The Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, and other African intellectuals recently enjoined African leaders to stop depending on external assistance for survival. In a joint letter to them, Soyinka, Makhily Gassama, Cheikh Kane, Odile Tobner, Iva Cabral, Charles Ukeje and Olivette Otele urged the leaders to use the opportunity offered by the ravaging coronavirus to develop the continent.
According to them, the restoration of its intellectual freedom and the capacity to create resources without which none of the countries in the region can lay claim to any sustainable sovereignty are some of the challenges facing the continent. They urged the countries to break with the outsourcing of their sovereign prerogatives, reconnect with local configurations, adapt science, technology and research to their context and adopt inclusive governance framework and endogenous development. These, they argued, would create value in Africa and reduce its systemic dependence.
The wake-up call from Soyinka and others could not have come at a better time than now. With the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic across the world, donor countries are equally distressed. As a region, Africa accounts for around 20 per cent of the United States’ aid, with Egypt, Kenya, and South Sudan being the biggest beneficiaries. Such assistance has been channeled through such initiatives as Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Africa Development Foundation (ADF). We acknowledge that such assistance has helped to stimulate local economies, sustainable agriculture, youth entrepreneurship and improved access to power.
Despite these successes, it has been observed that the provision of foreign assistance has developed a culture of dependency among the countries in the continent. With the COVID-19 pandemic seriously affecting the donor countries, there is little they can do.
It is, therefore, time for Africa to stand on its feet. African nations must come up with their development agenda and implement them. With a growing population of 200 million youths aged between 15 and 24, and which is expected to double by 2045, Africa is ranked the youngest population in the world. The growing youth population can be of great advantage if properly utilised.
It is sad that Africa is grappling with rising poverty, unemployment, youth restiveness, crimes and other vices. Against this backdrop, the future looks bleak for Africa even after COVID-19 pandemic.
African countries should create policies that will encourage competitive private sector initiatives that favour business growth, job creation, and the stimulation of the various economies. Such measures include sound fiscal and monetary policies; good governance, transparency, rule of law and reduction of corruption. To free Africa from over-dependence syndrome, diversification from mono-cultural products to technology-based economies by the respective countries must be vigorously pursued. Many African countries rely on agro-based economies and raw materials that require buyers from outside. For instance, Nigeria and Angola depend mainly on their oil exports. The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact have rendered these countries vulnerable. The recent report of African Union (AU) study that Africa’s biggest oil producers, Nigeria and Angola, could lose $65 billion in income this year due to the impact of the pandemic is instructive. The study predicted that African oil exporters would have their budget deficits double this year while their economies would shrink three per cent on average. It pointed out that there would be about 20 million job losses.
For Nigeria specifically, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, had on April 17, alerted that its economy would be threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic and the sharp fall in international oil prices. The warning can be said to be true of other African countries.
Therefore, we urge African leaders to rise up to the challenge and revamp their economies. Getting it right would require a paradigm shift in the leadership recruitment processes on the continent. The region needs to take a cue from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia that have frontally addressed their leadership limitations and advanced to the First World. African countries must develop their universities and research institutions to serve as centres of knowledge and innovation.
The continent also needs to look inwards and encourage trade among the constituting nations. The governments must improve regional integration initiatives necessary for sustained development and prosperity.
The current level of trade among African states, which the World Trade Organisation (WTO) puts at only 12 per cent compared to 60 per cent for Europe, 40 per cent for North America, and 30 per cent for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is not encouraging. Rather, it fosters dependency on outsiders.
We call on African leaders to maximise the benefits of the Africa’s Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement to accelerate development on the continent. African entrepreneurs in the Diaspora should also lend their expertise to the development of the region.