There is something wonderful about finding out things one did not know about Afrika’s history. Gems like this fund that Nigeria created I only learnt about in January 2022. Imagine that. After all these years on earth, I had my childlike wonder moment when I heard about this great initiative. Yes, it is disappointing that I did not know about it sooner, because it means that this great piece of our history somehow slipped through the cracks and was obviously not given the prominence it has deserved by our governments or educational system. But now that I know about it, it has ignited a new spark of hope in my heart.
In March 1960, 69 black people were massacred in Sharpeville, South Africa, by the white apartheid police. That same year, Nigeria successfully liberated itself from a 160-year British occupation. The new Nigeria’s leaders’ reaction to the Sharpeville massacre has changed everything in South Africa from then on. Here is a letter Nigeria’s Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa sent to the African National Congress (ANC) militants on April 4, 1961.
Hundreds of South African students have benefitted from the fund’s activity, having come to study in Nigeria for free. Beyond welcoming students and exiles, Nigeria had also welcomed many renowned South Africans, like Thabo Mbeki (former South African president from 1999 to 2008). He had spent 7 years in Nigeria, from 1977 to 1984, before he left to the ANC headquarters in Lusaka, Zambia.
For South Africans, who could not travel abroad because the apartheid regime had withdrawn their passports, Nigeria’s government issued more than 300 passports. Along with fellow African countries, Nigeria lobbied for the creation of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid and chaired it for 30 years, longer than any other country. Between 1973 and 1978, Nigeria contributed $39,040 to the UN Educational and Training Programme for Southern Africa, a voluntary trust fund promoting education of the black South African elite.
As for trade, Nigeria had refused to sell oil to South Africa for decades in protest against the white minority rule. Nigeria had lost approximately $41 billion during that period. Above all, Nigeria was the only nation worldwide to set up the National Committee Against Apartheid (NACAP) as early as in 1960. The committee’s mission was to disseminate the evils of the apartheid regime to all Nigerians, from primary schools to universities, in public media and in markets, through posters and billboard messages. The NACAP was also responsible for the coordination of Nigeria’s government and civil society joint anti-apartheid actions and advising policymakers on anti-apartheid decisions.
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For over three decades, the NACAP had successfully built alliances with labour movements, student groups, progressive elements, and other international grassroots organisations within Nigeria for effective anti-apartheid activities. In fact, until the 1960s, the ANC fight against the apartheid regime in South Africa was yielding very small results. The whole world was quite indifferent to the suffering of the black South Africans. Moreover, western countries strongly supported the apartheid regime, providing it with technologies, intelligence, and favourable trade agreements. Things started changing dramatically only after African countries became independent in the 1960s.
Nigeria unequivocally took over leadership of the anti-apartheid movement worldwide. Despite the volatile nature of Nigeria’s politics and the passage of numerous military and civil leaders, Nigeria has never abandoned its unwavering commitment to the freedom of our brothers and sisters in South Africa. From 1960 to 1995, Nigeria has alone spent over $61 billion to support the end of apartheid, more than any other country in the world, according to the South African Institute of International Affairs.
The country has never let go of any opportunity to denounce apartheid, from the boycott of Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games to the nationalisation of British Petroleum assets in 1979.
Unfortunately, our brothers and sisters in South Africa have not been grateful to Nigeria. When Mandela passed away in 2013, Nigeria’s president was not even given the opportunity to speak. At the same time, the representatives of the US and the UK, two countries supporting the apartheid regime, were in the spotlight. Nigerians still need visas to travel to South Africa, while the French, who used to back the apartheid regime, can just buy a ticket and go wherever they want.
Maybe, apartheid has not yet ended in South Africa.”
It means that we are without excuse.
It means that you and I, my African brother and sister, must now sit down together at our communal table and plan together all the beautiful things that we have dreamed and envisioned for our Africa to rise up and become all that she can be!
The fund reached U.S.$10.5 million.”
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