When the healthy people are labeled as sick by the deluded ones, we can’t simply sit back and let their chaos erode sanity and decency in our world. — Yahaya Balogun. 

Neo-colonialism is more evil than colonialism. Neo-colonialism has penetrated deeper into the mental palace and consciousness of Africans. —Yahaya Balogun.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa is a book authored by Walter Rodney. It is a concise book that chronologically exposes the hypocrisy of the brutish British and their co-defilers of Africa. Walter Rodney’s timeless book unveils the unsettling truths of today’s African world.

Some of the looted and stolen African cultural artifacts were recently discovered in one of the British universities. The newly “born-again” citadel of learning, the University of Aberdeen, was explicitly one of these “fantastically corrupt” imperial universities in Great Britain and the European Union. A panel of experts at the University of Aberdeen unanimously recommended returning the priceless Nigerian artifacts that were looted and stolen (not collections, as embellished by the British media) from Benin City in 1897 by British soldiers.

The soon-to-be repatriated Nigerian bronze depicts our grand Oba (King) of Benin. According to BBC News, this Benin antique was acquired by the University of Aberdeen at an auction in 1957. It’s sadly bittersweet and heartwarming that moral history is unfolding in this prestigious university.

It’s exciting and pertinent to note that the assemblage of plant species nurtures fertile African grounds. The grounds provide the world with nourishing foods in the lands watered by tropical rainfall. Africa was a continent naturally situated in lush green vegetation.

The landscapes of Africa provided the much-needed spaces and tranquility the continent of Africa deserved. Africa was the cradle of civilisation. But the colonial masters came and bastardised our beautiful cultural inheritance.

Meanwhile, continental Africa was a beautiful regional geopolitical climate with the convergence of ideas brilliantly nestled in our delightful cultural estate sophistication. Africa’s cultural renaissance rests on the way forward. We must begin reviving our art and literature under the influence of classical models to reorder our cultural values.

Africa is currently under the tutelage of neocolonialism – a distorted and infused cultural identity. Our continent was raped and defiled by the European imperial manipulators, the imperialists we ignorantly presumed brought uncanny and unsettling civilisation to Africa—the relish we all glorify today.

European imperialists bequeathed us a neocolonial legacy—a relentless force erasing African cultural identity and heritage. This insidious machine thrives on manipulation, distorting minds through the icy grip of imperialist ideologies. Despite their education, it’s startling to witness scholars and professors falling prey to the fallacy of religious miracles over the tenets of medical science.

The ancient times of Africa recorded the best human and natural endowments and development. Still, the brutish British came to Africa through an immoral expedition to defile African well-rounded, rustic, and well-organised cultural representations. The British expeditionists saw the overflow of African resources.

They returned to the House of Lords to brief and inform the House members about exploring African natural resources through colonialism. The periods of African usurpation by the British were the dark periods of human history. African cultural heritage was ravished. Our Kings, Queens, and Kingdoms were subjects of tricks, assaults, abuses, and inferiority complexes.

The colonial masters made a harmless incursion into the traditional African administration. For their administrative convenience, they indirectly governed Africa through what is now known as “indirect rule.” Colonial periods in Africa were the most reprehensible periods in the history of humankind.

The colonial period’s institutionalisation of gullibility, hypocrisy, bigotry, and religious dogmatism persist. We continue to carry the cross of imperialism to this day through religion, political assemblies, and the denigration and disinformation of African cultures and socio-cultural heritage.

The British imperialists promoted their superiority complex in faith, making African cultures and religions sacrilegiously taboo. The British imperialists organised local and assimilated government systems to upend the organised African traditions and their beautiful system of government.

Contentiously, the evil empire and the British axis of imperialism have become subjects of conversation worldwide. After Africa’s independence from the colonialists, it attempted to reconstruct its defiled heritage and moral structures. The British empire and imperialists believed that if Africa were entirely independent, liberated, and free from colonialism, it would lead to a socioeconomic disaster for Europe and its Western allies. The British devised a means of recolonising Africa – this time, it would be through neo-colonialism.

As I have said in my recent article, “Neo-colonialism is eviler than colonialism. Neo-colonialism has penetrated deeper into the mental palace and consciousness of Africans.” African leaders have perpetuated Africa’s neocolonialism and the aftermath of all the evil eras of imperialism.

Furthermore, the lower level of emotion cunningly fostered in Africa provides: (i) An enhanced chronic and deliberate ignorance, (ii)Deliberate indifference and (iii)Joyful arrogance among our people.
It is important to note that the susceptibility of the African people has absorbed European ways of life, with imperial recipes garnished with ignorance, religious profiteering through “In God’s Name PLC,” and political opportunism. The African people are currently relishing the above nuances and the cobwebs of neocolonialism.

Charting a new path forward
Now is the moment to revive and reshape African value systems. We must join forces with the dedicated scholars at the University of Aberdeen to reclaim our looted and stolen artifacts scattered across Europe.

As Professor George Boyne, the University’s Principal, remarked, holding onto culturally significant items acquired through unethical means is unjust. The University’s advocacy for the repatriation of the invaluable Benin bronzes marks a pivotal step forward:

Africans must shed their mental shackles and embrace the richness of their lost cultural identity.

A deep reflection on the past is needed, empowering ourselves to redefine our values and spark a cultural renaissance.

It’s essential to dismantle feelings of inferiority and cultivate a sense of confidence within the global community.

We must hold today’s remorseful British leaders accountable for reparations owed for past injustices.

Collaborative efforts with enlightened British scholars and advocates are crucial for the return of our precious antiquities.

Once regarded as noble custodians, former British imperialists are now seen as glorified thieves, having stripped Africa of its intellectual and cultural treasures while distorting our values and sentencing us to a legacy of confusion and ignorance.

Africa deserves to reclaim its status as a cradle of civilisation and moral virtue. Before the onset of imperialism, Africa thrived as a beacon of cultural renaissance.

To restore her dignity and revive her historical glory, we must rise from the shadows of colonialism.

Balogun wrote from Arizona, United States of America.