Expressing Optimism: How Africa Painful Experience Can Pay In Full

Expressing Optimism: How Africa Painful Experience Can Pay In Full

By: Ali Faagba

Since the first exploration of Africa by the Portuguese, the story of Africa has not always been a happy one. For example, the mere exploration paved way for the rise of the spine-chilling trans-atlantic slave trade, then colonialism and finally the much-whispered latent neo-colonialism.




Perhaps more regrettably, history provisions show that the giving out of people as slaves to the Europeans by some African rulers was prelude to their interest in the slave trade. The slave trade and all that followed it descended so heavily with their scourge on Africa that it left us with scar we may never recover from. 

Ordinarily, one would presume that with the realization of independence across African states in the beginning of the second half of the twentieth century, our harrowing plights would wither away. Unfortunately, it has not. The misery remains with us. Africa is replete with all sorts of horror: heartbreaking phenomena such as corruption, Civil Wars, extreme poverty, tyranny, bloody coups and spread of preventable diseases are so dominant that they are now becoming synonymous with African culture and identifiable as a way of life. 

It comes to mind how the renowned Kenyan writer and political satirist, Ngugi Wa Thiongo, described Africa in his novel, Wizard of the crow: he painted an image of a nation whose the most valid proof of presence is the presence of beggars. He and  some many other literary legends in Africa continue to warn of the danger of our over dependence on the white man, an action which has not only left the continent in limbo of identity but even in too many unsolved problems. 

According to the UN, Africa takes 85 percent of its Security Council's time, plannings and strategies. From every nook and cranny of the continent, wars whose reason defy logic have erupted, diseases have sprouted uncontrollably and dictators who have desecrate human life repeatedly remain sacred cows. Terrorism is in prowl. Leadership now equals totalitarianism and democracy a mere travesty of itself. Problems abound in Africa but none of them is totally free from our deliberate lack of self-reliance. The future of Africa, however, is still bright. It all depends on the little things we do or do not do today. 

Listening to a speech delivered by Vice-president of Africa Development Bank (AfDB), Pierre Guislan, at the Africa CEO Forum in Geneva, Switzerland on March 20,2017, one finds some modicum of hope. He said: "Africa has a young and growing workforce, which will increase from about 617 million today to 1.6 billion in 2060, providing an opportunity to reap 'demographic dividends' that will lift millions out of poverty. If we harness these potentials, Africa will be UNSTOPPABLE". I say: yes it is possible. 

Perhaps more important, if Africa must exploit its potential in full, it must move from dependence on its counterpart continents to cooperation with them. More so, each African country must now open its arm wide for its neighbor. Individual growths do not last or do not occur at all, there must be an inclusive growth that cover all set of people, gender, race and even neighboring countries. To be clear, this is not to say that citizens of other nations should be allowed to flow in to others without regulation. Workable vetting laws and migration regulations must be in place to check and foist any possible security threat. 

Furthermore, we must now attune ourselves to the fact that herding multiple groups of variant tribes together in a place without their consent, as occurred in Nigeria and elsewhere, is a cruel European design and such designs must be supplanted with a better one. If this was done with the aim of enabling symmetric growth, it has apparently proven unable to deliver. Each tribe is capable of choosing its own leader and when we let them do, we consciously invite -arguably- healthy competition which may in turn force each nation of a given region to streamline its development process. The frosty relationship between many forcibly lumped together tribes in Africa has been a cog in the wheel of our development. 

As the spirit of democracy now sweep across Africa, as one can notice in the recent happenings in elections, especially in West Africa, I remain optimistic about the promising future of Africa, that someday Africa may be taking a leading role in defining our world. We must now invest in Africa, make less conferences and take more actions. Enough of grandstanding and speechifying by our leaders. If we must keep pace with the fast changing world, stable power supply (as reflected in "light up Africa" by the AfDB), freedom of speech; true democracy; dynamic,efficient and reliable security, global-standard system of education and inclusion of youths in politics must be at the core of our agenda. 

Security, most especially, must be the bedrock of our development. Serene and peaceful environment, coupled with predictable and stable returns and as well as formidable culture of cordiality, will remove the misgivings of foreign investors and lure them to our shore. Too many internal displayed persons, as a result of terror,  also put heavy burden on our economy. Similarly, regional organizations such as ECOWAS must be strengthened and given stern power to reign in all crass misconducts and disruptive elements that have successfully dragged our name to the mud. Except if we stop, the goal of "UNSTOPPABLE AFRICA" is still very feasible. 

Ali Faagba is the Editor-in-Chief @ www.hemedia.com.ng

He writes via opeyemi.hamed@yahoo.com