West

By Muhammed U. Hong

Nearly six decades ago, the practice of external borrowing for many developing countries could be linked to two major International Financial Institutions (IFIs): The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These institutions became the most significant source of finance for many third-world economies, particularly in Africa, where countries owe both institutions a large portion of their external debts. However, towards the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s, the IMF experienced a decline in lending activities in the region. 

The institution was becoming almost irrelevant as most countries were reluctant to borrow from it due to its policies and programs, notably the Structural Adjustment Program, which worsened economic and social conditions rather than improving them. As a result, the IMF’s reputation was severely damaged, and countries began to seek alternatives.

In the last two decades, China emerged as a major bilateral lender, gaining prominence for its infrastructure and economic development projects in African countries through three of its most prominent institutions: The China Exim Bank, China Development Bank, and China Agricultural Bank. This led to the rise of many other private sector entities that helped cater to the fiscal needs of developing countries.

Between 2013 – 2022, African countries’ total external public debt stock, as reported by the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), rose from US$109.63 billion in 2013 to US$223.74 billion in 2022. China disbursed loans over the same ten-year span, increasing from US$24.11 billion in 2013 to US$62.89 billion in 2022. As of March 2022, 34% of Africa’s total external debt was owed to multilateral creditors, such as the World Bank’s IDA and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), while 23% was linked to bilateral creditors, including China and Germany. Private creditors, like Bondholders from the United Kingdom, accounted for the remaining 43%.^[1] Only a modest portion of Africa’s total external debt stock is owed to China.

External or foreign borrowing is not inherently negative for countries, including African ones. It is widely understood that virtually no country can sufficiently fund its budget by relying solely on its yearly revenue. Thus, governments resort to public debt to fulfil fiscal obligations, especially when running a deficit or intending to spend more than their revenue. In Africa, external borrowing has served as a necessary tool to fund critical domestic infrastructure projects that aim to generate developmental and social gains.

However, the criteria for borrowing—such as the type of debt, its purpose, repayment terms, currency of repayment, and borrowing conditions—play a crucial role. One key metric that lenders assess is the Public Debt-to-GDP ratio, which indicates what a country owes in relation to what it produces and thereby reflects its ability to repay the debt. The higher the Debt-to-GDP ratio, the greater the risk of default. The World Bank established that a threshold of 64% for emerging markets (such as African countries) and 77% for developed economies is where public debt may begin to impact economic growth negatively. ^[2]

Interestingly, some of the world’s leading economies, including Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom, have the highest public debt-to-GDP ratios—241%, 114%, and 79%, respectively—while African nations such as Cabo Verde, South Africa, and Nigeria have ratios of 117%, 47%, and 20%. ^[3] This demonstrates that African countries adhere more strictly to their public debt-to-GDP limits than their Western counterparts. Nonetheless, high public debt does not necessarily indicate weak economies, as some countries can rely on other sources of revenue to offset their liabilities.

So, why does Africa find China more attractive as a lender than IFIs? The World Bank and IMF initially offered loans with favourable terms to African countries in need but came with high interest rates and stringent conditions. African governments were often required to implement reforms designed by these institutions, and the loans were subject to strict environmental, social, and governance standards. Not all African countries were willing or able to comply with these requirements, which diminished their appetite for loans from IFIs and increased their interest in China’s concessional loans, which had fewer conditions. Their “no strings attached” model made Chinese loans more accessible and did not require adherence to governance or environmental standards while offering prospects for debt moratoriums.

For example, new data shows that China’s total lending to Zambia stands at $5.05 billion, equivalent to 30% of Zambia’s external debt. About 80% of China’s loans come from low-interest, concessional finance from China’s development banks, like the China Exim Bank, with the remaining $948 million held by commercial entities such as ICBC and Huawei.^[4]  However, there are widespread reports of opacity in Chinese lending practices. African governments have been largely silent about whether loans are used for capital or recurrent expenditures, which makes it difficult for citizens to determine the health of their countries’ debt paths.

This lack of transparency raises concerns about inflated project costs, kickbacks, or the financing of white elephant projects ahead of crucial elections. The China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI), a Washington-based team of independent researchers, is one of the few reliable sources for data on Chinese loans, as it gathers information from loan contracts, interviews, and its global network.

Why do some believe Chinese loans are different from IFI loans and are designed to trap low-income countries into surrendering their natural resources? 

Public-private partnership (PPP) arrangements and the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model, in which Chinese firms manage projects without fully taking over, have been common in Chinese contracts. However, African countries have begun to default on their loan commitments, leading China to adopt the more controversial resource-backed lending model. This model has been used in Africa as a fundamental way to finance many economic and social infrastructure projects like railways, telecoms, mining, construction, power, etc. 

The principle behind the resource-backed lending or resource-financed infrastructure (RFI) model, as they call it, is to allow the borrower country to commit its future revenues derived from the sale of its natural resources to pay for loans provided by the Chinese creditors. Under the RFI model, Chinese lenders have financed an average of 71 projects per year in Africa, at an average value of US$ 180 million since 2010. Between 2000 and 2019, only 26 per cent of Chinese lending in Africa has been tied to the future revenue from natural resources, with Angola taking a sizeable portion of 18 per cent alone. The remaining 8 per cent is evident in loan commitments of US$ 500 million made to Nigeria for its Abuja light rail project in 2012 and 2011 to finance new phases of its airport projects and the Lekki Port’s Free Trade Zone. Others have been used for the US$ 475 million loan in 2011 for the Addis-Ababa light rail project, and in Egypt, for a US$ 1.2 billion loan for their light rail projects.^[5] The primary risk of the RFI model is that commodity prices are volatile, which could undermine debt sustainability. 

According to CARI, in 2019, Chinese borrowings to African governments began classifying the countries that were perceived as ‘less risky’ due to concerns about debt sustainability. This is because most countries borrowing heavily from China have been identified to have histories of IMF bailouts, making new such borrowings from China unsustainable. CARI examined the situation in 17 African countries that are either in debt distress or at high risk of debt distress due to the high lending volume, which has forced China to address the issue of debt sustainability. 

Countries like Ethiopia, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Djibouti were all denied fresh loans in 2019. Others like Kenya, Cameroon and Zambia were given relatively small loans. Angola, the continent’s largest borrower of Chinese loans, with an average of US$ 4 billion per year between 2010 – 2018, experienced a decline to about US$106 million in 2019. This is despite securitising Angola’s future revenue from its oil exports. Nigeria, which surpasses as the continent’s largest crude oil exporter with a history of debt sustainability since 2000, had only been granted a loan commitment of around US$500 million. ^[6]

The issue of debt sustainability gained further attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to widespread calls for debt relief. China responded by offering debt relief packages (debt cancellation) and an (undisclosed) deferment of interest payments due to the pandemic. In 2020, China joined the G20 to create the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) framework to alleviate the economic suffering imposed by the Coronavirus pandemic on African countries. By the following year, China was reported to have suspended debt worth over US$1.3 billion for 23 countries, out of which 16 are African countries.^[7] In a similar vein to tackling the Coronavirus pandemic, the IMF was also reported to have approved $500 million to cancel six months of debt payments for 25 countries, with 19 of them in Africa – which is almost one-third of what China had been able to offer to African governments.^[8]

According to Jubilee Debt Campaign UK, now referred to as Debt Justice, a UK campaign organisation to end exploitation of debt by more affluent countries, China remains the largest suspender of debt with a whopping $5.7 billion in debt repayment). ^[9] The China Development Bank – which is a major lender to African countries – had also since 2021 provided US$1.168 billion in debt relief to these countries as a way of cushioning the impact of the pandemic.^[10]

What makes China engage in “debt-trap diplomacy” with its African borrowers? — An allegation that Chinese firms intentionally lend to financially irresponsible governments that will be unable to repay loans to take possession of assets.

Many unsubstantiated claims about the Chinese takeover of major state assets in developing countries exist. The most cited case for reference is the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government secured 2007 finance from China’s Export-Import (EXIM) Bank to develop the port. In 2015, however, Sri Lanka had to arrange a bailout from the IMF even though the Chinese loans only accounted for some 10% of the debt. The government sought to raise cash by privatising state-owned assets, including a significant stake in Hambantota port. Then, a Chinese company got wind of it and successfully bided and bought 70% of the shares. The Sri Lankan government used the proceeds to pay for Chinese loans and other debt services. ^[11] However, no definitive evidence suggests a similar practice is prevalent in Africa.^[12]

Ultimately, it is hard to think that Chinese loans to Africa are meant to inextricably trap them for their rich oil and other natural resources. Over the past decades, Africa’s growing need for infrastructure has led China to fill the void created by Western financial institutions, offering easier access to capital with fewer stipulations. 

Although the African continent has managed its debt well, there are still significant risks and challenges associated with Chinese loans, particularly in governance and transparency. It is also true that China’s approach to lending has evolved from being more lenient to becoming more cautious, especially in response to concerns about debt sustainability. This is why it tries to mitigate the risk of defaulting by primarily resorting to the resource-backed financing model, and this has only been linked to a meagre percentage of all its loan commitments to the continent– with the exception of Angola. While resource-backed lending seems pragmatic, it is not necessarily predatory or equate to an intent to exploit or trap countries, especially given China’s history of debt relief. China’s participation in debt relief efforts is consistent with its broader strategy of maintaining long-term relationships with African countries rather than exploiting them.

Africa must halt the practice of raising money at the Eurobond markets—where a range of investors trade bonds—because these bonds come at steep commercial rates and are subject to the dictates of the international financial markets. African countries must also be discouraged from seeking bailouts from financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank to offset existing loans, which excessively pile up debts that lead to unsustainable liabilities. 

African governments must ensure prudent financial management while refraining from depleting their foreign currency reserves to pay high interest on those loans. The utilisation of these loans for their intended purposes, whether in infrastructure, social or economic, is crucial for Africa to foster sustainable development, bolster its revenue growth, and improve the quality of life for its citizens. Loans that yield commensurate economic benefits.

Muhammed U. Kong wrote via muhammedu.hong@gmail.com.

By Babayo Sule, PhD

The 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup is no doubt a beginning of a fresh era in intercultural relationships globally because of the indelible marks of perception, dynamism, fresh vigours, advancement of a new model and, most importantly, the introduction of a new style of reception, fanfare and farewell from the host to the world. Hosting a gargantuan event like FIFA World Cup is certainly a herculean task that financial muscles and political influence alone cannot earn. It takes beyond the lobby, indefatigable consultations, display of economic prowess, commitment, smart strategies that will outsmart competitors and, above that, a clandestine promise of delivery and reliability. Of course, Qatar surmounted all these obstacles and won the hosting. Beyond that, the World Cup was successfully organised, hosted, done and dusted most sublimely and fashionably way to some groups, perhaps.

Not long ago, some Western scholars, including Fukuyama (1996), Huntington (1996) and Lewis (1992), struggled hard to convince the world that the Western ideology, civilisation and system are forever the best and can never be competed with or matched in any circumstances. But for the critical counterattacks of the likes of Sa’id (2005), Harun Yahaya, Nefeily (2002) and some others, the Fukuyama-led cultural clash nearly succeeded in defeating the world to surrender to the almighty West and despair from any form of competition. Fortunately, the Sa’id-led counterattacks made us believe that cultural clash or advancing it is an act of ignorance that can be suppressed with dialogue and better understanding built on tolerance and respect. The approach of Qatar to the 2022 FIFA World Cup practically convinced us to discard the former school and hold firm on the latter.

When I learnt that the small country of Qatar, with just a population of 3 million, spent a breath-taking $200 billion, I cautioned myself to wait patiently and see what the country is after because my inner ego told me that the country is definitely up to something otherwise it will be crazy enough to believe this embezzlement amidst the myriads of squalor, deprivation, abject penury, natural disasters and other sufferings emanating from armed conflicts in the Muslim-dominated states. Qatar should have diverted this huge amount of money for humanitarian intervention in the most affected states, but my curiosity continues to deter me from concluding without seeing the actual intention. At last, it is revealed glowingly most passionately and soothingly to the global Ummah that Qatar invested in a modern and strategic Jihad.

Football is arguably the most unifying festival or even phenomenon globally, more than anything. Even religion today is not hypnotising like football, especially among youth. Take Nigeria, for example. Divisions are sharp and threatening to national unity in virtually all matters, even that of critical national importance like security, except for football. In an employment to strategic parastatals or apportion of a political position, no section of the country will tolerate the composition and the outlook of the national team, the darling Super Eagles. But in football, Ahmed Musa can score against Argentina in the World Cup, celebrate by prostrating before Allah (SWT), one of the major pillars of five congregational daily prayers and a major point of bringing one closer to his Creator, the Hausa/Fulani, Igbos, Yorubas, all the more than 400 ethnic groups, the Muslims, Christians, ritualists, animists and the North and South will unanimously celebrate the goal without minding exactly the mode and pattern of the celebration of the player. The same thing is applicable if a Christian player scores and celebrates using his religious signals and symbols. But for football, what can be tolerated that way in our mother country? Should a Minister prostrate in front of a national broadcast to celebrate the country and the achievement of his Ministry, trending impending insults among divided Nigerians will take weeks actively?

For Qatar, the small country lured the globe to its culture and way of using football as a tool. The country satisfactorily met all the requirements and fulfilled all the datelines, resources, infrastructures, provisions and all that is needed to host a successful World Cup. On several visits, the FIFA team always expressed its satisfaction with the level of preparations and provisions made by Qatar. However, some days before the commencement, Qatar boldly rose its head before the world and declared that it is a country of faith, culture, values and a system that must be respected without any compromise. Alcoholism in the stadiums, gay and other amoral attitudes are banned throughout the event, and any violation will surely attract a sanction according to the laws of Qatar governed by the Shari’ah system. Instantly, the belief that the West has in cultural clashes and the arrogant display of the ethnocentric chauvinism of superiority surfaced.

The Western media pounced on Qatar, and some even threatened to either boycott the event or Qatar must be forced to rescind its decision and guidelines for attending the event. Qatar stood firm and pledged never to compromise its stand on the ground that Qatar respects all cultures, and anywhere the citizens of the country visit, they respect and adhere to the guidelines, principles and laws of the land; then, why should her own be different? In what ways is any culture superior or advanced or super enough to bulldoze and overshadow the host culture? Fortunately, the FIFA President, being honest, frank and fair, supported Qatar fully and chided the West for, according to him, ‘its hypocrisy, intolerance, arrogance and immorality. Instead of the West apologising to the world for its more than 300 years of plunder and arrogance, it is parading tits trademark again’. The Western media, unrelenting, resorted to blackmail that the FIFA officials were bribed to grant Qatar the hosting, and the FIFA is bribed to approve the preparations and accept the conditions of Qatar without any protest.

The West, which mesmerised and dazzled the world with its modern scientific and technological advancement, effervescent skyscrapers, efficient system, and continuous innovation, failed the simple test of tolerance, respect and morality. The moral bankruptcy appears disappointing. Sayyid Qutb earlier berated the West for its handicap in a moral view. He expressed his wonders in seeing the miraculous feat achieved by the West in technology and development but rebuked them for moral emptiness, cultural intolerance, intellectual fallacies of distorting Islamic culture and values to him and bestiality exhibited by humankind in their societies. The FIFA President himself chastised the West for its sheepish behaviour and the display of immorality to the level of bestial nuptiality. The West arrogantly believed that it had the monopoly of setting the agenda for even cultural perception. The long-term monopoly in the political and economic control of the world intoxicated the West to believe that it must always determine the standard for anything, and it must have its way. But Qatar, a small but mighty country, challenged this view and put a sudden stop to it in style.

Qatar designed a Jihad model and unveiled it where all the attentions are. They say, ‘hit them where it hurts’, and Qatar hit where it hurts, but it soothes many. The opening ceremony sent waves of meticulous fantasy and a display of a fabulous enigma of people that aspired to differ in all ramifications from the acclaimed normal norm. Instead of the noisy fanfare, thunderous jamboree and a competition to display nudity and craziness of masquerades, the environment of the opening ceremony was ensconced in a serene clime with the melodious recitations of the Glorious Quran and a lullaby of the romantic Arab scents and marvellous dressing. The spectators silently listened and were hypnotised by the beauty and eloquence of the Qur’anic recitation.  

Instantly, the campaign of calumny, blackmail and propaganda swung into action in the West. The BBC declined to air the opening ceremony. The major Western media embarked on futile and baseless negative reporting. For instance, the Independent of November 21^st 2022, wrote a piece mocking Qatar, the host, titled ‘Qatar World Cup defeat proves there are some things in sport you can’t pay for’. Another article in the Independent in the date titled ‘Qatar’s opening World Cup impression slips into disaster on and off the pitch’.

In another propaganda, CNN reports in an article on 20^th November 2022, ‘Qatar makes World Cup in a debut controversial tournament of firsts’. The 24^th November 2022 article by the Independent titled ‘What on earth is Morgan Freeman doing in Qatar? Queried why Morgan Freeman should be in Qatar. In the assumption of the Western media, Qatar spent lavishly to win. When and where World Cup opening match is won by the host? Morgan Freeman is seen either as too civilised to be in Qatar to attend a Qur’anic opening ceremony or irrelevant. The motive of Qatar is entirely a different ball game. Qatar has won the World Cup in the eyes of the fair-minded, culturally-tolerant but specifically, the Muslim world. The Jihad exhibited a moderate contemporary approach, and the resistance against the imposition of alien cultures to then host succeeded in opening the eyes of the imperialised and the international relations and international system will, of course, never be the same again.

Other resistance to neo-colonialism and new imperialism are unfolding courtesy of what Qatar did. Peacefully but assertively, Qatar altered the shape of the global political economy for keen observers. Even Huntington must revisit his clash of civilisations and rethink the remaking of world order beyond his only perceived clash.

The damages that the West self-inflicted in the effort to spoil the World Cup show in Qatar can take many decades or centuries to restore. For example, they are enlightening the world to resist any culture that it is not comfortable with, starting with their forceful imposition. They may continue to lure and influence the world using economic leverage and threats, but countries that are self-conscious, like Qatar, which internally recycled its economic buoyancy, will resist and counter. African states may take a lesson or continue to be humiliated by the world at will. The West, in its intolerance, informed the world that the crusade for human rights, democratisation and other dangerous exports (Blum, 2013) might be resisted, and it is a setback to its agenda of ruling the world using institutions and agreements.

Another lesson the world learnt from the weird attitude exhibited by the West in Qatar is to draw back and resist any attempt to denigrate or demean any culture, value, faith or nation. It is a scientific gateway for many global policymakers and key players to justify when pushing an agenda or tackling it. The worse of the scenarios is the moral emptiness and sheepish attitude of some countries and their football teams. The sport, as if it were a living organism, showed them an early exit to save the world from their embarrassment and allowed the serious-minded ones to battle it out.

One fascinating scenario in Qatar that will outlive the tournament and qualify the event to be extraordinary is that the vulgarity of Qatar is not leaving any stone unturned in its newly discovered Jihadism. The likes of Dr Zakir Naik were offered the opportunity to display their prowess in Da’awah, and the accommodation was designed to introduce the Islamic process of cleansing from impurity, a discovery that leaves many visitors dazzled and interested in Islamic teaching. The calls to prayer, display of Qur’anic verses from all angles of the city and Prophetic golden words all revealed exactly what Qatar spent its money for and not what the Independent article misperceived or tried to push deliberately. The final or closing ceremony after Argentina won the Cup was exotic. African musicians, including the Nigerian Davido, were invited but were confined to the World Cup tune prepared by a Qatari singer. The best player, Lionel Messi, was decorated in the regalia of the most valuable Arabian dress instead of the obscured juju and the usual spray of liquor and other madness that have no place in most civilisations but are being pushed down the throats of the communities by the imperial powers.

The World Cup has come and gone, but its memory will forever relish our minds and in what Qatar did, ‘Verily, in this is a Sign: but most of them do not believe’ (Q26:8). Qatar has opened a gateway for other world countries to liberate themselves from the encumbrances of new imperialism and neo-colonialism that is used to push the imperialism (Nkrumah, 1965). The small country has presented a fashionable and peaceful model of Da’awah that will strategically counter propaganda and a model of Jihad devoid of terrorism. It is a kind of Jihad that is difficult to provide a vacuum for conspiracy or damaging insults. Qatar may face stereotyping and a campaign of blackmail, and other Arabs and Islamic states may not smell the opportunity of hosting the World Cup for the next century or more, provided the West continues to control the world, but world countries can now develop the effrontery to counter abuse and disrespect of their faiths and cultures and may advance to ward off imperialism. African continent may restore its umbilical cord with Latin America and the Caribbean to re-establish a strong, surviving and successful Pan-Africanism. Qatar, in our eyes, is a blessed land of the righteous that present a model of liberation. God bless the country and the tournament!

Babayo Sule (PhD) wrote from the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Humanities Management and Social Sciences, Federal University Kashere Gombe, Nigeria. He can be reached via babayosule@gmail.com.

By Salisu Yusuf

Almost 20 years since the September 11 attacks in the U.S. and the subsequent occupation of Afghanistan, the last Friday’s swift vacation of Bagram Airbase by the U.S forces, the situation in Afghanistan gets worst. The country is becoming more divided; social strife grows, and citizens become more disenchanted. Hostilities between the Hazara Shia minority and mainly Pashtun Sunni majority increases. All over the country, people feel less secure in groups and individually as each one is afraid that the rival militia may attack them. The hitherto communal Afghanistan is fast turning individualistic, especially as a result of Talibans’ follies, misrule, the failure of the sectarian/tribal leadership, the role of Ulama and by the Russian occupation in the 70’s and ’80s, as well as the U.S’s so-called war on terror.

I have never seen a religious sect that clings to power and unorthodoxly turns to folly like the Taliban. They have crossed religious, ethical lines. They ask their members to attack hospitals, with women under labour, children receiving natal care, and other defenceless people receiving treatment. In one instance in 2020, they struck a maternity hospital belonging to the international organisation Medicines Sans Frontiers in Kabul. They gruesomely murdered 24 victims, including impoverished women, children, and babies. A week-old baby was among the dead; another two-week-old baby survived though his mother could not. There has not been a worse unnatural disaster!

Moreover, coordinated, reciprocal attacks by both Sunni and Shia militants are on the rise. I have not seen thoughtless sects like the two groups in Afghanistan/Pakistan axis, where each group asks its members to attack the other while performing obligatory prayers in mosques! And when such attacks are carried out, while the victims’ relatives nurse them and mourn other fatalities, the attackers get euphoric as they believe that they have fulfilled a religious duty. Outrageously they think that should if they die in the process, they would directly go to paradise – as if it belongs to their fathers!

 In addition to such senseless attacks, the Taliban has stepped up on a campaign against girl-child education. As a result, hundreds of innocent girls have been killed on their way to schools because, to them, girls’ education is a deviation from the norm. 

In one such horrendous attack, the vocal Malala Yusafzai is lost to the West. The girl was 11 when she’s shot in the head on her way to school. The girl’s crime was pleading to the Taliban to let girls pursue their educational careers. As the saying goes, the rest is history. Malala is now an Oxford University graduate in philosophy, politics and economics. 

Malala is lost to the West with her two young brothers. Pakistanis could only watch her on T.V. addressing the U.N. Assembly, celebrating her birthday, or receiving Nobel Prizes. If she had not been shot, she would have been in Pakistan, and a practising Muslim, whose talent might have been used in teaching and aspiring young girls. Girls like Malala could have been used to heal the growing social division between Sunni and Shia; alas, she’s lost to Europe.

More painful is the list of Nadia Nadim. A more intelligent and talented girl who’s also lost to the West. Nadia’s father was also killed by the Taliban when she’s a child. Under a false identity, the girl fled Afghanistan on a truck at just 11 years. She’s currently living in Denmark, studying reconstructive surgery. Nadia, like Malala, is lost to the West. Her colossal talent would have been more beneficial to Afghanistan because she’s a prospective scientist. Nadia speaks 11 languages. She also plays football for the Danish National Team, scores 200 goals, making her a celebrity.

If Nadia’s father lived, she would have been left to pursue her career, would have been in Afghanistan practising Islam. She could have been a medical doctor, possibly assisting thousands of Afghan women in need of medical care. But, alas, she’s lost to football, playing a celebrity role, her beauty being explored, etc. 

The above are a few lessons to Nigerian youth who sympathise with terrorist groups like Boko Haram. Such groups are in for regression rather than progression.

While the so-called Doha Peace Conference between the Afghan government and Taliban is in progress, the country is hotly on the brink of another civil war. The Taliban is advancing towards Kabul, inciting more antagonism while the country suffers from brain drain; indeed, it’s Talibans’ folly, but Western gains.

Salisu Yusuf teaches at the Department of English, Federal College of Education, Katsina. He can be reached via salisuyusuf111@gmail.com.