Africa is not poor!

The word ‘Poor’ as defined by oxford dictionary is "lacking sufficient money to live at a standard considered comfortable or normal in a society". How can we then say Africa is poor? It is a known fact that Africa has a large quantity of natural resources, including diamonds, salt, gold, iron, cobalt, uranium, copper, bauxite, silver, petroleum, cocoa beans, woods and tropical fruits (Wikipedia). Africa has “About 30% of the world known reserves of minerals, about 10% of oil and 8% of gas resources, largest cobalt, diamonds, platinum, and uranium reserves in the world”(African Natural Resources Center). Africa is blessed with a very good climate condition and high number of human resources, having more youths dominating her population. As at July 2017, Africa accounts for 16.36% of the world population with median age of 19.5 years (Worldometers, 2017). Millions of Africans are outside of her shore making history with inventions in science and technology, medicine, sports, education and many others.

Sadly today, most African countries are classified as developing countries. These countries in the true sense should be classified as under-developing countries, considering the rate of development with available wealth. The poverty rate is extremely high in Africa, which homes 75% of the world’s poorest countries (Packtor, 2015). Millions of active age group are trooping out of Africa in search of a greener pasture. An example is the study of immigrants in the US with Nigerians topping the list followed by Ethiopia and Egypt. (Pew research center, 2017 ).

What then can we associate this situation to? Poverty amidst abundant wealth! The answer is not far fetched. There is a clear leadership gap. And this simply explains why we could not utilize the abundant wealth to develop our nations. Rather, our supposed wealth has become a curse unto the continent. Lack of leadership skills has brought about degraded value system and thus introduced many negative vices such as corruption aimed at crippling economy of the nation. This has also given Africa as an easy prey to developed countries. Thus, Africa is being exploited at her detriment to further develop the so called developed countries. More painful is the fact that many African youths are wasting away with no value added activities. They are directing their energies toward negativity. Many of the countries in Africa top the list of internet fraud, drug abuse, prostitution, terrorism, violence and others. 

Leadership as defined by business dictionary involves “establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with others so that they will follow willingly, providing the information, knowledge and methods to realize that vision, coordinating and balancing the conflicting interests of all members and stakeholders. (Business dictionary).

Thus, leadership qualities are mandatory for good governance in managing the resources of the nation. To change the current trend, there is a clear need to revisit below points as we have to be architects of our own success;

Credible electioneering process:  This should be fine-tuned to produce credible candidates. A quick view on the political structure in Africa shows a ruined system of governance. Leaders of some African countries have clung unto power for decades of years with virtually no added value to governance. People with questionable characters are found at the helms of affairs. Electioneering is always associated with violence in Africa. Thus, we always end up having wrong people with access to political power. This trend has to change if development is truly desired in Africa.

Building our value system: It is high time African countries built their value system which will aim at reducing corruption to the barest minimum."The problems of leadership in the country are rooted in the problems of individual Nigerians. So for the country to survive the current recession, everyone must imbibe self-mastery, desire higher knowledge, be creative, have strength of will and experience spiritual attunement. the greater the number of individuals equipped with the techniques of resolving personal problems, the better the society will be and, by extension, the better the leadership of that society and, of course, the better the nation will be" (Agbonkhese, 2017). Thus, people can demand high standard and seek excellence in all walks of life.

Adeniji A

References:

African Natural Resources Center, Africa’s Natural Resources Wealth: A Snap Shot. available at: https://www.afdb.org/en/topics-and-sectors/initiatives-partnerships/african-natural-resources-center-anrc/ (Accessed: 11 July 2017).

Agbonkhese, O (2017) Leadership problems rooted in individual Nigerians. Availabe online at https://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/leadership.html

Business dictionary available online at https://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/leadership.html/ (Accessed: 11 July 2017).

Packtor, J. (2015) Top 10 Poverty in Africa Facts. Available online: https://borgenproject.org/10-quick-facts-about-poverty-in-africa/ (Accessed: 11 July 2017).

Pew research center (2017) African immigrant population in U.S. steadily climbs. Available online at: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/14/african-immigrant-population-in-u-s-steadily-climbs/ (Accessed: 11 July 2017).

photo credit: https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2016/10/mapping-africa-natural-resources-161020075811145.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_resources_of_Africa/ (Accessed: 11 July 2017).

Wordometers (2017). https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/africa-population/