If I were a Briton, I will be Hostile to You too

Sometime few months back, I chatted with a friend Elaine SWilson on Facebook or should I say argued with her. She is a British citizen residing in the UK and our conversation was brutally plain. She could not comprehend, alongside other British nationals, why nationals from other country (apparently third world countries) would want to come to the UK for greener pasture.

Yesterday on CNN, I saw an exclusive documentary on the dangerous high sea illegal crossing from Africa to Europe and I just knew that I had to talk about this. Here I am (dozing)

At first I thought she was being unreasonable and unnecessarily rude, Elaine Wilson that is, because she went on and on about the need for people to stay in their country and not cross borders ‘illegally’ only to stress the now dwindling economy that is not even enough to cater for ‘legal’ citizens. She was angry at a particular Nigerian who wants asylum in the UK because she crossed the borders illegally, gave birth to her child and refused to go back home.

Because of the constituted apparatus in place that caters for citizens in the UK, as other developed countries, citizens enjoy quality services like subsidized health care, transportation, employment, social utilities and a host of other stuff, really good stuff.

Some Nigerians deliberately marry not for love but for green or red card as the case may be (at the registry during my court wedding, I counted 6 Nigerian guys marrying white ladies) and they travel abroad just to give birth to their babies and as such ‘secure’ safe future for their offspring. The question is ‘WHY’?

You see recently, a lot of westerners are agitated and are agitating for mass deportation of illegal citizens while the government is trying to find palliatives that can ‘humanely’ solve the increasing crisis. With the rate of illegal crossing of borders in search of lands greener on the other side, it is more of shame for African states and leaders that have continually impoverish their citizenry through deeply rooted corruption, anti citizen agendas and systemic disenfranchisement.

Gone were the days when America and Europe can accommodate illegal citizens and cater for them without problems. In fact, according to research such ‘illegality’ helps a booming economy to further thrive. (Don’t ask me where I got the info; it is a story for another day).

However, after the economy nosedived in 2008 and nations went to war, the national treasury is no more as robust as it used to be and after 6 years of trying to jump start it, it seems not to be ‘jump starting’.

Little history:

In 1993, after the Bush’s (Snr) war in the pacific East, America ran into deficit of about $356 billion dollars and immediately BillClinton took office in ’92, he was able to garner the economy back to its original robust shape. In 1998, he got the economy flying again and he recorded $87.9 billion surplus. The following year it got even better with $157 billion surplus.

Since Obama took office in 2008, ironically after Bush (Jnr) wars in the pacific East, he has not been able to ‘jump start’ the economy despite all his ‘stimulus’ package. He hit the water mark $1.28 trillion deficit and got the whole nation buzzing. He is fast in hinging his massive failure either on Wall Street, GOP’s or Anti-Obama care sympathizers.

That’s not the story for this article, American politics that is, but I had to quickly make reference to it because my point will be made from it.

If the economy hasn't recovered but rather gotten even worse (estimated deficit for 2016 is $-475 billion), this means unemployment will be on the rise. Government budgetary stance for social welfare and public infrastructure will be unavailable. All the facet of the society will be adversely affected and this will tell on how government will respond to her people’s need, aspiration and future plans.

If I were a Briton (or American or any part of the developed country), trust me, I will be hostile to everyone whose ‘illegal’ presence in my country is causing my government headache, unwanted stress on limited resources and ‘avoidable’ troubles.

See what Bloomberg News; a UK online publication says just 22 hours ago with headline “U.K. Economy Sinks at the Checkout Line”. “Low wages and so-called flexible working contracts make it hard for workers to feel they're sharing in the economic recovery, undermining consumer confidence”

To further add salt upon injury, it came out with this graph.

So my point exactly? Nigerian government (and other African states) should take the initiative to better the lot of her citizens (as if we have not said that a gazzilion time) and stop turning their citizens (us) into a second class citizen in another man’s well planned out country.

This reminds me of Wole Soyinka’s poem, ‘The Telephone Conversation’. I got to go, I need to find that poem and sink my teeth in it.