STOCK FISH POLITICS

After the Nigerian civil war ended in 1970, those ‘three bloody years’ resulted in the death of more than a million people; most of who died from

hunger. There was a humanitarian crises on an alarming level and churches alongside donor agencies all over the world joined together to fly in emergency support materials to the country.

            Norway (one of the relatively poor European nations) decided to support in ending the hunger in Nigeria with fish because they believed this was the single weapon against kwashiorkor; the major problem affecting majority of Nigerians then. By the time the humanitarian crises ended and the emergency supplies stopped, Nigerians had already fallen in love with the type of fish that was given to them by Norway so much that they couldn’t do without it again hence they started importing it.

            Today, Nigeria is the single highest importer of Norwegian fish. That fish is popularly known in Nigeria as ‘stock fish’; a type of fish that is loved by almost every Nigerian today. In 2014 alone, Nigeria imported 9,000 tons of stock fish from Norway. But ironically, Nigeria contributed greatly in terms of military and technical support to help end civil wars in Liberia and Seri Leone without having any economic or political gain to show for her effort due to the short sightedness of our leaders.

            Nations don’t just play the role of a peace maker or big brother in vain; they do so to strengthen the economic and political muscle of their country. But unfortunately for us, Nigeria is like a peace maker with only injuries as her reward, a ‘big brother with wiser brothers’. When will Nigeria start benefit from her efforts in international politics, when will Nigeria start playing the ‘stock fish politics’?

Written by Justice .V. Agan

Justiceagan4@gmail.com