HOW CHEAP IS LIFE IN AFRICA?
A friend of
mine once said to me that life is cheap in Africa but even cheaper in West
Africa.
My initial
reaction then was to protest and tell him that it was yet again another western
bias to looking at things where Africa is involved.
Strangely,
he only smiled and reacted differently. He said he would prove it to me and he
went ahead to enumerate the many plane crashes and road accidents, which occur
in these parts of the world (of course just like it is the case in some other
parts of the world). However, he was quick to add that even a bicycle accident
stood a 100% chance of being investigated, documented and results of the
finding to be used in a way that it helps forestall future occurrences.
What ever
your opinion and reactions to that position put forward by my western
journalist friend is, I will like to know. But then, wait a minute, lets review
an item in the news from day before yesterday.
Am talking
about the case of a boat which left Oron in south south Nigeria and headed for Equatorial
Guinea until it capsized killing a majority of the over one hundred passengers
on board.
According to the BBC online, “Twenty-nine people have been rescued
after a boat carrying about 130 people from Nigeria to Gabon sank, rescue officials
say”.
The
report went further to state that “ the vessel was initially said to have been
carrying 160 people but officials say the real number was slightly lower”. I
then ask, was this some sort of budget Boeing 737 or Airbus on water? That many
people without emphasis on safety?
In
some parts of the world, that is actually the population of an entire town ya
know!
Then
comes the even more infuriating thing, “There are unconfirmed reports that some
of those on board were illegal migrants looking for work in oil-rich Gabon”.
Leaving a more oil rich Nigeria to seek greener pastures in oil rich Gabon?
What a distasteful irony!
Before
heading up to do a radio show about this topic, I sat and pondered a few
questions;
1.
Did that
boat sail through legal areas?
2.
Why did
anyone allow it sail without life jackets for everyone on board?
3.
What exactly
is it that attracts Africans especially west Africans to other nations in
Africa even when it is clear that should they put in similar efforts in their
home cities they are likely to do well?
I guess
should I be able to find the real answers to the questions, I might as
well be on the way to being that
somewhat “phantom” king of Africa (Lol).
