Topic: Enconomic foresight of Africa (Read 399 times)

Bad leadership is the reason why we are were we are today. Bad governance loom across all the countries in Africa, from West Africa to South, East and North, they are full of bunch of corrupt leaders. Even South Africa is where they are today because the country is half black race and half white people, this is why the country has some reputation with development as those leaders can't fool the white the way we the black fool each other without any complaints.

Take a look at the situation of Kenya and the protest that has happened in the last 2 weeks, all resulted from bad leadership because the government is kin on passing a bill that will fustrate to people with heavy tax. They are collecting money from people only to end up with bad leadership, all money are been stolen and we want to compare our nations with the western countries, we are not ready for development. 

First, it's not even an English yet alone British think, second weird, looking at the Africa and India maps before the British rule seems like they united more people in same countries than ever. Not to mention that there was no actual India before the British or that some "countries" in Africa were made up of 2000 tribes each with its own village.

The whole divide and conquer existed before colonialism, before the Europeans conquered Africa, and most importantly started with Africans hunting other Africans and selling them into slavery at a time when the British Isles were made up of 7 kingdoms.


Also, it's not generals who execute millions in civil wars in Africa, it's other Africans who do that!
But yeah, let's blame anyone else but the real culprit!

And the reason why most of them turn to crime is because that's the only way they think they can make a good living. So it's sort of a cycle.

If the government doesn't want to make their people's lives better, this will decrease the standard of living, which in turn will make more people turn to crime as they are unable to make their ends meet legally otherwise, which ruins the safety of others, and so on.

You know Africa was exceptionally blessed by nature among other continents in the world but we are not using our potentials, it is not like Africans doesn't know the value of what they have and what they can be used for the problem of Africans is just two things.
1 Africans prioritized money
2 Disbelieve

Africans prioritized money over what they have they so much believe in selling their natural resources to get money.

Africans don't believe in themselves they don't believe in their products they do believe they can produce world class products but when you go to outside Africa the ones producing those products are Africans. Africans so much believe in competition with the other African nations rather than competing with other continents to bring the glory to Africa.

Let one country in Africa start producing an airplane before 1week another African country would also do that so why waiting for who to start first why not do it and let others follow you why prioritizing money.
The funniest part of it is after selling these products out they still go and buy them costly and they come back to be proud of the high amount they have wasted
Africa is still one of the best continents in the world no matter what prove me wrong.

The problem with Africa and why Africa has not gone in development is because of mismanagement of fund and Africa don't have this mentality to be very productive that other people should depend on them. Africa always think of how they can get everything from other regions while they have the resources of producing anything here in Africa.  If Africa can try it best to be in managing money that is generated from their resources and a continent that they can be able to produce the basic things, and solve the problem of other countries then Africa will go far. It is just as if Africa is not improving in development because they still keep on doing things in the same way , that is why the results of things are always the same.

In fact, Africa has a fantastic economic background, it's just that the economy in Africa has worsened due to the cold war that has been going on for years, Foreign countries entering Africa do not look at global poverty, not in view of the dry and barren global climate, there are special reasons why other countries have a strong desire to come there.

Africa has an attraction for foreign countries to come there, they do not see poverty, in fact they see Africa as having large natural resources, such as platinum supplies which reach 90%, cobalt has supplies of more or less 60%, Likewise, with gold supplies more or less reaching the 40% level, it's no wonder they flock there as their target, that's not to mention the illegal business carried out by poachers to increase demand for wildlife in Africa.

My understanding is that if Africa does not implement the vision of integration, peace and prosperity for local communities by the government, I am sure that Africa will not have an impact on the economy, In fact, it is even worse because of their irresponsible actions towards natural wealth there, it is even worse globally, especially in Africa.

Other countries will not provide opportunities or opportunities to certain countries as long as the opportunities or opportunities can be utilized by themselves and even if they are to be given for free, of course there are other things expected from that country. So any country, including those in Africa, must be able to rise up with its own determination without depending on opportunities provided by other countries, because basically every country makes developments for itself without caring about its neighbors.

The major reason why African countries are listed among underdeveloped nations is corruption, although corruption is everywhere but the level of corruption in africa is beyond human comprehension, our leaders see embezzlement and looting as a normal thing thats why the countries in Africa is facing underdevelopment, although some African countries are still doing great, example, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, South Africa and some not  mentioned here, atleast the few mentioned are trying the little they can in terms of accountability.
What makes nations develope is not their economic potentials rather it is the ability of the leaders to use the resources available to develope the country and make it a global center of attraction, many countries started from somewhere but their developmental strategy brought them where they are today, I somuch that understand west African country leaders are not ready to put greed aside in other to allow things to go smoothly for development to see the light of the day in their various area of jurisdiction.
Am proud to be an African, my country is blessed with a large quantity of mineral resources but the utilization of the proceeds from this resources are not judiciously used to enhance the development my country deserve, I wish someday our leaders will rethink and make things right for everyone to enjoy the devidence of democracy.

The problem of Africa is that of leadership and lack of institutions that are independent from the leadership or government. If you check most of the top economies of the world, you will see those two factors from operational and strongholds of their economies. In Africa and other developing countries as they are called, you see high level of corruption in top places that are suppose to be custodians of the people's common wealth and no institution is independent to question such bad activities.

Again there are no credible institution that will ensure credible leaders are elected to offices rather you see people of no integrity and bad record who are not ready to serve but to look for means to embezzle what is meant for the people. Those are why most African countries find themselves backwards.

You have just succinctly described current world politics.   

Yes true, but also the problem is that humanity has always been evolved to flock to the people who say things they want to hear, or they agree with, not the things they need to hear. It means that a president or any ruler, who does what the public wants and not what public needs, will end up getting more attention. Plus, the whole British "divide and conquer" thing works in the politics too, you could be the worst type of human, but if you make the other side the devil, then your people will hate the other side, and side with you no matter how bad you are.

These things makes politics easy for anyone who has very low morals, I should know because I was in politics for a few years and saw what people do and quit very quickly when I was offered a position. Because that position meant that I would have to do shady things to keep my power and grow, and I am not that person, the guy that took it after I rejected is not making millions and I can barely afford to survive, not everyone can make that decision.

While many people argue that climate in Africa is what prevents many countries from becoming rich and a developed country, I would say that is more the problem of access to affordable technology in a large scale. The number one problem here is access to electricity which most of modern technology requires. The rise of the internet created a lot of opportunities for Africa, but without having electricity in every village, the internet is not going to be helpful for people living outside of the big cities. The main factor here is solar energy in my opinion. The more affordable small scale solar panels become, the easier it will be to give everybody in Africa access to electricity. Another step would be to create large solar farms that could transfer energy to other countries, either via storing it or via large cables all across Africa. Investing in infrastructure would be the next big step to connect the continent better.  

Check out "Empire of Dust".

tldr; If you don't want want to watch the whole thing skip to the best part 01:13:00

https://youtu.be/kOkrYW3vF0o?si=bP81EmIUJaLPC0iM

Precisely! Politicians don't just come to power all by themselves. Generals and presidents don't become who they are all of a sudden. It is a given that many of the African people severely lack empowerment. It is also a given that they are continuously exploited by foreign powers. I don't discount that. That the African people are continuously victimized by competing global hegemonies is a fact.

However, to also point all fingers at external factors is a cowardly and irresponsible act. That's a poor alibi that's almost tantamount to admitting that Africans aren't capable of designing their own fate.

Africa could be the last continent to experience growth and economy development, but the important thing is they don't stop working until they see their biggest developments. It may be noted that Africa is the poorest continent despite of the fact that it's the most resource-abundant, but I don't think the citizens are all dumb not to realize that. Of course, they are also doing their best to improve their region's economy, it may be late compared to others but at least they're constantly working on it.

Blaming corrupt politicians on the ills of the African continent is not productive.  Politicians do not exist in a vacuum.  They are representative of the people and the culture.
Unless the people and the culture of a nation are mature enough to support and demand political and economic systems that will build a modern nation / society rather than personal enrichment, there will be no progress.   

Well, the bad leadership, corruption, and greed of some old politicians are what I see as the root causes of underdevelopment in some African countries. Some of these African countries, too, are less old than some first-world countries that have gained independence farbefore some African countries gained independent, so you cannot really compare in terms of age difference. Just as one of the users has already said, this topic has been discussed before now. If you make use of the forum search button, you will find similar topics, and it is what it is. You can see lots of opinions on the topic. 

How can Africa rise amidst the presence of powerful nations? Although Africa has enormous economic potential, its development depends on whether other countries provide opportunities. The reality is that these so-called major powers are exploiting Africa's resources. If they do not cause further harm, it would already be a significant relief.

I have always talked about the potential that Africa has as a continent. Maybe not every single nation there, but getting better and better technology, and using their profits with their resources to build better infrastructure, we are seeing better results. Hell people could build forests in Arabian deserts now, so there is absolutely no reason why Africa would stay like that, we could actually see them get better and better.

Sure, there are some awesome places and some terrible places there right now, but with awesome places making some money, they are going to grow and be much better for everywhere equally. They just need time, in 50 years you will see that Africa could be as strong as any other continent in the world.

The African continent is full of potential but it is being limited by the politicians in power, since they care not about the population they govern and they only care about the benefits they can get, since for them it is easier to remain in power if they avoid developing the country they lead, so the people that could have the potential to help their countries to develop never receive the opportunity to do so or they are forced to emigrate to other countries.

The problem about African is that there is allot of greedy leaders in the continent and the citizens are following the footsteps of the leaders. If not, there is no reason why someone will come out to become a head of state in any of the African countries and promise allot of things but when the person finally enters in to the office the whole promises becomes pass tense. The world is advancing but the leaders and the people of Africa is not yet ready to be advanced in anything that will help the countries inside African continent.

I don't think the problem stems from education, in my country for example most young men and women try their best to leave the country after graduating from the university, they want to leave for better opportunities, either to further their education abroad or to get a job in a system that is working. If there was a lot on offer back home, they would definitely prefer to remain in the country, but can you blame them for the path they have chosen.

It is a failed system in most countries in Africa, and the problem stems from those in power. Tax payers money is used to fund the expensive lifestyle of our leaders, instead of it to be channeled to development and infrastructure building. Things can only get better when the system starts working.

Underdevelopment in Africa has always been a pain in the ass of many Africans and expressing their griefs on how their countries have come to be despite the huge deposit of natural resources in them. Africa are not the only underdeveloped continents but also some countries in other continents are also facing the same. What distinguishes that of Africans is the huge some of deposit in natural resources that they’re not taking advantage of. The blame is either the leaders or the westerners they blame to always come to cater away with their resources. This is the 21st century and everyone have wise up enough to know what’s good for their own country. It will only take an unwise leader or a selfish leader to not see the potential and the depth to which his/her country can use that natural resources to develop their country.

Not all African countries are underdeveloped in this present time, there are those that have moved from underdeveloped to developing nations though not that advance as those of the West and Europe. The problem with a lot of those African countries that are still struggling with underdevelopment when their counterparts are advancing in development is as a result of greed in the leadership roles especially those countries of West Africa - a condition where there exist an attitudinal culture of primitive accumulation of common wealth and resources by a single individual or group to their personal gain. A society with a high rate of corruption without institutional control such a society developmental advancement will be alien to them.

Year 8600 AD

Europe has sunk in the great disaster of 2450
All people in the Americas have moved to the first galaxy colony on satellite Europa and have ceased communication
Australia has been a nuclear wasteland since WW8 in 4180
Most of Asia is uninhabitable but the largest concentration of remaining humans still live on shoes the now-called Gundam Sea where AI controls the now technologically advanced ahegao empire

Meanwhile, Africa still blames colonialism for power outages!


I once posted the link to "Empire of Dust" on some African reddit forum, asking how much is  true....was banned in 1 min

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOkrYW3vF0o
I love his part:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsyHbj_SHGA


Looking at how they solved the Uyghur problem, it won't be pretty!

I am African, I was born and live in an African country, and I feel very sad and disappointed every time I see some people from Africa lying, saying that Africa is in this shameful, poor state because of the West, because of the colonist. this is not true. Africa is poor because of the political parties that fought for the independence of African countries, these political parties that were 40 or 50 years ago in the fight against the colonists, think they own the countries they liberated, they have become corrupt to the extreme. They imposed laws that look more like dictatorships, they became very rich because they sell natural resources and the money goes into their pockets. To get an idea of ​​what happens here in Africa:

When a rich person from Europe wants to create a company in some African country, when that person arrives in that African country, the managers of that African country demand that they become partners in that company even without taking 1 cent, they charge for the land that will be the headquarters of the company, they blackmail the owner of the company and because of this, investors have avoided investing in Africa. To change this scenario, young Africans need to vote for intelligent and young people to lead the country and not accept fraud in elections and then get closer to democratic countries like the USA and many countries in Europe and avoid following China's political system and have very restricted relations with dictatorship countries, Africa must have democracy, Africa must have independent and functioning courts, Africa must have a justice system that works for everyone.

It's high time African continent stop blaming the colonial masters for their underdevelopment. Undoubtedly, they exploited the continent to barest minimum and enslaved the continent but Africans are not ready to let go of themselves since they allowed themselves to be used by the so called masters to destroy their own continent. Since independence of various African countries until this very moment is long enough for a serious nation to build from a scratch with the little available resources left behind by the exploiters. I don't see external factors as an excuse for this menace of underdevelopment, corruption is the root cause. After colonial exploitation, politicians are now exploitating their fellow country men.

That being said, election in Africa is always characterized by propaganda among the top contenders on one another. The issue of US was more of confusion than reality. Moreover, even releasing those information will not have significant impact on the outcome of election. The country is already in bondage and irrespective of who becomes the president will dance to their tune or face the consequences.

The only advancement in Africa for thousands of years has been under the occupation and control of western imperialists.
Once the foreign control departs, economic and societal decay sets in as seen in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Now it's China's turn to play "imperialist oppressor" in Africa.  It will be interesting to see how they fare in the hurt locker.  
  

Might sound very funny and unbelievable "that this corruptions are being celebrated even or mostly by the masses". These corrupt heads are celebraties in the life of (some or most of) the populace even with absolute knowledge of their corruptions.
With all that taking place, it still boils down to inadequate education.. Bad education in almost all aspects of life
 

Just as coyster pointed, these men and women finds it difficult to plant trees because they think they won't hid under it when sun heats... (embezzlement and mismanagement/inadequacy).. Just having men and women in offices(appointments) even when they have nothing to offer...

Not to forget, on several occasions you'll see some how that the populace are not also really ready for growth by good governance... They create insecurities for their people, they value political parties more than development, they don't care about their party flag bearers so far as their party wins elections since everyone wants to become politician, and alot more that proves that the greater populace hates development (by Implication).

Africa has been a bit of a victim for a long time. Due to the large expanses and inhospitable climate, it made it much harder to industrialise. You can see that by the fact that even now they are still using railways that were first constructed by European powers. Corruption and self serving leaders have led to lots of public money being lost to very few individuals. If it happens at the top it also filters down to the average police officer on the street and it becomes a vicious cycle were nobody trusts each other. Limited job opportunities also promote nepotism which can stunt growth in any country. All round they have a much tougher past, current and future ahead.

There is too much corruption in Africa by high ranking officials. One day we may see African countries develop but there is so much poverty & lack of adequate education which leads to struggling economies. It all starts with education, if we educate the children well they can find their way into good employment, poverty will be oessejed & countries can grow. There are lots of minerals & resources in Africa, it just needs to be harvested by good governments. One day we may see a more developed Africa.

When a honest person jump into the government, he's either get kicked or he will not able to reach the top position. He can't reach the top position because the corrupt president will bribe the citizen to votes him, which make this honest person will lose.

There's no way to fix corrupt system except a big revolution happen or coup d'etat.

Since there are many people are unemployed and the criminal rate increase, we just need to wait capitalism to fall.

When local residents like those in Africa are currently unable to explore the natural potential they currently have, of course the very visible effect will be on their own economic growth as well as increasing levels of poverty and the difficulty of achieving prosperity in each country itself. Because immigrants from other countries who want to have natural products in Africa certainly have very special reasons for coming there.

So what you need to monitor in this case is the local residents or government who may only care about themselves without paying attention to the poverty of the people around them. Because a rich and prosperous country comes from leaders who are honest and not corrupt apart from considering the better human resources there.

I have held on to the believe that who we choose as the leaders of our African country plays a little role in determining how viable our economy his in most African country but with time, I have come to know that leaders are the instruments that are pivotal to the growth, stagnation or retardation any nation or continent experience. If you have leaders that understand how the digital space works, you're going to see policies that revolves more around the digital sector and same is what's obtainable to a leader that knows about how to create key economic policies that will help a nation to thrive.

Most African leaders have not gotten into power democratically and that's the singular reason we've consistently had old men as our leaders that lack the capacity to handle the African economy in such a manner that we will be able to compete with other part of the world. We have the resource, the brain and almost all that it takes to depend on ourselves for local production of goods and services that will sustain the African continent but can't do that without leaders that understand what her responsibility is and what it takes to create economic policies and systems that are viable and relevant in today's world.

Africa's problems can be solved by Africans because the people who are benefitting from those problems do not want them to end. Unfortunately, there is no political will to solve these problems and anyone who has the ability to attempt to solve them will never be allowed to get close to the corridors of power by those who run the world. They will do everything possible to kick them out including sponsoring internal resistance, buying over the institutions and using them to manipulate elections and many other techniques.

Even though I hate to say this, the truth is that with democracy, Africa will never be developed because the right people will never win elections. The institutions are corrupt and only people who can be blackmailed and cajoled into bending to the powers that be will be allowed to win elections.

I disagree though, the Africans were able to discover their economic potential centuries ago, but the thing is that they have been under rules since the beginning, imperialism and those countries that took advantage of them for years and years of enslavement and ruining their natural resources. And after that they try to get self sufficient, the damage has been done. And then when their own government emerges, civil war, famine, corrupt officials hindered their economic growth. Now they are still way below their financial capabilities and they have to make loans from WB, countries like China, who again see this as perfect opportunity are willing some of that countries billions upon billions of aid, but we all know that is just a front for them.

Besides corruption and bad leadership, external influence is one of the reasons for the underdeveloped of Africa. Some African countries are still under the influence of the colonial government. These powerful nations ensure that only politicians who will do their bidding will gain political power. The US government had evidence that a politician in my country was convicted of forgery and drug dealings but they refused to release the evidence. The reason for this is to make him thier puppet. Some of them even sponsor coups and conflicts to remove any government that wants to be independent.

The corrupt practices of African politicians are also aided by some developed nations. These politicians connive with some multinationals to loot the country's resources and help these thieves to secure the ill-gotten wealth in western banks.

In order to keep Africa underdeveloped some powerful nations have sabotaged many development projects that would have helped Africa see the light. A company built by Russia has been moribund because of the diplomatic relationship our government has with some countries who are unfriendly with Russia. They have refused to let Russians come into the country to revitalize and make the company operational. Some countries will not want my country to have a constant power supply because we are the highest importers of electrical generators. We keep having electricity sabotage that has kept the country in darkness. Most policymakers have been bribed by multinationals to keep frustrating bills that will make the country produce goods that they import from them.

However, Africa has no excuse for not being developed. This is why we had some coups that propelled diplomatic changes. We are yet to the effect of these shifts in global alignment but only time we tell how productive it will be.

Your analysis is very clear and notable. Among all the points you highlighted, I will take corruption as the major cause of underdevelopment in most African countries because it has to do with the character and the mindset of the people.
A corrupt person might be qualify for a certain position but the corrupt mindset that is already embedded in the person will overshadow the qualification and the charisma

This has been discussed quite a lot of times already, underdevelopment isn't only in Africa, there are a lot of countries in different continents that are underdeveloped or developing. The challenges are very clear in Africa, corruption/mismanagement of funds, very bad leaders/policy makers, etc. Those in charge of making decisions in many African countries are either corrupt or unqualified for the role they occupy, and the result is what you see.

That being said, there are African countries with good economies and developments, like South Africa, Egypt and Algeria, and many more are growing and developing fast.

Africa as a continent is blessed with adequate enconomic potential that is required to make a develop nation ranging from natural resource and human resource but it amazed me to see the level of underdevelopment and poverty across many countries in africa. Even at that many people from develop countries who know the enconomic potentials are trooping in to Africa on daily basis in search of greener pastures but African were unable to discover their economic potential and this is the major reason why Africa is consider as a developing nations irrespective of their enconomic potentials.