As we all mourn the loss of Nigerians on the Ethiopian Airline including one of ours, Prof. Pius, we must understand the depth of these happenings.

A lot of people want the Boeing Air carriers to be grounded all over Africa, we say it on social media but is it going to go beyond social media? China has already done the needful, when will Nigeria make an official statement on this?

Nigeria Now

Our government in Nigeria is still busy declaring inconclusive elections, fighting to remain in power, too busy terrorizing her citizens to notice that one of ours has transitioned.

We must notice that Nigeria is currently at the center of international news for so many reasons. Here in SA, students are tense and worried, visas rejected, hostilities are mounting. A few days ago, a top South African Premiere without mincing words, up and pinned crimes and criminal activities on Nigerians.

More than ever before Nigeria is under fire across international borders. One of the core drives of the AU which Prof. Pius worked for is the creation of Africa without borders.

Nigerians are also at loggerheads. This election period has turned a lot of us into mortal enemies. I have lost a lot of friends and I know this is just the beginning if we all don’t stop to think! Who is really the enemy? Why is Nigeria losing on all these fronts? Why now? What must we do? Keep fighting? Split the country? Hide our heads in the sand?

The unity of Africa is core to to the AU. The recent Agenda 2063 being the current focus.

The Flagship Projects / Initiatives are:

• Integrated High Speed Train Network
• Africa Virtual and E-University
• African Commodity Strategy
• Annual African Forum
• Continental Free Trade Area
• African Passport and free movement of people
• Grand Inga Dam Project
• Pan African E-Network
• Silencing the Guns
• African Outer Space Strategy
• Single Air-Transport Network
• Continental Financial Institutions

If there’s anything Pius or any African would look forward to, it’s going to be seeing that Africa where Africans are free to move around safely in their own spaces.

No matter what anyone does right now, the self determination and identity of Africans is core to any agenda that is being deliberated. Until we agree on what it means to be African and the privileges it accrues, we will continue to lose rare gems to careless mechanical faults, to xenophobia, to racism, to western capitalism and poverty.

Aftermath

I have since yesterday had to think a lot on how I want to serve Africa right now. I think we all should. Pius Adesanmi in his death will continue to remind us that until every Nigerian is free, until every African is free, then there’s no place for rest. Adiue to Prof. Pius.

Pius Adesanmi, a literary and cultural critic, was born in Nigeria and lived most of his life in Ottawa, Canada, where he taught literature and African studies at Carleton University.

He was one of Nigeria’s major intellectuals and wrote two weekly columns for the influential Sahara Reporters and NEXT newspaper. His first book, The Wayfarer and Other Poems, won the Association of Nigerian Authors’ Poetry Prize in 2001.