Comments on naijablog: On ethics

As a techi most of this stuff is way over my head ...

2007-06-11T13:12:00.000+01:00

As a techi most of this stuff is way over my head however, I most say I disagree with you over this, IMO false distinction between intellectual and economic returnee's
Human being have emotional as well as economic motivations for all their actions, while the balance differs depending on the situation, you seem to give this impression of some mythical intellectual class that doesn't stoop to economic activities, bottom line is that for people moving back home there are multiple drivers economic intellectual, emotional etc.

Fred - as usual I can scarcely take your comment s...

2007-06-09T18:10:00.000+01:00

Fred - as usual I can scarcely take your comment seriously.

Olodo, in contrast - thanks for that excellent response and challenge to my arguments. Its difficult to cover all the issues involved in a blog - my last paragraph alone really needs at least a few pages. I think this accounts for many aspects of your challenge - ellipses in my argument. That said:

1. Not sure what the 'whopping falsehood' you accuse me of (thanks for the comparison to an evangelical pastor - I guess you knew I'd appreciate that!!)

I think what you finding false in my argument is the ethical imperative I am projecting onto diasporic Nigerians. You want to know as an example why I don't express more ethical solidarity with poor Northern English whites. You want me to be less prescriptive of other people's ethical engagements.

These are all good points. There needs to be a kind of ethical pluralism at work, in order for all imbalances and injustices in the world to be uncovered. There's no reason why ethics has to be always channeled in nationalist terms.

But none of this is an argument against the legitimacy of making specific ethical prescriptions or injunctions. Just as elsewhere, there is a kind of marketplace of ethical ideas, with different causes competing for attention with each other. It behoves each of those espousing an ethical cause to make prescriptions - in the form of appeals - to those who have the ears to listen. And one valid form of 'ethical marketing' is provocation: asking the question - why are you not doing more? We all need this question pushed in our face from time to time.

That said, there are communities of shared concern and involvement which do tend to create frames of reference that are based around and within nation-states - where ethics and community meet. In this context, I am not saying that diasporic Nigerians should necessarily engage ethically with Nigeria as a whole. Ethical solidarity - I like that phrase by the way - is more often more specific and localised than remaining focused on the abstraction that is national identiy. If the UK was going through a tough time, my particular spheres of interest (either as an expat or living back home) may well be more localised than even a region - such as the north of England. I certainly would feel a sense of obligation to do what I could at the level of locality that I would be comfortable defining within the abstraction that is the UK.

In the same way, one excellent way in which Nigeria can develop is if diasporic Nigerians with the same regional/localised affiliation group together on development initiatives. Collaboration is the name of the game - with more long term sustainable outputs than simply sending stop-gap remittances.

There are signs that social development networks are increasing in capacity and effectiveness in the diaspora. Doctors are organising month-long working holidays, entrepreneurs are looking at moving back home and setting up businesses, expat ethnic-groups are clubbing together to send medical supplies back home etc etc. But these actions tend to be uncoordinated, and often quite piecemeal and rarely have sustainable impact, given the low absorbative capacity on the ground.

But at least there are signs of progress from the diaspora on these fronts.

What has not happened yet is any sustained intellectual engagement - Chimamanda is the noteable exception of an intellectual (rather than economic) returnee. A society without an intellectual class (the intelligentsia) is a society prone to be run by brainless thugs. The new administration must embrace new thinking, encourage the setting up of think tanks and research agencies doing fresh contemporary research - instead of relying on the triumph of ego over process. At the same time, work must be done to make the leading universities better candidates for partnership programmes with university departments elsewhere in the world (for two-way research trips, shared resources etc). At the moment, the state of Nigerian universities are such that almost any linkage programme of this kind is inconceivable.

2007-06-09T18:07:00.000+01:00

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Jeremy:As you sat there, effetely typing this trea...

2007-06-09T15:11:00.000+01:00

Jeremy:

As you sat there, effetely typing this treatise away at your keyboard, did the thought ever occur, "wow, I'm so fucking cool?" Because if it didn't, it should.

I think you want diasporic Nigerians to be respo...

2007-06-09T14:35:00.000+01:00

I think you *want* diasporic Nigerians to be responsible towards Nigeria, and have set up an elaborate system to justify it. All it is, really, is that Nigeria interests *you* and you want it to be true of others.

But if you consider the full implications of your penultimate sentence (a sentence I agree with), you'll see that nationalist loyalties of the "I must serve Nigeria" kind are a weak interpretation of the ethical impulse. Indeed, your entire ethics set-up--deriving ought from is--is an intriguing and persuasive one. But, like one of those television pastors, you follow a series of true statements with a whopping falsehood.

The question could be asked, for example, what you're doing on behalf of poor Northern English whites. Where's your sense of ethical solidarity with the *practical* needs of the inhabitants of Wigan, Manchester, Leeds.

It comes down to this: you have chosen your "spheres of interest and involvement." That is to be respected. It is your right. Now extend that right to others, without seeking to impose ethical imperatives on them. If a Nigerian decides that his ethical responsibility is to Cambodian millworkers in San Francisco, it's frankly none of your business.

This is a really important point, because at the moment, we are facing an unfortunate resurgence in the idea that any eloquent black speaks for all blacks, as if individual choice were the preserve of whitey.

(Think for example of the representative terms in which Chimamanda's Orange win have been framed. It would be unthinkable to speak in such generalities if Anne Tyler had won.)

Comments on naijablog: On ethics

As a techi most of this stuff is way over my head ...

Fred - as usual I can scarcely take your comment s...

Jeremy:As you sat there, effetely typing this trea...

I think you *want* diasporic Nigerians to be respo...

I think you want diasporic Nigerians to be respo...