Ignorance made us Slaves to our Own Gold
Rihanna once sang, "Shine Bright Like a Diamond".
Speculations has it that people responded, Shut up, you fool, diamonds don't shine. They reflect. But these same people will enter a mine and see a diamond with an exclamation, ohhh.....see how this diamond is shining crystal white. I thought diamonds reflect 😁?
Now, what about Gold. The people say gold is the scarcest, but we hear men call women gold diggers. Who are the women digging from if gold is scarce? Anyways, everything is metaphorical. We have pure gold as a rare element and what it means to people. Have you ever thought of the saying, you don't value what you have until you lose it? This is the bottom of my story and where it hangs on... The gold owner is a slave to his gold.
In the 19s, a large community of hard-working men and women were peasant farmers until they discovered what they call the Nation's Gold. Despite being the owner of a priceless gold piece capable of making them stand before kings, they became slaves to their gold. They purchased the gold they own. How foolish were we to be fooled as slaves of our own thing? Some people say it wasn't foolishness and that they were offered life and death options by the world power of this world.
Before we knew it, everything changed and has never been the same to date. These are some terminologies I want you to be acquainted with, as I will be making use of their names.
| Categories | Meaning |
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| Black Liquid Gold | Metaphorically means Crude Oil |
| Red Gold | minerals, tin, palm oil, kernel, groundnuts |
| Human gold | People, then slaves |
| Pure Gold | raw gold in some states |
A True Life Story — The Proud Red Gold Owners |
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Far back in the early 1900s, before the pre-colonial rule in Nigeria, white against black, Nigeria, the Giant of Africa, was a gold mine herself. Her land had the most fertile soil, capable of producing Red gold that glitters and makes many counties envious of her gold. This Red Gold was mainly referred to as her agricultural produce. Nigerians were peasant farmers who cultivated fertile land. This land of promise made them see reasonable growth in their produce, both commercial and subsistence.
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our fertile land and sea
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Red oil, kernel, groundnut, cocoa, cotton, yam, and cassava. You can mention them. We mainly indulged in local trading and fishing to sell fish in local markets. Our economy boomed because of the agricultural products we had. Life was a little bit manageable as slaves of our own thing before the Europeans took our people from us in exchange for goods and money. I'll say it's the business we struck with them in exchange for goods. We sold our human gold, which were slaves, because we didn't know the value or worth of these ones.
Our Human Gold |
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Despite the fact that we were slaves, we were useful to the Americans, and they needed us madly, passing through the Europeans. So they called it business by exchanging Nigerian slaves for money and goods which brought about slave trade in Nigeria. This has been in existence for long before the British came to colonise our country because of a different gold. Our human gold was gradually sold out and exchanged for some sort of goods not worth our gold. Could this be because we were threatened, or we didn't see value in our fellow countrymen?** It remains a myth to me.
The slaves we felt were useless were raw gold that was selling in America and other countries. How? These slaves were put into labour, companies, and factories, all to do work before the advent of some high technological tools that have replaced humans today. Most of these sold men were Nigerians with intellectuals and creativity who helped in building a lot of developed countries today.
We didn't see gold in our fellow men because they were covered with slavery. We were blinded by foils. We had what would have made us great, but we gave them out because we didn't know the worth of these things. Anyways, not entirely being blinded. It's condition. Condition will make a poor man sell priceless jewellery for money only to discover that that priceless jewellery is a nation.
What judgement did he have when he did business?. It was sold it was sold.
Anyone could see the glow from our red gold from far away. People read about our gold and how we work hard in cherishing and multiplying this gold. Life was balanced until one day, when the Red Gold met Envious Eyes. The Great Britain we know of today is a world power with the alliance of the American government, which is the current trend today**. They were the envious eyes. Their greed to get more and make their country great was high, and they saw Nigeria's hold to be a contributing factor.
The Glittering Red Gold Met Envious Eyes |
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Nigeria was known to be the Giant of Africa because of its red gold. This made the British put a large eye on our gold with the intent of giving us less as slaves. ** We as Nigerians didn't have the foresight to see what was planned because they were more intellectual than us, having been exposed to formal education. They discussed with us about how trading with them can boost our economy and influence.
We saw them as gods, coming to our land. They were just so different from ours. We were Black, and they were white, so different from us. Remember, we once sold our people out during the slave trade, being the Europeans. We sold Nigerians as slaves to work in other countries in exchange for money. Little did we know we were selling our human gold.
These ones went out there, bent their creativity to the whites, and were used to the fullest. Now, what has become of us? You'll soon see. Let's go back to the British invasion.
The British didn't come primarily for slave trade or commerce; they had their reasons, and the picture shown below has their captain in the middle with an umbrella. This is just a figurative representation of how it was. They came to exploit and steal our resources, tagging it as business. This trading system brought about colonisation. Using the military, we were colonised and controlled by the British. They took our gold forcefully from us because we didn't see the signs. This happened in the 19th century.
The British came to colonize us
We were likened to people who have gold but are slaves to it. Nigeria's red gold was exploited and exported to their countries in exchange for services, which we later accepted. They changed Nigeria's economic, financial, and political sector, which led to greed and corruption.
The White and Black Gold Struggle for Black Liquid Gold |
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The exploit continued for quite a long time, expanding the economy of Britain and making them feasible to different countries around the globe. We were slowly dying, working hard as slaves to provide more gold for export. Today, we are buying things from other countries. Things we sold to them, things they exploited. How ironic? These colonial masters saw more in Nigeria and started to look for unknown gold, as the Red gold wasn't enough for them, nor was the human gold. They needed something they would hold and cherish as pure gold.
One British colonial master
They did their search for years underneath the ground in search of gold but to no avail. World War 1 prevented them after continuous searching and drilling in different zones and states in Nigeria. The British company Shell took on the search for unknown gold for 20 good years and was tired of finding. At the verge of drilling, they decided to check another field in Bayelsa, and while drilling, they sensed something like perfume. Could that be what we have been looking for all this while?
As they dug, they felt a splash of liquid, black and beautiful. They tested it and discovered it was crude oil, the black gold they were looking for years. They rejoiced. They decided to keep it a secret until they are sure of what they saw and its quantity. It's from the oil drill they discovered crude oil in Nigeria, the black liquid gold. Unknown to them, this gold surpassed what they had been exploiting from Nigeria in years. They switched their attention to oil. We also abandoned agriculture and focused on oil, under their control.
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The black gold we ignorantly sold out because we didn't know its value
The crude oil were channelled into pipelines under water using metal containers with the aim that they want to refine the oil and see what products it would bring. We allowed this and it was reported that a lot of products can be made from this petroleum which includes;
kerosene
petrol
diesel
refined oil for grease and the likes.
Refined crude oil — The black gold we ignored
They continued this as a constant practice, tending to be founders and gradually taking what we have from us as slaves. Politics gradually entered the oil sector as this was one of the skyrocketer of the Nigerian economy. It virtually controlled everything. **The picture shows how we have gold but the gold is gradually taken away from us and we get to buy from them, something we have in our country.
Greed, Envy, Hatred, and Corruption because of Gold |
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This brought about corruption, greed, and envy between Nigeria and other countries. Nigerian leaders brought about strategies to fool their fellow men in the 21st century despite the fact that we had a few refineries in Nigeria that are private. They allow foreigners to steal our oil through pipeline transportation in exchange for dollars. Then we pay these dollars to them to get what we already have. This is one of the major reasons the prices of petroleum in Nigeria are inflating.
Watch this video
Our leaders tend to allow the influence of the black gold to make them partner with other countries for loans and wealth. We have something, but we're buying this thing instead of getting it for free or at a subsidised rate. **See what the rare gold has caused. The black gold reminded us of our black existence and took away our pride and made our leaders greedy and corrupt. Worse still, Nigeria is still a developing country because we sold the
We Died Because of Gold |
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Corruption in the political sector because of our black gold, making our leaders so greedy and rendering high services. We had all that could make us a giant country, but we traded it.
We failed to understand the value of our gold mines. We allowed the British to exploit our red gold and take full control of our lands for little compensation. Due to ignorance, we failed to understand the true economic value of our black liquid gold that we sell them for their currency and rather buy what we already have from them.
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 We don't know the value of what we have |  Until we lose it |
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After independence, our lack of education on resource management has led to the failure of Nigeria's growth, all because of ignorance, greed, and corruption by our leaders. We also allowed them to explore our gold in our lands without control. In other countries, if a foreigner discovers something important, they'll imprison that foreigner, make that foreigner a slave to his own creativity, and possibly kill him, taking the glory to themselves, but we failed to take control of our oil exploration by the British, and this led to 60% control even after independence.
| Our very own ignorance led to our downfall. We need to be educated |  |
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We purchase our gold from others. Even after the exploration of our liquid gold, we were adamant and couldn't create refineries for our country. We depended on the British refinery to get our liquid gold in another form. They stole from us, but we saw it as grace, as they found a treasure from us. Even with this exploration, we failed to see the importance of our black liquid gold because it was black. How ironic that we are Black, but we couldn't value a Black gold that doesn't glitter physically.
Hatred is rooted deep in our hearts after realising that what we didn't see much importance in is selling and boosting the economy of those we sold it to, and our economy is steadily declining with our gold price increasing and becoming scarce, difficult for Nigerians to purchase as they used to or even see. We have had cases of gold scarcity in Nigeria, and this affected prices of food and standards of living. The black liquid gold we didn't see importance in or give a damn about at first is what is controlling our economy today.
Even upon realisation, our corrupt leaders made it their aim to improve the value of the naira by selling our gold to the whites and then buying it from them using their currency. The profits are stolen and not directed to other sectors. This is one of the reasons why Nigeria will always remain a developing country. Opportunity came and went. Even upon realisation, we are still greedy to allure personal riches for ourselves instead of looking for ways to get back full control of our gold by creating new refineries and stopping the outright selling of this gold for dollars.
The result. I think this picture explains it best. The gold that's indirectly under another person's control is controlling our very own economy. We sell our gold and buy it from these ones in order to get their currency and improve not our economy but our very own lives.
What title can I give this story?
Ignorance made us slaves to our own black gold.
I invite @xkool24, @frafiomatale and @artist1111
What a powerful story, full of historical reflections, as it shows how ignorance and a lack of strategic vision can turn natural abundance into a chain that binds our loved ones. I hesitated a lot when you described the transition from the "red gold" of agriculture to the "black gold" of oil, and how both became instruments of exploitation and dependence.
The metaphor of being slaves to our own gold symbolizes not only the history of colonization, but also the lasting consequences of corruption and resource mismanagement. It is sad to see how what could have been an engine of national prosperity could have become an instrument of enrichment for other nations.
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This is thought-provoking. It highlights how lack of knowledge can lead us to being trapped by our own desires and possessions. Job Well done
Many stories revolve around gold, giving it global prominence. Gold is the benchmark in all types of business, and despite being a natural resource, only the most powerful manage to obtain it.
Thank you for joining the contest.
I really appreciate. You've made an excellent point there by saying only the most powerful manage to obtain it, talk more of the less privileged
Me ha gustado mucho tu historia, me suena bastante familiar.
En mi país, Venezuela, llegaron muchos africanos que los españoles y portugueses trajeron como esclavos, que etapa tan dura la de la historia. Por esa razón, en Venezuela, por ejemplo, hay personas de todos los colores de piel, lo cual es maravilloso.
Pero significó un gran sufrimiento para muchos pueblos africanos.
Hay muchas cosas que definitivamente no debieron pasar, que no tenían que pasar, pero ocurrieron, y solo hay que esperar que las corrupción desaparezca, y que tú pueblo pueda estar mucho mejor. saludos.