West Africa: The Land Where Greed Runs Deep

- by Keith Carey

In 1991, I found myself in a South African "homeland" being lectured by a Black African about the evils of apartheid. Much that he said was true. Yet I could not get him to see that the problem was not the sins of White people, but the sins of the human race. I could have sarcastically blamed him for the Watts riots in my country, or presented a list of wrongs that Black Africans commit against one another. Instead, I read him the verse from Romans 3:23, NIV, "...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..."

Exploitation and greed are difficult subjects to discuss in an honest way. We naturally want to excuse our own sins and focus on the sins of others. It's hard to say this when I live in a country that consumes one-fourth of the world's resources. Perhaps we should someday do an issue on greed in the United States. But for this month, we will focus on West Africa.

Greed and the Slave Trade
As we look at how the idolatrous sin of greed has ruined many lives in West Africa, there is plenty of blame to go around. Today greed is obvious when one looks at the misappropriation of oil wealth in Nigeria or the way the diamond trade is conducted in Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia. But we can look back a couple of centuries to the slave trade and the colonialism forced on this region by the "Christian" West.

Though the Europeans did not acquire all of their slaves from West Africa, this is where most of them originated. Senegal, Gambia, Ghana, and southern Nigeria are where Africans were once robbed of their freedom. Strong tribes such as the Ashantis and the Mandinkas conquered and captured members of weaker tribes, then sold them to the Europeans.

Though Muslim Arabs had started the slave trade earlier in East Africa, it was the Portuguese who began this infamous trade in the western part of the continent. By the beginning of the 15th Century, Portugal was not that much more prosperous than the African nations they soon exploited, according to a report by "BBC News." In the late 1400s, the Portuguese began to excel in navigation, allowing them to build a colonial empire. Slaves were an important part of their trade. Later the British and the French entered into the slave trade.

"The transatlantic slave trade radically impaired Africa's potential to develop economically and maintain its social and political stability," according to "The European Legacy," Vol 11, issue 6, October 2006. The document went on to explain, "The arrival of Europeans on the West African coast and the establishment of slave ports in various parts of the continent triggered a continuous process of exploitation of Africa's human resources, labor and commodities. This exploitative commerce influenced the African political and religious aristocracies, the warrior classes and the biracial elite, who made small gains from the slave trade, to participate in the oppression of their own people. The Europeans, on the other hand, greatly benefited from the Atlantic trade, since it allowed them to amass the raw materials that fed the Industrial Revolution..."

There were many Europeans, most notably Christians, who opposed this barbarous trade. According to an article by Dr. Sas Conradie printed in "Momentum" Magazine (www.momentum-mag.org), David Livingstone had a vision for Africa that he hoped would eliminate the slave trade entirely. He noted that there needed to be a change in heart among the African leaders who captured and sent people to a life of slavery. This change of heart would only come from obedience to Christ. Secondly, the Africans needed to develop their own commercial interests. For example, they could develop a cotton industry, and trade it to the Europeans for European goods. This would undercut and end the slave trade, leaving the possibility of the growth of Christianity and the development of a more prosperous African society. Thirdly, Livingstone envisioned a better "civilization" in Africa based on Christian principles. He wrongly became the "patron saint" of liberal imperialism, and his ideas were used by the British Empire to justify their colonial efforts. Though the slave trade evaporated, Africa was carved up by colonial powers in the 19th Century, and exploitation continued till the end of the colonial era.

Today's West Africa
Today, slavery is making a comeback in Africa, though the trade is mostly controlled by Africans. In Mauritania, Black Moors are held in virtual slavery by the more powerful White Moors. A September 21, 2006 article published by Nigeria's "Stop Demand" says, "Human trafficking remains an intractable problem in Nigeria and West Africa. It is believed to be a modern-day slavery occasioned by greed, poverty and poor legislation, with the victims predominantly children, girls and women."

Whatever is of value can be used or abused by those who control them. In Cote d'Ivoire, diamonds are being sold by rebel groups to fund their efforts. According to a May 11, 2007 article by Associated Press writer, Aron Heller, the diamond industry is in the process of trying to minimize the purchase of diamonds from rebel groups. World Diamond Council chairperson Eli Izakoff said "conflict" diamonds now account for 0.2 percent of the world's diamond production. In 1999, they accounted for twice that amount.

Nigeria is a West African country noted both for her rich oil deposits and for her corruption. Nigeria is the world's sixth largest oil producer. The Niger Delta lies in southern Nigeria, where there is a Christian majority. The oil wealth in that region could easily provide a good infrastructure, but instead the roads are riddled with potholes, schools and hospitals are few, and the common people live without electricity or potable water, according to a May 4th, 2007 article in the "Christian Science Monitor." People from outside the region hoard the oil wealth. Instead of enjoying unprecedented wealth, the people of Nigeria are enduring more rebellion and corruption. The "have nots" often siphon petroleum from oil pipes and take the black gold to waiting ships. To do this requires speed boats and machine guns. Sometimes the oil is exchanged directly for weapons. Others kidnap oil workers or the children of those who control the oil to get ransom money. It's no wonder that one article written by Nigerian Chido Nwangwu carries the headline, "Oil in Nigeria: Liquid God or Petro-Dollars Curse?"

The Potential
It would be easy to become discouraged with the situation in Nigeria. But there is another side to this country of 140 million souls and nearly 500 people groups. In many ways, Nigerians are probably the most aggressive people in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to an article by Justin Long in "Momentum" magazine, for every missionary who enters Nigeria, five nationals are going out as missionaries to other fields. The believers in that country have established the Nigerian Evangelical Missions Association (NEMA) to "provide a sustainable common front for all agencies to carry on missionary work in cooperation with the Nigerian Church." NEMA facilitates partnerships, equips mission agencies with needed tools, conducts research on mission efforts in various parts of the world, and assists with leadership training and strategy planning. They offer the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course to give direction to potential missionaries. The Ghanaians have a similar organization in their country (See days 8 and 19).

The Church in Africa is very strong in the areas of prayer and worship. It was the African believers who brought us the Global Day of Prayer which has caught on around the world.

Like the Church in any part of the world, believers in West Africa have the option to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit or to be drawn away by unbiblical teachings. African believers often trust the spirits of their ancestors and other false deities to provide for their daily needs. Animistic practices, simply put, are efforts to gain what one wants by bargaining with the spirit world. Those who no longer practice Animism may fall for the so-called "health and wealth" gospel. This poison from the United States has become very popular in Africa, according to an article in the July, 2007 issue of "Christianity Today."

The Church in West Africa will continue to face both new opportunities to serve the Lord, and new ways to abuse the gospel. This month we must pray that the Lord will reign victorious in the hearts of His children in West Africa.