Winds of Change in Africa too: A sign that Satyuga has begun

[Guest guest]

Hello All,

 

Shri Mataji has said in her numerous speeches about advent of

Satyuga. There have been quite numerous developments in the world

that indicate the same. The advent of Satyuga marks a quantum jump

in the consciousness of mankind and it manifests itself in our

political, economic, social and moral systems.

 

This year especially has brought us extremely good news from two of

the most troubled regions in the world today: Middle east and Africa.

 

Here is a story on Africa

 

For more than 40 years, the epitome of wasted potential and

squandered opportunity in Africa has been Nigeria. From the time it

gained independence from Britain in 1960, that behemoth of 137

million people has seemed to do its level best to fritter away every

natural advantage. Given the second-highest proven oil reserves in

Africa, Nigerian officials spent oil income on lavish estates in

Europe instead of decent schools and water systems back home. The

country that produced the Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and arguably

Africa's best author, Chinua Achebe, was better known for the cruel,

thieving dictator Sani Abacha.

 

Now, " Nigeria is changing, " says Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the country's

finance minister. She suggested thinking of America and the West as

the parent and Nigeria as the child: " If your child has been doing

bad things - drug abuse or alcohol - and they come to you and

say, 'My mother, I want to change; please help me,' would you

say, 'No'? Would you say, 'You are hopeless; you can't change'? "

 

It's a tough question for anyone who has ever been assaulted at the

airport in Lagos just trying to enter Nigeria, or hit up for a bribe

by Nigerian government officials, or struck dumb at the sight of

orphaned children drinking dirty water on the street. But if America

and the developed world are serious about their stated intent to

tackle poverty, most of which is in Africa, then they cannot ignore

the home of 20 percent of sub-Saharan Africa's people.

 

Hard as it is to believe, there are hopeful signs in Nigeria. The

Nigerians, through two, albeit flawed, democratic elections, have

given themselves a reformist government with the right intentions.

President Olusegun Obasanjo has taken up the mantle of

anticorruption - or, at least, slightly reduced corruption. He

established an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, whose

chairman, Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu, at risk to his life, has been

terrifying current and former officials with his investigations.

Already, two rear admirals have been convicted of helping to steal

11,000 barrels of oil. Some 130 customs officials have been fired.

 

Bunkering, the quaint term Nigerians use to describe outright

stealing of crude oil by members of the armed forces or the

government, has been reduced to a mere 20,000 barrels a day from

100,000 barrels a day, according to Dr. Okonjo-Iweala. And finally -

this should please all of us who have received e-mail supposedly

from Idi Amin's son or Charles Taylor's wife offering untold riches

if we'd only provide our checking account numbers - three purported

e-mail crime leaders have been arrested.

 

Beyond the fight against corruption, Nigeria has made huge strides

in promoting regional security. Nigerian peacekeepers are in

Liberia, Sudan and Sierra Leone. Last month, when Togo installed the

son of the country's longtime strongman as president, it was

Nigeria's Mr. Obasanjo who led the fight that ultimately forced

Faure Gnassingbé to step down. We can't help but notice the

difference between Mr. Obasanjo and the leader of black Africa's

other regional power, South Africa. Thabo Mbeki has largely thrown

up his hands in the struggle to force Zimbabwe to hold honest

elections that could rid it of the odious despot Robert Mugabe.

 

What's missing is for America to take Nigeria more seriously, to do

much more than simply treat the country as a gas station. The United

States has made some strides with H.I.V.-AIDS treatment in Nigeria,

but that should be expanded to include prevention as well. The

country isn't anywhere close to qualifying for aid under President

Bush's Millennium Challenge Account, which ties money to good

governance. But that approach, while worthy, condemns the 80 million

Nigerians who subsist on barely anything. America should supplement

the Challenge Account program with something that encourages

countries like Nigeria to press ahead with reforms, and find ways -

perhaps through private aid groups - to funnel money to the

desperately poor. Nigeria is too big to ignore. If it doesn't

succeed, it's hard to imagine that the rest of Africa has much of a

chance.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/07/opinion/07mon1.html

 

 

 

We can only but request the adishakti to give us strength to spread

Sahaja Yoga in these areas.

 

 

Good luck to us all

 

Jai Shri Mataji!!

 

anuj