy is the largest in Africa; ranked 31st largest in the world by nominal GDP, and 26th largest based on Purchasing power parity (PPP). Given its large population and economy, Nigeria is often referred to as the Giant of Africa.

Chinua Achebe the novelist, poet and critic, was a dominant figure in modern African literature. Aptly called “The Trouble with Nigeria”, his book is in the genre, non-fiction or socio-political articles. The literary genius asserts that “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership”. Achebe advanced that ‘there is nothing wrong with the land, climate, water, air or anything else. The problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership’.

Various situations call for different configurations of knowledge, skills and abilities. Scientific researchers have proposed that leadership is 30% genetic and 70% learned. The preceding allows for a conceivable deduction that if a person can be born with natural leadership abilities, another can learn and acquire leadership skills. Hence, no person is born a leader, anyone can be a leader. Leaders are like molten lava, they are formed and emerge from circumstances or the needs of a given situation.

Is Nigeria responsive enough to play a leadership role in ensuring the successful delivery of AfCFTA? Historical precedence demonstrates that Nigeria has played many leadership roles. Examples can be found in South Africa’s liberation from the stranglehold of a brutal and apartheid regime, the formation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the AU, including the enduring sacrifice of Nigerians to help stabilise Liberia, other countries in the region, and beyond.

Prevailing interests

The National Security Study Memorandum (NSSM) 200 was written and classified in December 1974, with its declassification and subsequent release in 1989. NSSM 200 is 123 pages long; comprising two parts, chapters, sections and sub-sections. École de guerre économique (EGE) is a French academic curriculum dedicated to competitive intelligence. In a summary hosted by Wikipedia, NSSM 200 provides four main observations, with further reference to influencing national leaders, improving global support for population-related efforts by increasing emphasis on the media, population education, and motivation programmes (EGE, 31 March 2008). Thirteen countries listed as particularly problematic are Brazil, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Turkey. These countries are projected to constitute 47% of global population growth. Equally topical was the issue of preferential allocation of surplus food supplies to states viewed as constructive in the use of population-control measures.

Here comes the head-scratcher. Concerning populations with a high proportion of growth, reference is made to young people, who are in much higher proportions in many Least Developed Countries (LDCs), and are likely to be more volatile, unstable, prone to extremes, alienation and violence than an older population.

These young people can more readily be persuaded to attack the legal institutions of the government or real property of the ‘establishment’, ‘imperialists’, multinational corporations, or other – often foreign – influences blamed for their troubles [Chapter V, “Implications of Population Pressures for National Security”]. Ultimately, anyone is free to debate any claim, i.e. that summaries of what is in NSSM 200 and its motivations are highly suspect. Respectfully, given my aversion to spin, I decline to participate in that debate.

Golden nugget

I recollect talks with my uncle – a veteran of the Burma campaign – who said, ‘What an elderly person sees sitting in a chair on the ground, a young person even if he/she climbs an Iroko tree cannot see’. While the sense behind his adage was clear, I probed him; is a young person’s view from atop the proverbial Iroko tree a lesser concern? My uncle laughed heartily. Subsequently, in context it could be said that the young person’s view from atop an Iroko tree is myopic – lacks foresight or intellectual insight, but could the same be said for the elderly person’s view? Each individual view cannot present a broad picture of the objective reality, hence a collective view is needed.

Here is the departure point. Reading can transform our schools, homes and communities. Scientific research results suggests that people who read tend to demonstrate more empathy, and are more willing to be curious and tolerant of others that may look or live differently. Reading also facilitates understanding of our own identity, and proffers insights into the world-view of others.

Ultimately, Yali’s question remains more relevant today than ever before. In these very challenging times one can only hope that sensibility will prevail. May the ‘watchers’ shield Nigeria, Africa and the World.

•Ita is an Environment Consultant and Independent Journalist.

Update news