History, Economics and Stevie Wonder

BY PAUL NWABUIKWU

Last week, global music icon Stevie Wonder became a Ghanaian citizen. The multi-Grammy-winning singer, born Steveland Morris, celebrated this milestone with heartfelt exuberance and joy. In a video shared on social media, the blind genius beamed as he danced and played the drum amidst a joyous crowd while a troupe of his new compatriots danced energetically around him. Considering the brutal history of the Slave Trade, which forever separated Wonder’s ancestors from their native communities, the event was tinged with both unspeakable tragedy and a defiant, triumphant joy.

Mr. Wonder is, of course, not the first son of Africa to return, centuries after that infernal journey across the Middle Passage. For generations, African Americans have seen the pilgrimage to Africa as a rite of passage. Some, like Wonder, have taken it further by becoming official citizens of their chosen African countries. The reasons are obvious: Ghana’s status as a Pan-African hub, the enduring legacy of Kwame Nkrumah, and the country’s robust policies have made it a favorite among African descendants worldwide.

However, not all descendants are created equal. Wonder’s profile as one of the world’s most accomplished musicians, with 25 Grammy Awards—the highest for a male artist—sets him apart. He is one of those rare artists who bridged the gap between critical acclaim and mass popularity, including winning three Albums of the Year at the Grammys within four years during the 1970s.

So, it is no surprise that his “homecoming” has become another PR coup for Ghana’s PanAfricanist tourism. He is part of a larger trend, with an estimated five thousand African Americans and four thousand Jamaicans having settled in Ghana over the past few decades. This wave was paved by notable figures like Martin Luther King, George Padmore, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, and other famous Americans of color who visited Ghana during the exciting period following its independence in 1957. W.E.B. Du Bois, the famous scholar and activist, first African American to earn a Harvard PhD in 1895 did not just pay a pilgrimage and felicitate with Nkrumah. He stayed back. Stokely Carmichael, a founder of the revolutionary Black Panther Party, moved to Ghana and then Guinea in the late sixties, eventually changing his name to Kwame Ture in honor of his heroes—Nkrumah and Sekou Touré, the first president of Guinea. Rita Marley, a celebrated musician and wife of Bob Marley, is another celebrity who relocated to Ghana. She has been a Ghanaian citizen since 2013 and has lived in the country for over twenty years. Her foundation provides scholarships and meals to indigent schoolchildren and builds and refurbishes school buildings in impoverished areas.

Notably, South Africa currently hosts about three thousand African Americans, while Ethiopia is home to between six hundred and eight hundred African American residents.

Stevie Wonder’s decision at 74 to journey to Africa and become a citizen of a neighboring West African country is an inspirational tale of history, blood, suffering, resilience, and ultimate triumph. It is also a reminder to those of us who can easily trace our lineage that millions of our kinsmen were denied this privilege under horrific circumstances. We have a responsibility to remember, honor, and support their descendants who have embarked on the journey home—moving in the opposite direction from the Middle Passage.

It is also a reminder that Nigeria, the largest collection of Black people on the planet and possibly the territory which lost the most people to slavery, a nation located just over a thousand kilometers away from Ghana, is missing in action. This excerpt from “Religion and Public Life”, a publication by Harvard Divinity School captures the central role that the territory known today as Nigeria played in the Transatlantic Slave Trade: “The Transatlantic Slave Trade began in the late 15th century in Nigeria. By 1471, Portuguese navigators hoping to tap the fabled Saharan gold trade had reconnoitered the West African coast as far as the Niger Delta, and traded European commodities for local crafts as well as slaves, the latter which turned out to be highly lucrative. In the early stages, Europeans captured Nigerians in raids on coastal communities, but as the demand grew, they relied on slaves to be supplied by local rulers, traders, and the military aristocracy, providing these agents with rum, guns, horses, industrial products, and fine muslin cloth.

“By 1490, more than 3,000 slaves a year were transported to Portugal and Spain from Africa. With the European expansion and colonization of the West Indies and America, what was a small market in ivory, gold, and slaves transformed into a massive, global trade. From the last third of the 16th century to the early 19th centuries, Portuguese, then Dutch, then French and English merchants greedily expanded the African slave trade internationally. Enormous profits were made, mostly by Europeans, but a small number of Africans also benefited economically, mostly along the southwestern coast of Nigeria…”

The numbers are telling. According to the publication, which quotes scholars Toyin Falola, Saheed Aderinto, and others, over 3.5 million slaves were forcibly taken from Nigeria during the slave trade, with many ending up in South America and the Caribbean.

While history acknowledges Nigeria’s significant role in the societies impacted by the slave trade, there is little evidence of that primacy today. Instead, Ghana stands as the beacon for the Black diaspora, the destination they look up to. South Africa and Ethiopia are also prominent on the diaspora radar. However, neither public policy nor economic imperatives have driven Nigeria to engage seriously with Black America and the Caribbean in a structured manner with clear strategies and defined goals.

The secret of Ghana’s success and by extension Nigeria’s dismal failure is not difficult to track. Ghana is reaping the benefits of its efforts, while Nigeria remains a footnote due to its lack of action. Stevie Wonder’s journey home was not only a personal discovery but also a response to Ghana’s longstanding, structured campaign to attract African Americans and other Black descendants worldwide. The peak of this campaign was the highly successful “Year of Return,” organized to commemorate 400 years of slavery in the Americas, with the first slaves arriving in Jamestown, Virginia, in late August 1619.  Beyond the historical and cultural dimensions, the campaign had a practical objective: encouraging Africans from the diaspora to come home, settle, and invest.

According to figures from the Ghana Tourism Agency, the country spent $3.5 million on Year of Return activities, attracted 760,000 visitors in 2019 (129 of whom were granted citizenship), and generated nearly $2 billion in revenue by the end of that year.

It’s clear why Nigeria was not an option for Stevie Wonder and thousands of other Black descendants before him. They have no welcome mat into the world’s largest Black nation. The question is: going forward, how can Nigeria do better? Hopefully, the country’s policymakers in tourism and related sectors are addressing this issue. It’s a matter of blood, history – and economics.

PAUL NWABUIKWU  A pioneer THISDAY Editorial Board member, Paul Nwabuikwu, who has also served on The Guardian’s Editorial Board, is a respected public intellectual with decades of experience in journalism, advertising, and public communication. A winner of the DAME Awards for Informed Commentary, Nwabuikwu served twice as Special Adviser to former Finance Minister and current DG, World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Nwabuikwu holds a first degree in Mass Communication from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and MBA from the University of Jos.