Why Africa Does Not Grow

Africa will never grow if her nations continue to act the scripts written and directed by the industrialized economies of the West and the East and keep swallowing their economic prescriptions. It is common knowledge that every writer designs the fate of his characters. What is Africa’s fate? From the colonialists of the past, to the world’s new economic power houses, the story is the same. More machineries are digging in, more hoses are sucking up the very soul of Africa, what is left of its value is washed down the sea.

The role of Africa has always been limited to the extractive level; the farmhouse of the industrialists. Yet these nations rarely own or control these productive forces on their land after they are signed off. Even with colonialism gone, African nations still do not control their destinies. Many are African nations that beat their chests over decades old independence, yet their leaders jostle to become blue-eyed boys of the West and East. The years are the only things that pile up so far, not value.


The fault is nobody’s but ours. While we are quick to put our national problems down to suppression, the real issue is abysmal failure of leadership. Africa still lacks leaders who can negotiate its place on the world’s economic stage. Africa still lacks policy makers who will not sign away the soul and keep the shell. So far what we have are largely lackeys, thieves and vision-less individuals serving private interests and vigorously pursuing the death of their own people. Every nation that has grown in spite of the global norm, whether it is Japan, China or India, did so by tracing a way out of the grand global script, only to return when they have garnered some economic clout and enough political influence to take their rightful place.

They have effectively used their comparative advantages, be it population or sheer brain power, while Africa sits on crude resources and begs for technology transfer. The reason anyone still looks in Africa’s direction is because of the resources that are still available to be carted off, and some day there will be noting left. And just as some have returned to shale oil, many will go back to their strategically reserved resources deliberately left for the development of their future generations. And Africa? Africa will become a wasteland, drilled and mined to death; some mega form of Haiti where everyone knows but no one wants to go.

While we are comfortably signing off the future of our children for paid vacations to go and marvel at the beauty of extractors’ lands; while we are accepting secretly built palatable homes and surrendering our children’s future; while we are saving our stolen funds in their banks to further help advance their developed countries at the expense of ours, a day shall come when our children will all be thrown back to hell hole that will be what is left of Africa.

I understand that in some quarters Africans are called ‘people of low intelligence’. Well, what can one say but add: what animal eats the future of its offspring? It does not matter where we reside, whether our ancestors were shipped to Americas or Europa, you still get the same basic treatment; an outsider’s treatment at best. You can rant about it, you can plead and attempt to prick the human conscience, but if we you want to keep staying in another man’s house because yours is dirty, you will never be respected by your host.

 And you also want him to go to your house and do your cleaning while you are it?

Until we learn to clean our own mess, no one will respect what we stand for. Until Africans build vibrant, black first-world nations its citizens will continue to be addressed as immigrants while they are outstanding professional out there. And unemployables individuals from other parts of the world will continue to be called expatriates while here. If you haven’t discovered the economics difference between the two then you are still – in Nigerian parlance – sitting on a long thing.

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