Africa, why are we so blessed and yet so poor?

It’s a lovely Saturday morning 3rd of March 2018 and I am sitting here in Europe under a terrible weather thinking why Africa a continent that has the best weather to support agriculture, renewable energy, nearly 1.5 billion people with vibrant young population, 60% of worlds arable land, rich in natural resources and possess nearly 40% of the earth’s remaining natural resources and yet poor.

Some blame it on political instability but 15 member countries of ECOWAS have democratically elected government for the first time in our history so as many countries in sub Saharan Africa.

I think time has come for a new form of partnership between Africa and the world, not a partnership based on aids and hand outs.

A partnership to be characterised by substantial increase in trade and cooperation.

A partnership that will resist and shun export of raw materials and embrace economic and industrial transformation.

A partnership that will develop strategic industries out of its abundant natural resources.

A partnership that will embrace public private partnership as a way to modernizing our agriculture to enhance its productivity, increase power generation output and to bridge the huge infrastructural deficit by attracting investment in the development of both our roads and railways.

Africa will never develop if we continue to export raw materials, out of the four countries that make the most chocolates (US, Germany, Swiss and Belgium), none is in Africa while West Africa collectively supplies two thirds of the world's cocoa crop, with Ivory Coast leading production at 1.8 million tonnes as of 2017, and nearby Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Togo producing additional 1.55 million tonnes.

I don’t want to talk about Nigeria because it is a shame that Nigeria is the only member country in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that imports petrol and is currently the largest importer of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the world.

The only way to ensure prosperity for Africa and jobs for our young population is through value addition of activities in a transformed diversified modern economy in which we take full advantage of the digital revolution in order words the industrial development of our continent.

I will conclude with the words of American William Jennings Bryan “Destiny is not a matter of choice, it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved”