Nigerian milk in British tea -By J. Ezike

J. Ezike

On the strength of what we were made to believe about the BBC IGBO network, it was launched to make the indigenous language of the Igbo people accessible to a global audience and as part of the language learning solution to families and schools around the world. Sounds very noble, right?

Well, many Igbo thinkers have noted that the first symptom of this British ploy was its imperial purpose. Which brings me to these questions: what useful “purpose” will the BBC IGBO network serve to the Old Eastern region, especially at a time when the region is clamoring for an outright exit from the British contraption? How will the BBC IGBO network affect other tribes of the Biafran divide? In whose interest is the BBC IGBO network serving?

I ask these thoughtful questions because I am aware, like millions of others, that the BBC in its natural and undiluted form is a grand media weapon for the Nigerian Government. As an extension of the entire body that protects and perpetuates British interests, the BBC works in favor of its brain child – Nigeria. They feed each other, except that, it is a one sided symbiotic relationship where one party greatly benefits from the marriage. In fairness, the British-Nigerian colonial alliance borders largely on commensalism and parasitism. To be more elaborate, Britain benefits from the oil of the Southern protectorate, whereas the Fulani bourgeois benefits from the partial hegemony ceded by Britain to the Northern protectorate over the rest of Nigeria who bear the burden as the host to the parasite. Little wonder we have continued to witness symbiosis in action since the birth of this country’s independence.

Yes, the BBC has a genius for “Mass Media Mind Control.” And in its desperate bid to oxygenate the dying status-quo that ensures the continuous flow of “Nigerian milk” in “British tea” it is apt to gear its press coverage towards brainwashing, dividing and manipulating the Igbo and other tribes of the Biafran divide.

On a deeper understanding: it is the “Nigerian milk” that inspired the establishment of the BBC IGBO network to keep the “British tea” creamy for as long as possible. There is no genius to this deduction. It is public knowledge. Is just that those who are conscious seem not to talk and those who don’t are dancing awilo and celebrating the prolongation of their misery and servitude.

And so those thinkers peopling the Old Eastern region, those who know what the BBC IGBO network stands for, and what Britain and Nigeria stand to gain in this pretentious induction are deconstructing the myth sold to the public domain.

We understand the joker here. But we are not falling for the cheap stunt. The BBC may choose to entertain Ndi-Igbo with their recent launch of “BBC IGBO network” but we are not entertained. Not at all.

Certainly, the move appears genuine when seen through the prism of ignorance. And it is necessary to state that the BBC, in truth, does not have the interest of Biafra at heart. And the message is clearly stated in its body language. The point is that, the BBC IGBO network is honorific slave gift concocted to attract the applause and cooperation of the supposed “cash cows” in the Old Eastern region. And we seem to mistake this imperial initiative for media excellence.

Those who are familiar with the Nigeria-Biafra war of 1967-1970 are aware of the villainous role demonstrated by the BBC against the Igbo people, their complicity in the genocide of that bloody era. Perhaps to save its face, the BBC decided to initiate a romance with their victims, perhaps to appease them with an Igbo version of their international media network. Perhaps, this gesture is a special encouragement for espousing “One Nigeria.” Perhaps, it is their idea of giving the Igbo a sense of belonging in this Master-Servant affair. Perhaps, it is part of the talk about giving Nigeria a new structure. Perhaps it is an intervention in the matter of restructuring and reconfiguring the malformed union as recently proposed by APC. In fact there are many insinuations as there are ploys leaving many dull-heads with the impression that the Igbo language would, through the BBC, gain global acceptance, appraisal and approval.

For me, the move appears crafted by political necessity for an uninterrupted hegemonic control over the Old Eastern region that constitutes the indigenous people of Biafra. Thus, the cheering disposition of the BBC for the Igbo language should come as a bundle of worriment for Ndi-Igbo and their tribal neighbors and not the other way round.

Indeed, there are traps and pitfalls to this pretentious induction of the Igbo language into the Hall of Fame. But the fact of the matter is that the BBC IGBO network has been shunned like a plague for its covert smell and its variegated colors of mischief and manipulation.

Furthermore, the BBC IGBO network has been intentionally wired to be hegemonic in all perspectives. Whichever way you look at it, the “British tea” will lack creamy taste without the “Nigerian milk” on menu. And the BBC IGBO network maximizes the potential of eternalizing British suzerainty over the supposed beneficiaries of this malformed union of attrition. It is synonymous with putting a samurai sword into our abdominal cavities and dividing us into bit-sized pieces. Imagine that!

In a nutshell, the launch of the BBC IGBO network is a ploy, an attempt to divide and conquer the Igbo nation and to forestall Biafran independence referendum through “Mass Media Mind Control.”

I rest my case here.