SCOTLAND: When A People Place Their Hearts Above Their Heads. I lived in Scotland for over 2 years, and I must admit, its a beautiful country with friendly people. I lived in Aberdeen, the oil rich city, which is responsible for the UKs position as Europes largest oil producer, and visited several cities like Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Perth. These are beautiful cities, and Aberdeen, the oil rich city has one of the highest qualities of life in UK and Europe. But, I feel this drive for independence has not been well thought out. True, in this day and age, every group has a right to self-determination. But independence itself is a means to an end, and not the end in itself. Ask Nigeria, and all the other numerous African countries that gained independence, only to immerse themselves in fratricidal civil wars there-after. When dreaming about independence, some hard advance questions need to be asked: 1. Apart from homogenous composition in ethnicity, what other benefit is independence supposed to achieve? 2. What oppression, if any will they be avoiding by dis-engaging from their present union? Is it worth the uncertainty that future independence portends? A lot of African ethnic groups have this as a very strong argument, backed by history, but I am not sure the Scottish do. 3. Apart from slogans, what concrete plans are in place for future organogram of administration? We hear there is no set plan for even the currency that will be used. There is dispute over the volume of oil reserves off the coast of Aberdeen in the North Sea, with some saying the Scottish First Minister (Alex Salmon) has grossly exaggerated the oil reserves. 4. What previous benefits will the newly independent nation be giving up by being independent? For all we know, the UK is still functionally benefitting EVERY citizen. Scots have occupied the highest posts in the land, and the UK is still a world power. There is the likelihood that an independent Scotland will not even be allowed into the European Union as I am certain Spain will block her membership. Remember Spain is still trying to keep her Catalonia region from separating. For a country to join the EU, ALL 28 MEMBERS must assent to the request. 5. Does this move transcend the present generation? The debate may be centred (maybe partially about) on oil. Oil is a finite resource. I hope this is not (covertly) the major drive. Scotland has historically made bad economic decisions. In fact it was one of those moves that rendered them (the then independent Scotland) so broke ad insolvent as a nation, they agreed to form a union with the then buoyant England to form the UK in 1707, a union that is being re-visited next week. I hope this is not about the ambition of Alex Salmon, the Scottish first minister, whom even the Scottish have described as a sly, selfish man. This is not Africa, where the case for self-determination is even stronger, though not always justifiable. In the UK, Scottish autonomy is as good as it can get, and even promises to be better with DEVO Max. They even have their own football team playing in the world cup, and their central bank has been printing the Scottish version of the British Pound. They have their own Supreme Court and their First Minister (a prime minister of some sorts). If some regions in Nigeria had this kind of autonomy, the skies would be their limit. I just hope some people among the Scottish voters will be putting on their thinking caps on the 18th of September.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 07:17:53 +0000
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