Re-Enactment of African Civilisation towards heightened Collective Consciousness

Introduction

Unlike peoples and nations of other continents, critical mass of centrifugal forces and push factors are simultaneously making life unbearable and ejecting Africans from their homelands. These unproductive forces arrived and consolidated from outside over the past 5 centuries under the superiority of weapons. Weaponisation of humiliation and life-deprivation since then accelerated 2 centuries ago unleashing savage destruction of nations and lands. The resultant instability have placed majority of Africans in intergenerational survival mode. This is preventing the centring of critical revitalisation and refreshment of foundational African worldviews, indigenous meanings and the essence of collective being and becoming. This is the subject of this piece.

Dehumanisation Incorporated

There is no denying that unity, solidarity and stability are scarce values to Africans at home and abroad. It isn’t as if these and more are strange and rare in African lived experiences and consciousness, rather it reinforces the weight of its priority patently suppressed by unproductive forces. The testimony of this hollowing out of peoples can be discerned in 2 questions – If European version of modernity is good, why is Africa a regressing “beneficiary”? If Christianity is life-giving, why does it accompany death to rampage the continent? The 2 questions validate industrial-scale epistemic and physical violence meted out to Africans by Europeans via colonialism with its current iterations overseen by Africans. Curiously at no point did both questions diminish and eliminate African agency to inquire, dispute, debate, critique, dissent, resist and argue alternative narratives.

To say that a people or nations have no history, philosophy, theology and civilisation reveals the author/speaker as the true patient of ontological deprivation. Furthermore the toxic author/speaker remains irreversibly on the lunatic fringe. Having written that, the sustenance of negative notions on Africans feed from the illegitimacy of neocolonial leadership controlled through an imposed, foreign and adulterated system. Given that these leaderships are disconnected from African peoples and institutions, they operate like captured entities in full submission to their remote controllers to deliver imposed targets, dependencies and poisonous qualities. These are anti-peoples in all aspects. Politics, religion, education, economy and etc are all compromised by legitimised alienation, exploitation, marginalisation and industrialisation of poverty. A pathetic celebration of unjust structures!

Miseducation for sale

Most education investors know fully well that a person’s foundation is shaped in the 1^st decade of existence. This is complemented by secondary fine-tuning prior to the 2^nd decade. What is evident is that in both religious and government places of African learning, the core and essence of what it means to be African including language were and are deliberately eliminated from curricula. By so doing, inferiority and negativity of African values and heritage were cultivated to maturity. This is called civilisation stripping (for reconfiguration of collective consciousness). Devaluation, dehumanisation, depersonalisation and dehistoricisation! One can only become on what is inserted in their being! You don’t give what you don’t have hence most Africans keep looking outside of themselves and up to the north with ignorant satisfaction. Epitome of self-alienation! Hence African education systems produce mostly tools, objects and manipulated agencies.

Authenticity, mystery and divinity that underpin African consciousness and worldviews since remote antiquity were justifiably eviscerated. The ugly campaign is unaffected by the growing evidence of hollowness and monstrosity of imposed frameworks. Why then should there be surprise at intergenerational instability and uncertainty? How many African states have stress-free inter-administration transitions? How many African entities bar families/communities are older than 2 generations? Why should ontological disconnection be justified and solutions sought in foreign systems, despiritualised structures and individualist/elitist concoctions? No amount of primary, secondary and university learning will plug existential gaps inserted by African miseducation that spawns inferiority and negativity. Only a radical and comprehensive unlearning and relearning of true African foundation is the solution.

Radical Alternative toward Dignity

First of all, humankind began in Africa. African core is mediated by 4 values; family, community, learning and religion in a place. These qualities and more have enduring and deep life-giving impact over millennia. The first 2 delineate the locus of being and existence in the collective without depersonalisation. Mutuality and sense of belonging rhyme in peaceful co-existence in a place. Learning is an integrated, dynamic and holistic process of knowledge co-creation and co-utility from birth to the grave. Its focus encompass spirituality, civilisation/history and technical/disciplines. 

Research, critique, acquisition, innovation and creativity are embedded. Holistic and integrated non-universalist, non-hegemonic and non-proselytising (theocentric) religion is the metastructure holding everything together. Divinity, mystery and the Spirit (God) are tangible and known devoid of speculation and duality. Religion mediates praxis/practice in all aspects of African being and existence with abundant evidence of the Spirit permeating all things. This has serious implication as all things are derived and legitimised by it.

Dynamic transmission of rich developments over time in diverse situations across the continent is testified by indisputable historical records and archaeological evidence. Communication technologies now offer previously unavailable access to artefacts, patterns, relationships, trends, books, translations, maps, images and records. The histories exist and are present in the peoples and nations, so what is desperately needed is a renewed impetus of reappropriated epistemology that speaks and live in holistic embodiment in the peoples. African values are unique expressions of universal body of knowledge and they echo goodness, beauty, dignity, integrity, love and excellence. They are crowned by their origin and dynamic resourcing in the Spirit, mystery and divinity.

Africa is good, Africans are good, African civilisations are excellent. African pride can only flow on confrontation with evidence and openness. Armed with truth embalmed knowledge, dynamic transition from being to becoming is accelerated despite structural impositions and dominance of false narratives. Until an appreciation of African intergenerational knowledge disconnection between the past and the present by colonialism is effected, repeats of error will not stop.

These evidence impose huge responsibility on Africans today to move beyond externals, excuses and uncritical articulations. Deliberate and intentional rejection of false narratives and stereotypes is inevitable. These are untruths strategically inserted to reduce peoples and nations, for the same peoples and nations to stay reduced. Like-minded persons and groups are invited to share, reflect and discuss materials for new knowledge.

Larger groups are capable of developing frameworks and durable intellectual infrastructure for acquiring, retrieving and hosting events that bring African richness to wider audience. African-American communities have unblemished and resourceful leadership in this department. It is impressive that many African migrant communities are investing huge resources in this direction. Some of them have even moved into a new intellectual form of community-intellectualism where intellectuals are embedded in and renewed by mutual knowledge co-creation and co-production. These innovations and creativity add immense value to collective consciousness. Pride in collective origin and shared heritage ascends!

The next level determines true independence and genuine sovereignty in the world-system. African states must genuinely invest in African civilisations in order to ground their legitimacy, reconfigure their status and enrich statecraft for collective interest. On this point history is king. There is no future without this strategic initiative wrapped in authentic historical awareness and civilisational re-conscientisation. African states can only gain true legitimacy when they connect deeply to the people embracing shared past and dynamic present undergirded by ancestral knowledge and refinement of ancient wisdom from antiquity. Unity is the testimonial, enduring cohesion the evidence. Effectiveness of foreign items/ideas are worthy only after thorough quality-assurance of their fitness to the collective foundation and share consciousness. Africans everywhere are duty-bound to protect their core, essence and dignity rather than plead to be accepted by others on the basis of presumed inferiority, negativity and dehumanisation. 

Conclusion

Each African exists with a unique identity nurtured in a community embedded in shared heritage and collective consciousness of patterns, relationships and trends drawing from shared rich past. No African deserve to apply for the right to be or to become. Such regressions are always imposed by unproductive forces in the name of politics, economy and religion for collective erasure, profit and death. This has been African lived experience for a long time. Only Africans can expel this ugliness for the dignity to stand tall, proud and beautiful in collective consciousness that they truly are good and have been good since the dawn of time. Critical supporting data, information, intelligence and knowledge are available for encounter, internalisation, enrichment and result-oriented action.  

Update on Africa’s Geopolitical Reconfiguration

Introduction

A few decades ago in certain African English-speaking neocolonies, it is not uncommon for educated but untransformed talking heads to wax lyrical on their perceived inadequacies of family branches in the French-speaking neighbourhoods. One trigger was football competitions where French teams dominated by African sons. Another was perceived economic certainty with the preponderance of 'stable' CFA franc linked to French franc at the time. Of course those boneheads had surplus poverty of history and blind spots on the concept of civilisation. Fast-forward to the present, so much has evolved from irreversible expulsion of unproductive forces by wise French-speaking neighbours. Therefore our focus is the current manifestation of the latest iteration of geostrategic changes in Africa. 

Conventional Wisdom

It is critical to stress from the beginning that full-spectrum European colonialism in Africa was a long-term geopolitical project with integrated geoeconomic, geostrategic and despiritual dimensions. As a civilisational enterprise, there was no methodological distinction in executing epistemic and physical violence of Africans on industrial scale strapped on the acquiescence of fake Christianity. It is therefore a weak intellectual debate as to the differences in inhumanity perpetrated by Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Denmark and Germany. There was a common design, common agenda and common strategy currently manifesting in the form of European Union.

Furthermore, flag-independence agreements on immutability of colonial boundaries, European language lingua franca, limited intra-African trade and rejection of true sovereignty are set in stone. Such mascara of illusion are forced down millions of children across 2 generations through poisonous public education system to reject themselves and keep looking north. Any dissent is visited with either divide-and-conquer or shoch-and-awe. History is littered with examples of such normalised disequilibrium countersigned by cheap indigenous nationalists and hollow independence fighters. 6 decades later show them to be no less opaque as most of their legacies lie in ruins borne by innocent millions crushed by their malignant decisions. This set the structure for temporal colonial extension prolonged in flag-independent flowers of neocolonialism contracted to the uprooted indigenous elite.

Neocolonial Geopolitical Culture

The British worked hard to ensure that their colonies where handed over to pliant satraps or to a divided ensemble of pretenders who unceasingly sang the moderate line of illegitimacy. Nigeria is the classic example where prior to flag-independence all satraps knew that they had no future apart from their stomach allowances. Sudan fell under the sway of immediate instability which still echoes till today while Nasser and Nkrumah were churned out quickly complementing their operational insensitivities. On the French side after the debacle of Algeria; le vieux Boigny held the forth in Abidjan for France Afrique, Bongo in Libreville while Senghor waxed negritude in Dakar to no effect. 

Mobutu massaged Zaire for Bruxelles backed by Washington DC (uranium for US WW2 atomic bombs came from here) while the rest of Portuguese and Spanish colonial ventures turned into textbooks of genuine African revolutionary triumph baptised in blood. The 1970s, 1980 and 1990s came and went with seeds of hope struggling. When a fuller account is drawn decades later most neocolonial spaces are no more better than a century ago as geographies of holistic stagnation while foreign curators regurgitate their certainty that Africans flourish in suffering and smiling. Or do they?

New Facts on the Ground

The murder of Col Muammar Ghaddafi in 2011 was a watershed moment for many Africans particularly on the West African French-speaking front in view of the immediate destabilising impact and the outsized role of President Sarkozy. Of course, part of the geopolitical gambit include the humiliation of Ivorians on their own turf. What is always left out of narratives is the resistance culture in many communities that fell to the French. Many West African peoples faced down French forces with formidable solidarity and strategic response that compromised designs and inflated cost setting the stage for intergenerational enmity whose explosion would occur at the critical mass of time. A profound aspect of these struggles and resistance is the role of Islam in checking French penetration.

So what appeared like post-WW2 surface geopolitical stability enacted by Charles de Gaulle simmered with tectonic pressure until it tipped over with post-2011 French overreach. A country with a debt over 100% of its GDP can only play for time before its weakness turns into a rout. Descendants of the marginalised and humiliated led by gallant armed forces of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso saw the writing on the wall with each hefty stream of intelligence. Holding territory and conducting conflict is pure money business. After centuries of impunity, stealing and murder in Africa; new facts are emerging on the gradual decline of French power projection. The 3 cited countries became economically sovereign for the first time from 2022, yes. For decades, they and others were run like departments/ministries of the French government from Paris.

Uhuru is still far away but its winds are picking up new strength. Gabon swung from the Bongo dynasty and Madagascar has at least recently confirmed another puncture in the French geopolitical tyre. More is coming because the economic and political prognosis of Europe devoured by deindustrialization and war debt imposed by US profiteering can only raise new possibilities. Ascendant geopolitical powers are equally driven by weighty geostrategic interests calling for higher interrogation and detailed analyses for African consumption. Still culture and attitudes to power by African elite remains neoliberal, anti-people, anti-solidarity and anti-indigenous. Crisis of knowledge remain in the firm embrace of crisis of identity. The road is very long.

Conclusion

A new era of possibilities is upon Africa inserted by renewed awareness and incremental relegation of regressive neocolonial forces currently facing massive costs that is blunting their geopolitical designs and power projection. Few African countries are stirring beyond rhetoric to commence genuine decolonisation for real independence. The currency of conflicts on the continents is an indicator of the challenge but the moment is pregnant with unknown options for deepening the path of restoration. This path is bumpy, rough and existential. One thing is very clear, for Africans, hope will be the last to die.

Nigeria’s Energy Market Scenario in Looming Iran – Israel War II

Introduction

Geopolitical and geoeconomic variables are converging strongly on the likelihood of a repeat of the June 2025 military exchanges between Tehran and Tel-Aviv. For many commentators it is a matter of when rather than if. Potential impact on global markets are noted. Given that one of the priority variables at play is petroleum, the fulcrum of the global economy by a huge margin, we are concerned with Nigeria’s situation. In this scenario, our position isn’t claiming prescience that the conflict is certain or suggesting accuracy of account, rather drawing from history attempt to extend meanings with geopolitical implications as far as Nigeria and its citizens/residents are concerned.

The Setting

There are broad outlines of the current global geopolitical configuration. These outlines began as early as 1991 and the patterns, relationships and trends are reaching maturity. From an intellectual viewpoint, those addicted to western worldview in these matters should draw conclusions from facts on the ground especially with long durée. Geopolitical transitions and change of hegemons are normal geopolitical and civilisational realities.

At the moment United States military assets are active in West Asia (via Israel), Venezuelan coast and the Black Sea (via NATO). These are engagements of choice with limited geostrategic depth spectrum. Cost is the main variable in these investments because once peer-to-peer conflict go beyond a week and without compensatory inbound benefits, defeat can only be masked by propaganda. In each of the theatres, (control of) petroleum is the major attraction despite US role as one of the biggest petroleum producers/importer and petroleum products exporter.

In the last 3 years US has secured the EU LNG market by encouraging the latter’s severance of its strategic energy relations with Russia at painful costs. Similar geostrategy is playing out in Turkey with Ankara signing up to US LNG concomitant to reducing contracts with Iran and Russia respectively. US isn’t starved of markets because Washington DC imposed its will on satraps and vassals with ease. 

As for Russia, despite shrinking European market, it has consolidated new markets in Asia particularly China and India. Her economic performance is an unvarnished testimony. Therefore in the global energy market US, Russia, China and India are the top players with sufficient import, export and refining capacities. Chinese massive imports is enabled by pipelines that reduce dependence on sea-based imports with extra security provided by an ascending naval capability.  Where does this leave small players?

Nigeria’s Regression

One can declare that Nigeria is historically versed on conflict-induced petroleum windfalls during 1973 Arab-Israeli war and 1990 Gulf War I. Reminiscing one of its former leaders, the issue is never resources but how to spend it. Despite these additional profit accumulations in the short term, Nigeria is bereft of stability, certainty and genuine collective wellbeing. However a number of geopolitical variables give Abuja renewed advantage. These include distance (from chokepoint and war theatres), low-sulphur petroleum and weak currency.

These advantages kick in once prospective conflict goes beyond 14 days. Correlation of forces between Israel (US) and Iran is sharp nevertheless the mastery of the Red Sea by Yemen in the last 2 years is a factual deficit for the former. Unknown is the scope of ambiguity loaded on Tehran’s coordination with Moscow and Beijing. It also possess a massive spirituality card of sacrifice mostly ignored by many commentators and analysts. From the 3^rd week, cost-inflation tactics by Tehran may include closing the Gulf of Hormuz hitting Gulf states exports triggering global knock-on effect.

This singular operation even for a few days may hand Tehran a strategic edge for selective control of the gulf. Mind you the Red Sea and the Gulf of Hormuz become shut for traffic. Naturally petroleum prices will rise sharply and customers particularly from the African neighbourhood, Europe, Asia and South America proceed to Nigeria's Bight of Biafra. Huge commissions, grand profits and big bank balances in foreign currencies will effect automatically devoid of capital control. Arguments will advance against based on the worn-out anti-inflationary platitude.  Then what?

Domestic Market and the Imperium

The current human resource panorama in both public and private sectors have questionable applied leadership competence to successfully oversee such precarious project in Nigeria. This is not borne of pessimism rather an admission of legacy patterns locked in dismissal of implications of geostrategic calculations. This means that the scenario will only be confronted when it emerges. The political elite and structures have deep qualitative gaps open to both abuse and genuine reform. Their rabbit-on-the headlamp attitude to all things western against national interest may play out with pavlovian distinction.

While new customers readily increase petroleum purchase (with low insurance premium) mostly by short-term contracts and spot-market mechanism, there will be lack of production capacity to accommodate such surge in demand. Nigeria upstream sector currently struggles to meet its OPEC production quota. Similar situation is evident for storage where mediation of strategic reserves remain as opaque as its apparent location in policy drafts. Profit will certainly accrue and accumulate parked in foreign accounts as foreign reserves which is normal for a country without an sovereign payment system.   

The primary issue for the economy on the downstream sector is already taking place in the massive limit in refining capacity poorly augmented by huge imports of select petroleum products. Quality issues plague many of the sold products multiplying consumer costs across the board. The booming generating set market is an indicator. Nigeria is a petroleum exporter and a big importer of refined products because of decades-long lack of investment in the 4 state-owned refineries. The same petroleum products imports during the surge may suffer delays from bureaucratic lapses and profit-oriented sabotage.

Therefore leveraging any windfall will initially decline with cost of imports rising to inundate the apparently bulging capital account. It is uncertain from history how post-conflict reality will positively transform for production revitalisation, domestic market stability and increased refining capacity. Surges have narrow window and then expire for normal market trends and equilibrium to restore.

Having drawn one conclusion from history, great prospects that ruptures Nigeria's past from the future remains. The big picture is certain on the aftermath irrespective of outcome which unveils a clear demarcation of US-led west from the world with Moscow, Beijing, Delhi and Tehran in the driver's seat. A new world order is coming. Nigeria's part in the new configuration doesn’t and shouldn’t depend on petroleum exports and conflicts, but on its people, the majority who presently groan for dignity and justice. This invites a reliable energy geostrategy with a healthy petroleum industry prioritising robust domestic market and sophisticated performance in the global markets.

Conclusion

There is no need for a new conflict anywhere to increase petroleum profits rather such will be a theoretical bonus with the potential to revitalise the concept of petroleum as a curse to Nigeria. However pregnant possibilities and opportunities in the global energy market in a post-Atlantic world are endless for new mechanisms to transform strategies and operations underpinning petroleum resource management. Federal government has priority card. Even in the face of climate change with its potential positive effects for state and people, there remains a potential for a critical mass of will necessary to exploit advantages domestically. A 3^rd windfall in less than 100 years may either accelerate positive change or elevate regression to a whole new level probably unseen since 1861.