Africa is the poster child for the classic case of the paradox of plenty. This simply means that despite the immense natural resources that exist in the continent, it is still the poorest region in the world. The desire of helping to lift Africa from its abyss is now an industry in itself. It has attracted various politicians, celebrities, and academics, who each offers a myriad of solutions on what ails the continent, and what it is the continent can do to grow. Names such as Jeffery Sachs, Dambisa Moyo, rock singer Bono as well as many others frequently come up when talking about development in Africa.
Africa possesses a great deal of arable land – it has plenty of natural resources, and has a population of a billion plus people. Why have these not enabled the continent to progress forward? Even then, throughout the 1960s, several African countries celebrated their Independence. Yet 50 years later, they have nothing to show for all the years of Independence. The mission and vision statements of the various African countries have remained policy statements on paper with nothing to show on the ground. Each year, the can has been kicked down the road as the implementation of the policies is dragged along.
What then is the path for Africa? How can the continent leverage on its immense natural resources and emerge as one of the leading centres of economic activity in the world. Here, we need to do certain things right. The leadership in the continent must be fixed as a matter of priority. In a sense then, what we have are leaders who have not advocated for the best ideals but have instead perpetuated the same neocolonial tendencies as the former colonial masters. The pipeline for the nurturing and development of leaders that champion the causes of the continent appears to have run out fast.
While it is true that the rich world may be blamed for some of Africa’s woes, the truth is that many of the continent’s problems are self created. The solutions for Africa’s woes are complex, and would require a multi-faceted approach. But which African leader(s) will rise up to take the challenge of lifting Africa from its abyss?
