A clip from a UK TalkTV discussion on Nigeria’s economic situation has gone viral after it appeared earlier this month.
Host Alex Phillips was talking to anti-immigrant hack Isabel Oakeshott, a former political editor at the UK’s Sunday Times, about a potential refugee crisis in Nigeria and the likelihood of many Nigerians seeking refuge in the UK. While the opinions of both women with fascistic leanings should be taken with a large dose of salt, Oakeshott’s partner is Richard Tice an MP and former leader of the anti-immigration Reform Party, the truth in what Oakeshott said can’t be dismissed.
She said Nigeria was “on the brink of economic meltdown” and that’s not in doubt. The argument that a further worsening of the situation could lead to many Nigerians heading to the UK as genuine refugees is tenuous at best. The worsening economic situation has already accelerated the brain drain out of Nigeria, for sure. What this has meant is the Nigerians with the means, usually middle class professionals, have left the country for better climes, including the UK. Their departure (japa) has usually been via immigration routes open to professionals and postgrad students. These are precisely the type of immigrants that the British economy is desperate for.
When things go disastrously pear-shaped in Nigeria, assuming it hasn’t already, the majority of those affected are more likely to head to other parts of Nigeria or to neighbouring countries because a plane ticket out of Nigeria is beyond the reach of most.
Phillips exposed her ignorance by claiming that Tory Party leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch was “Nigerian by birth”. She was born in Wimbledon, South London to Nigerian parents. She is British by birth and Nigerian by heritage. But Oakeshott was on the money with the claim that Tinubu has presided over making things worse and he has been “an absolute disaster”. Very few Nigerians would argue with that assessment.
While she was right that removing the fuel subsidy without a “safety net” for those impacted the most was a terrible move, Oakeshott was hardly an expert on the subject of how these policies are affecting Nigerians and was not convincing about the potential impact in terms of migration to the UK, or when she said Nigerians can’t afford “heating and light”. Heating is the least of the worries of the people of a hot tropical country. The discussion would have benefited from a Nigerian perspective. The absence of genuine experts on the programme is hardly surprising as TalkTV, owned by Rupert Murdoch, has been losing money for the owner, leading to the axing of about two-thirds of staff.
Oakeshott strayed into asking about the options around the replacement of Tinubu. As long as he stays alive, he has three years left of his current term and is guaranteed to return for a second term in 2027 by means not fair. This is why there is no shortage of Nigerians wishing for the military to intervene like they have done in the West African states of Niger, Mali, Burkina Fao and Guinea.
