Don insists Nigeria must support the Caribbean
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said yesterday that issues relating to reparations for slavery can only be delayed and not denied.
The vice president, who was the guest of honour at the inaugural JF Ade Ajayi Memorial Lecture organised by Jadeas Trust in collaboration with the University of Lagos (UNILAG), said any just or righteous course, no matter how frequently ignored, would find fulfillment someday.
“I’m unable to take position for the nation, but note that the request for reparations for slavery over the generations is one that is just and righteous and I strongly believe that the conversation on it has not ended, and struggle certainly hasn’t ended,” Osinbajo said.
Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, Jamaica and Chairman of the Caribbean Community Commission on Reparation and Social Justice, Prof Hilary Beckles expressed displeasure on the refusal of African leaders to support their request for apology from the European government regarding crimes of the transatlantic slave trade.
Beckles, in his emotion-laden lecture titled “History and the Pan African Nations,” noted that the refusal to support the struggle was in bad faith and detrimental to the future of Africa.
According to the don, “Shockingly, our African government did not stand with us; it was very painful, that as we sought to lay the foundation for our future relationships, that the government in Nigeria, our largest government did not stand with us. The then Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo did say to me ‘we cannot support Caribbean on this.’ It was indeed painful. The language at Durban is that something awful has taken place.
He continued, “The Caribbean taught that we have stood by Africa through its difficult years and struggle for independence, we raised millions of dollars to support African liberation. We have given our intellectual support and life to Africa.
“We were therefore disturbed that when we were demanding an apology from the European government, we did not get support. That remains a wound that will not heal. We believe in the Caribbean that Nigeria especially, must rise to this occasion and support the Caribbean.”
He said Nigeria, as the motherland, must behave like a mother, since mothers do not turn their back on their children but rather take ownership.
He said, “African scholars and scholars in the Caribbean, have converged around the concept of global Africa and the concept of reparatory justice as a theme for the future. The issue of reparatory justice emerges out of history as the most compelling logical step for all of us in the next 10 or 15 years.”
