AFRICA Vs The Rest of the World

Friday March 7, 2008 19:30hrs, I watched a CNN Inside-Africa report that insensitively painted Nigeria as a difficult and corrupt environment, where people are forced to engage in criminal and immoral activities in order to survive. This report also implied that churches were simply in the business of exploiting people, not being concerned about their members’ general well being. The subject of the report was one 'Joy', who left the shores of Nigeria in search of greener pastures in Europe (after withstanding abuse by her guardian), was forced to trade her body for cash and eventually got deported from Denmark back to Nigeria. She was reported to have been given 100 euros ‘pocket money’ with which she had to bribe security and airport agents in Nigeria in order to escape incarceration.

However, this report did convey a grossly inaccurate message about Nigeria. I must mention that there are obvious challenges in Nigeria (and everywhere else on planet earth), but highlighting our's as being so intense that you have to resort to vices in order to keep body and soul together is indeed misleading and unjustifiable. The western media have enormous power and coverage, and have proven to be creative in prompt news delivery, but they also seem to have a reputation for subtly programming the minds of the global audience to adopt western ideologies and points of view.

Time and again, Africa has been labelled and perceived as a continent of suffering. Backwardness and underdevelopment are often associated with us. Those familiar with western media (i.e. CNN, BBC, TIME, The Economist…e.t.c) frequently come across reports on conflicts and mismanagement and each time we come across such, we begin to wonder whether it’s the same continent we live in that’s being reported.
It would be naïve to deny that Africa indeed has numerous challenges especially with regards to leadership, management, infrastructural development, education and health care. But the question is: “Is that all there is to our great continent?”

Human Capital: Africa has played a very crucial role in human development spanning generations. I need not bore you with history, but we know about the origins of Civilization. Egypt and Mesopotamia were major catalysts of human development over the ages.
Today, Africans at home and in diaspora have recorded numerous groundbreaking achievements in virtually ALL fields imaginable. Even head-hunters for global corporations are beaming their searchlight on Africans to fill strategic roles in these corporations. The two Nigerian women at the World Bank is testament to this fact.

Physical Resources: If I started enumerating our physical resources, It would take quite a while to exhaust the list. Fact is Africa is BY FAR the most talented continent in the world in terms of physical resources. From crude-oil to natural gas reserves, tin, columbite, uranium, gold, diamond, nickel, bitumen and the rare elements…e.t.c, Africa is gifted enough to be ENTIRELY self sufficient. We have the potential to build a regional self sustaining economy, though the journey to realisation of this requires focussed and tenacious leadership, strategic planning and execution of the highest order.

Markets and Population: On the average, we are densely populated and still growing at a fast rate. The markets are there and still rapidly expanding whilst new market segments have started to develop. That’s why we are called emerging markets (maybe not yet at the pace of the BRICs, but using your mind’s eye, this development is unmistakable).
A virtually previously non-existent middle class has emerged in many African Nations and is just budding. In a few years, there would be unprecedented regional and continent-wide demand for (high quality) products and services.

Perception: Perception has proved a major stumbling block to our development. We all frequently hear about the pre and post visit experiences of non-Africans that have visited our continent.
Frequently, these people have confessed to holding warped and inaccurate views of what obtains in our land pre-visit. Their decision to embark on such trips has been analogous to engaging in some form of risk, and many times adjudged as being uncalculated and unnecessary by their peers in their home countries. However, the more adventurous and truth seeking ones that managed to board those intercontinental flights have often not regretted.
Many of them have confessed that Africa is indeed a blessed and incredibly beautiful continent with such diversity you can hardly find anywhere else. The heritage and culture is original and simply incomparable.

Only Africans can redeem Africa’s image. Africa’s re-branding is certainly every African’s responsibility. When we get to the point where we all appreciate and perpetrate our heritage (of course we have to foreclose or put an end to negative traditions) irrespective of where we find ourselves, our misrepresentation would certainly become a thing of the past.
It’s about time we respond with a strategic media weapon that would propagate African objectives internationally in similar vein as the middle-east's response to western media manipulations with their famous Aljazeera Network.

Neo-colonization
The concept of neo-colonization is indeed true and should spark concern. FDIs (Foreign Direct Investments) have increased significantly and more foreign monies continue to pour into African economies. What is suspect is the fact that a larger part of the investments have been targeted at securing and sustaining medium to long term hold over our natural resources.
Energy and metals are key drivers of industrialization. The unprecedented growth rates of economies such as China’s and India’s and the increasing needs of the U.S and Europe have forced these nations to find new sources of energy and critical elements, if they intend sustaining their growth rates.

Focussing on Energy, nation states outside of Africa are increasingly nationalising their resources making it increasingly difficult for larger economies to guarantee future supplies. Increasing global economic development indices has also meant increased demand for limited resources, forcing the big consumers to go about scouting for newer and more stable sources.
China for example has recently flooded Africa with cash (obviously from those massive trillion dollar foreign reserves) in exchange for unrestricted access to significant chunks of her resources.

Companies such as Lonrho which were in the process of divesting from the continent have resurfaced with greater passion, perhaps after recognising the strategic role Africa’s resources would play in the emerging global economy. Indeed, there is a new rush for Africa, but this time around, it’s not for kunta-kinte (human slaves), at least not in that sense. It definitely is for her mineral resources.

But we indeed have a joker in our hands, and it’s up to us to decide how we’ll play. We could choose to collect cash in exchange for our resources, consume it, and continue to maintain our commodity-economy status whilst re-building debt. We could also decide to forge strategic partnerships that would harness these resources for global consumption whilst empowering our people, developing our markets and diversifying our economies.

A quick peep into what’s going on in the middle-east would provide valuable lessons for African nations. UAE, Qatar and Saudi-Arabia are appropriating their massive oil and gas wealth for development and diversification of their economies. They are setting up world class institutions and importing brains from all over to build local talent. They are building service oriented economies that would ensure a smooth transition from commodity based to service-oriented economies when the oil finally runs out (and that’s still up to a hundred years away, assuming no additional reserves are discovered).

And this next point is simply unbelievable - They are also investing in clean and renewable energy technologies that would complement and reduce dependence on global warming culprit, oil.
Masdar city is a multi billion dollar project in the UAE that aims to build a city that is entirely dependent upon solar energy using CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) technology in the desert.

There has been high clamour and clatter about reducing dependence on oil, but fact is there wouldn’t be a replacement any time soon. Africa indeed has been presented with a unique opportunity to leverage on her resources in order to achieve her long sought objectives of eliminating poverty, achieving prosperity and attaining development. We can either choose life (by doing the simple right things) or trudge along the old path. I believe we’ve learnt from history and would do the simple right things. Let's all do our part guys!