I begin by stating emphatically that Nigeria is just like the epicentre of the African continent in which events happening all across the black continent, reverberate in Nigeria with phenomenal dimension. First, Nigeria houses the largest black population globally and out of every 4 black people  one must of necessity be a Nigerian.

This was exactly so, in the last two days since King Charles III of United Kingdom commenced his first ever visit as the head of the commonwealth and head of state of the United kingdom since after he got elevated to that position with the passage of his mother –Queen Elizabeth II. His late mother it was, who reportedly gave Nigeria our flag of independence in 1960.

And, so, the news of the visit of the British Monarch to Kenya, in Eastern Africa, was heralded by conversations around the longstanding agitations by Kenyans, for official apologies from the British government over the role it played in Kenya just before that nation became a sovereignty from Great Britain in the early 60’s.

These conversations struck a chord with Nigeria, because just like Kenya, we also have our unfinished business, with some persons, unofficially, still expecting that Great Britain needs to pay Nigeria reparations for the nearly one hundred years of British colonialism over what the British named as Nigeria.

As I thought through what to write concerning this agenda for reparation from Britain, two thoughts flashed through my mind and symbolically, those thoughts were captured perfectly by one American diplomat and scholar Mr. Alan Greenspan and Nigeria’s current National Security Adviser Mr. Nuhu Ribadu.

I begin with what Nuhu Ribadu wrote in his autobiography titled “Ribadu: my story, my vision”.

These reflections by this erstwhile police officer, profoundly represented what I intended to say that during our early academic days in high school in the 1980s and the Universities in the early 1990s, heated intellectual conversations and debates reflecting a multiplicity of issues, occupied our attention.

One of these issues for conversations, was the validity of asking the British to pay Nigeria reparations for the colonial time’s oppressive policies and Human Rights violations. Remember, that in Aba of the 1930s, many women traders who protested the toxic taxation policies of the then draconian British colonialists, were killed, just for opposing higher taxes. Here is what Ribadu narrated in his very scanty book: “On reflection now, however, university life was for me one hell of a huge excitement. I recall with strained nostalgia how, those days at ABU, the campuses were infused with heated and regular exchanges in lecture, seminar, and conference halls about the meaning of a great society and the purpose of a better world.”

He continued: “For me and many of my colleagues, those serious investments that our teachers brought to the definition of youth life and the concrete elaboration of abstract values like honesty, justice, liberty and freedom, seemed so tasking and challenging but today we are all better off for it and are in better position to appreciate how these inputs have shaped our life and the values we took to the wide world of work and career”(My story; My Vision by Nuhu Ribadu).

The American technocrat wrote in his very elaborate and bulky book thus: “On the evening of February 17, 1993, I found myself in the uncomfortable glare of the TV lights at a joint session of Congress. sitting between Hillary Clinton and Tipper Gore. The front row of the gallery was not exactly where l’d expected to be for President Clinton’s first major congressional address.”

Greenspan stated further that: “I had assumed that my invitation to sit with the First Lady was a matter of courtesy and that I’d be at the back of the box with White House aides. I guess it was nice to know that the Federal Reserve was considered a valuable national asset after the some- what less than favorable embrace we’d gotten from President Bush, but obviously I’d been positioned up front for a political purpose. Mrs. Clinton was wearing a bright red suit, and as the president spoke, the cameras focused on us again and again.

“Clinton had outlined a broad, ambitious economic agenda during his campaign. He wanted to cut taxes on the middle class, halve the federal deficit, stimulate job growth, increase U.S. competitiveness through new education and training programs, invest in the nation’s infrastructure, and more. I had seen, and been part of, too many presidential campaigns. Candidates promised something for everybody. But I wondered what Clinton’s real priorities were. He must have been reading my mind; one of the first things he said was: “We need to set our economic priorities, and I’m interested in your outlook on the economy”. (The Age of Turbulence Adventures in a New World by Alan Greenspan)”

Just like Greenspan stated, Nigeria has yet to set her foreign policy agenda to incorporate the key issue of the desirability or otherwise of legally demanding for payments of reparations to Nigeria by Great Britain.  Nigerians, just like Kenyans, will like to know what exactly is the official policy on this critical issues. Kenyans asked and have received somewhat, measured, apologies from King Charles III.

On 31st October,  from Kenya, we read from their newspapers,  that, King Charles III  expressed “greatest sorrow and the deepest regret” for the “abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence” committed against Kenyans as they sought independence, during a speech on his first day of a four-day visit. But he didn’t explicitly apologize for Britain’s actions in its former colony, as many Kenyans wanted.

Charles at the state banquet hosted by Kenyan President William Ruto said there “can be no excuse” for the “wrongdoings of the past.” He said that addressing them with honesty and openness could “continue to build an ever closer bond in the years ahead.”

Kenya is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its independence this year. It and Britain have had a close but at times challenging relationship after the prolonged struggle against colonial rule, sometimes known as the Mau Mau Rebellion, in which thousands of Kenyans died.

Ruto told the banquet that Britain’s response to Kenya’s quest for self-rule was “monstrous in its cruelty.” Colonial authorities resorted to executions and detention without trial as they tried to put down the insurrection, and thousands of Kenyans said they were beaten and sexually assaulted by agents of the administration.

“While there have been efforts to atone for the death, injury and suffering inflicted on Kenyan Africans by the colonial government, much remains to be done in order to achieve full reparations,” Ruto said.

This is the king’s first state visit to a Commonwealth country as monarch. Buckingham Palace had said he would acknowledge the “painful aspects” of Britain and Kenya’s shared history while underscoring his commitment to an organization that’s been central to the U.K.’s global power since World War II.

The four-day visit is full of symbolism. Charles’ mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, learned that she had become the U.K. monarch while visiting a game preserve in the East African nation — at the time a British colony — in 1952.

The king and Queen Camilla touched down in the capital, Nairobi, late Monday. The king and Ruto on Tuesday visited a museum that showcased the events preceding Kenya’s independence and walked through the Tunnel of Martyrs, which memorializes Kenyans who have lost their lives in conflict.

Politician and human rights activist Koigi Wamwere told the AP that the king ought to apologize and offer full reparations for the two countries to move forward, saying that “Britain must undo as much as they can.”

Salim David Nganga, speaking at the capital’s Jevanjee Gardens, where colonial statues were brought down in 2020, said that “the king should never have been allowed to step in this country, considering the dark history of British colonialists.”

The king’s visit also reignited some tensions over land in parts of Kenya.

Joel Kimutai Kimetto, 74, said his grandfather and father were kicked out of their ancestral home by the British.

“What is most painful is that years after the brutalities and the stealing of our land, British companies are still in possession of our ancestral homes, earning millions from their comfortable headquarters in the U.K., while our people remain squatters,” he told the AP in a phone interview. “We ask President William Ruto and our leaders to use this golden opportunity to address our plight with the king.”

Elsewhere, a planned protest and press conference by victims of a fire at a conservancy in central Kenya that was allegedly started by British soldiers in training was canceled ahead of the king’s visit. The victims’ lawyer, Kelvin Kubai, told the AP they were informed that police had issued a cancellation notice. He said he found a heavy police presence around the hotel.

Another group of protesters briefly chanted anti-British songs and threw roses at the foot of a monument to Mau Mau veteran Dedan Kimathi in Nairobi’s central business district on Tuesday. Uniformed and plain-clothed police officers dispersed the group.

“Just because the king is in Kenya, police have denied us our constitutional right to protest peacefully,” Juliet Wanjira, one of the organizers, said.

Charles also plans to visit Nairobi National Park and meet with environmental activist Wanjira Mathai, the daughter of late Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai, as he emphasizes his commitment to environmental protection.

During his visit, Britain announced 4.5 million pounds ($5.5 million) in new funding to support education reforms in Kenya.

The royal family has long ties to Africa. In 1947, the future Queen Elizabeth II pledged lifelong service to Britain and the Commonwealth during a speech from South Africa on her 21st birthday. Five years later, she and her husband Prince Philip were visiting Aberdare National Park in Kenya when they learned that her father had died and she had become queen

Last year, when Queen Elizabeth II was reported sick, the debate about the role played by Britain in Nigeria came up. It began when a Nigerian born but United States based University teacher, made a very offensive statement about the then ailing monarch.

The Carnegie Mellon University, USA, had to even intervene by expressing strong reservations over the tweets by Uju Anya, a lecturer in its institution, over her remarks regarding Queen Elizabeth II of England.

Queen Elizabeth II died on within that week of the needless controversy. She was aged 96 and was the longest-serving British monarch at the time of her death.

Earlier on that Thursday that the erstwhile British Monarch passed on, Professor Anya, an associate professor of second language acquisition at Carnegie Mellon University, in a series of tweets, criticised the late monarch.

Before the monarch died, Anya had wished her “excruciating pain”.

The Nigerian-born academic had also accused Queen Elizabeth II of sponsoring the “genocide” that led to her family being displaced.

The professor, whose father is Igbo, did not explain the exact context of her comment regarding what she referred to as “sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family”

However, her tweets may not be unrelated to the Nigerian civil war of 1967 to 1970, which took place less than 10 years after Nigeria got its independence from Britain.

Anya’s tweets have received tens of thousands of mixed reactions.

The university, in reaction to the development, said although it believes in “free expression”, it does not condone the views expressed by the professor.

“We do not condone the offensive and objectionable messages posted by Uju Anya today on her personal social media account,” the post reads.

Free expression is core to the mission of higher education, however, the views she shared absolutely do not represent the values of the institution nor the standards of discourse we seek to foster.”

Meanwhile, among those who have reacted to the academic’s tweets is Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.

“This is someone supposedly working to make the world better? I don’t think so. Wow,” he wrote.

There will always be agitations for a decisive closure on Africa’s colonial past. There is the need for the African Union, ECOWAS and the Nigerian government,  to articulate an official agenda on what Nigeria expect from the British government for the century long brutalities suffered by our forefathers and our ancestors in the hands of very cruel colonial overlords.

EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO is head of the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) and former NATIONAL COMMISSIONER OF THE NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF NIGERIA.