By Taiwo Akerele
In this article, Taiwo Akerele, argues that the African continent is too naturally endowed and potentially rich to be poor, too strong to be weak. He concludes that this is a challenge to current African leaders juxtaposed against the background of the pre-colonial Africa’s economy to be more productive than the 21st-century economy powered by technology and global competitiveness.
Participating at the just concluded African Network for Environmental and Economic Justices’ (ANEEJ) regional program on debt sustainability in partnership with AFRODAD Zimbabwe as a panelist and lead paper presenter at the Spring of 2021 presented an opportunity for me to join the league of the arguing group as to whether the present debt profile of African countries is sustainable and if the continent is not technically insolvent.
From the face value of figures in line with the IMF and World Bank debt sustainability frameworks, it will appear as though most countries in Africa are barely getting by when their debt as a percentage of their GDP is calculated. But for a continent whose capacity to mobilize domestic resources to run its affairs is weak and economic integration in the continent appears to be the lowest in the world, there is a serious basis for concern.
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Flying over different countries in Africa over the summer of 2021 brought a lot of thoughts to my mind on why the continent is presently the laggard of the earth’s economy. Available data from credible sources shows that Africa’s present share of global trade stands at 3%, a very miserly figure and woeful performance when compared to the 1.3bn population that lives on the continent. To make the situation more graphic, in a recent interview, the United States Assistant Trade Representative for African Affairs, Florie Liser was quoted to have said as follows and the situation with Africa trade and economic performance could not have been better presented thus;
“Trade is critically important to economic development. Right now, Africa has about 2% of all world trade, which is hard to believe when you think about all of the tremendous resources that they have – oil, diamonds, gold … not to mention all the agricultural products such as coffee, tea, cocoa – and to think that Africa still only has 2% of world trade is really incredible. But the power of trade is that if the Africans were able to increase their share of world trade from 2% to 3%, that 1% percentage increase would actually generate about $70 billion of additional income annually for Africa,” or about three times the total development assistance Africa gets from the entire world……Many countries in Asia and Latin America, she said, “don’t have even one smidgen of Africa’s natural resources – a country like South Korea, for example – yet they are huge players in the global trading system. This is why having AGOA is one initiative aimed at expanding the U.S. aspect of our economic relationship with the Africans” is so important (www.ustr.gov)
Africa’s debt overhang presently estimated at about USD$400 billion is the highest among all the continents on planet earth, as a percentage of its total Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Africa debt is by all means not sustainable and it definitely accounts for why the per capita income is arguably the lowest in the world presently estimated at a miserly $1,500 on the average/per citizen compared to South America at an average of USD$15,000 and Asia at an average of USD$35,000. When you drill further down some countries are actually lower in Africa as it relates to economic performance. The Debt to GDP ratio of the island nation of Cape Verde is a whopping 156% according to the World bank.
Interestingly, the continent in comparison to Europe and Asia is arguably blessed and strategically located in between two giant oceans – Indian and the Atlantic and sharing the banks of the Mediterranean in the north, with scores of rivers and lakes like the beautiful Lake Victoria, River Niger and Benue that straddles and flows across several countries before emptying itself in the rich Atlantic, this is beside the once aquatic rich but fast-shrinking lake Chad that bestrides four countries between West and Central Africa. Geographically, Africa is closest to Europe including sharing time zones with highly industrial countries as Germany, England, Italy and Switzerland. Africa is more connected to industrial Europe outside Asia by land by just 14 kilometers (8.8miles), according to Tripsavvy.com, Morocco and Spain share a maritime border in the Canary island area and along the straits of Gilbaltrar and the Alboran sea, (see en.wikipedia). North Africa shares boundaries with the Middle East such as Israel in Talba and the Persia Gulf area. Just like Singapore has the strait of Malacca (the strait of Malacca is a waterway connecting the Andaman Sea (the Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (the Pacific Ocean) in terms of maritime opportunity, Africa is blessed with the Gulf of Guinea just by East-west Africa ending at the Portuguese ruled Equatorial Guinea and oil-rich but poorly governed Gabon. According to Damian Ondo Mane, in his paper Emergence of the Gulf of Guinea in the global economy (prospects and challenges), ‘’The Gulf of Guinea’s tremendous potential is creating investment opportunities for the region. Some of its resources, such as oil, minerals, and forests, continue to attract significant investments whereas others, like natural gas, could be exploited to their full potential if necessary investments were undertaken. Nevertheless, the Gulf of Guinea has to cope with numerous challenges, both exogenous and endogenous, before it can fully benefit from its riches. One of these problems stems from the overwhelmingly weak institutions and governance, pointed by stylized facts, which add to the risks of the “natural resource curse” and can feed the theory of the “Paradox of Plenty.” The case is made that regional institutional arrangements and increased involvement of the international community and the African Diaspora should complement the efforts in which countries in the region should engage to address policy and governance issues. Complementary avenues are proposed, including maintaining stability and security, making better use of the region’s own assets, putting in place a favorable business environment, and augmenting exports with value addition’’- IMF working paper 2005
The natural beauty of Africa made it attractive to the medieval European leaders which led to heavy investment in exploratory activities in the middle 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries which finally led to the slave trade and colonialism and neo-colonialism as some scholars may want to describe post-colonial era Africa. However, the point of this little article is aimed at arguing that Africa was never a continent characterised by poverty, crisis, economic woes, weak and inefficient leadership, debt ridden and lacking in direction. From available records now, Africa was a continent that had great economy, strong leaders that maximised the production of raw materials and land resources to the greater benefit of its citizens. Even though, they were no modern infrastructure and tools that aided industrial production of goods and services on a large scale, as a comparison to how the continent’s economy has underperformed, the Africa pre slavery and colonialism held its own for centuries in the area of trade, economic domination, production of agricultural goods and intercontinental relations.
Research has shown that King Mansa Musa at the height of the Songhai empire (comprising present day Mali, Burkina Faso and part of Ghana) had its headquarters in Mali and was a well-respected leader with net worth in excess of $400bn (others sources put his net worth at almost US$1Trilion) which is equivalent of about 95% of the Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product as at year 2021 estimates. According to several references including the UK Mirror, Jones Massey, Wikipedia and others, King Mansa Musa was known to have literally dashed an ounce of gold to everyone he met on his way to Mecca in 1324 and led a large entourage of caravan comprising of 60,000 people, 500 slaves, 80-100 camels, each carrying 300 pounds of gold dust, he established mosques at every stop and his generosity in gold and related gifts literally destabilises local economies on his route to Mecca. One of the most significant achievements of this great African King that ever lived was the conquest of Timbuktu and the establishment of an intellectual centre for academic research and development – The University of Timbuktu. According to Kathleen Bickford Berzock of the North-western University, Emperor Mansa Musa had unlimited access to the most highly valued source of wealth in his time while the TIME magazine described this African King as ‘richer than anyone could describe.
At the height of the Benin Empire with headquarters in present day Benin city now in Southern Nigeria, the Kingdom thrived in the cultivation and production of rubber and palm oil, spices and Ivory and artefacts which brought enormous wealth and influence to the Kingdom. Records have it that, at the time of the Reign of the great King Ewuare 1st, the Empire had established a diplomatic mission in Lisbon Portugal and the Spanish King had sent emissaries to under study the operation of the economy of the kingdom. In 1691 on his arrival, the Portuguese ship Captain Lourenco Pinto described the city thus “Great Benin, where the king resides, is larger than Lisbon; all the streets run straight and as far as the eye can see. The houses are large, especially that of the king, which is richly decorated and has fine columns. The city is wealthy and industrious. It is so well governed that theft is unknown and the people live in such security that they have no doors to their houses”. This was at a time when theft and murder were rife in London’. (Koutina Mawuna and Olawale Elias Teslim in Story of Cities- Benin city, the mighty medievial capital now lost without trace) and Africa and the development of international law).
According to historians, the African city of Benin was far secured and more beautiful at night than London, it had street lights powered by red oil, women came out in the morning to sweep the city of dirt, the waste management architecture was the best at the time. The worth of the items that were looted in the wake of the invading British marauders is estimated at billions of dollars in current conversions and value.
According to Kylie Kiunguyu in an article titled African Marvels the Walls of Benin published in This is Africa described the Benin empire and his walls this way ‘’The Walls of Benin, one of Africa’s ancient architectural marvels, were destroyed by the British in 1897 during what has become known as the Punitive Expedition. This shocking act destroyed more than a thousand years of Benin history and some of the earliest evidence of rich African civilisations. The astounding city was a series of earthworks made up of banks and ditches… in the area around present-day Benin City. They consist of 15 kilometers of city Iand and an estimated 16,000 kilometers in the rural area around Benin. The walls stood for over 400 years, protecting the inhabitants of the kingdom, as well as the traditions and civilization of the Edo people. Fred Pearce wrote the following about the city in the science magazine New Scientist: “In all, they are four times longer than the Great Wall of China and consumed a hundred times more material than the Great Pyramid of Cheops. They took an estimated 150 million hours of digging to construct and are perhaps the largest single archaeological phenomenon on the planet.” The Guinness Book of Record (1974 edition) described the walls of Benin City and its surrounding kingdom as “the world’s largest earthworks carried out prior to the mechanical era”. It was one of the first cities to have a semblance of street lighting with huge metal lamps, many feet high, built and placed around the city.
The story of Egypt is not new to anyone on planet earth, the first recorded World Super Power with influence scattered all over the middle – east, Persia and Constantinople in present day Turkey. The Egyptian Empire in Africa held slaves and ensure the use of manpower to build the iconic and historical pyramids which is considered one of the wonders of the planet earth. Egypt was the saviour of the world at the period of famine having developed the capacity to store millions of tonnes of raw food and also had the technology of the use of irrigation for massive production of agricultural products. At its height and from the estimates of Policy House International, Egypt economy was equivalent to the entire G7 nations excluding the U.S (Italy, Canada, Spain, Japan, the UK and France). The economic and political influence of the Egyptian Empire is much more explained in the Jewish owned/edited Bible which is still in use till today.
The prehistoric African state of Egypt is known for its influence in the growth and teaching of mathematics, science, arts, maritime, agricultural science, food cultivation and production, traditional architecture and civil engineering, hieroglyphics writings, military warfare spanning thousands of centuries before. Over the years many Egyptians cities have grown economically and exerted great influence over the years, such as the Mediterranean city of Alexandra founded by Alexander the Great in 331BC, Cairo, Aswan and the city of beauty and enchantment, Ismail located in the west bank of the Suez Canal. Till today, archaeologist from all over the world are still dedicating time, energy, resources and man-hour to study the mystery, the rise and the mystic of the Egyptian State in what is now known in archaeology as ‘Egyptology’
We have heard stories of Queen Beersheba of the present-day Ethiopia who led a team to Israal to visit King Solomon and donated so many gifts (grant). The Bible recorded that the Queen gave Gold worth 120 talents (analysts have estimated this to be equivalent of today’s $180 million, large quantities of spices, precious stones, never again were so many spices brought in as those the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon (1st Kings 10.10). We have good stories from Asante Kotoko of the gold coast (present day Ghana) to the highly influential Shaka the Zulu (1787-1828) of the Zulu Kingdom in present day South Africa and environs (Xhosa, cape Colony, Bulawayo, Soshangene and Port Natal). In his height he controlled the Cape of Good Hope and all the trade routes in the southern tip of the Atlantic connecting the east. Shaka, therefore, was a builder as well as a destroyer. He built a new nation and kingdom. For a time, at least, he inspired as well as compelled loyalty. (Kenneth Vickery, 2017; Shaka Zulu; Creator and Destroyer)
In summary, the African continent and its ancient/past leaders were innovative and strong, they utilised available resources especially human resources to add value to the conversion of raw materials and tools into economic utilities. They maximised the use of economic tools such as taxation, royalty and expansion of trade space (land) as means of production. Most often than not, they built on the legacies of their forebears to consolidate their economic prowess and they prospered significantly pre-colonial rule. At the advent of colonialism in Africa, the invading Europeans also utilised all forms of economic tools to extract rent from their colonies and they considered the colonies as trade colonies more than political territories hence it was easy for the British to construct railway from the north to the south within a 15-year period and maximised human capital to exploit the continent for the greater benefit of their home economies especially at the peak of the industrial revolution in Europe.
Fast-forward to 2021, where is Africa in the world economy? Africa fathers were net donors to their foreign allies (Egypt and Ethiopia and Songhai Empires), his children are net borrowers, African fathers were conquerors (Egypt, Ethiopia and Benin Kingdoms) but the children have been conquered, Africa’s fathers were net producers of agricultural products and they were contented in food security. Most African countries now depend on foreign aid to survive. Pre -colonial, European leaders heard of the fame of Great African Kings like The Benin Empire, Shaka the Zulu and Great Mansa Musa and Queen Amina and Queen Sheba of Ethiopia and wrote letters for partnership and economic cooperation, but in 2021, African leaders are begging for debt cancellation from G7, Paris Club and China. When David Diop (1927-1960) talked about Africa in his very passionate and emotional poetry promoting Negritude, he had in mind, the great and visionary leaders of Africa, the warriors that built the impregnable empires, the hardworking women like Queen Sheba and Queen Amina that commanded troops and quelled insurrections, charitable and humane leaders that made sacrifices for the larger interests of their people.
Africa
Africa of proud warriors in ancestral Savannahs, Africa of whom my grandmother sings
On the banks of the distant river, I have never known you, But your blood flows in my veins
Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields, The blood of your sweat, The sweat of your work, The work of your slavery, Africa, tell me Africa, Is this your back that is unbent
This back that never breaks under the weight of humiliation, This back trembling with red scars
And saying no to the whip under the midday sun?,
But a grave voice answers me, impetuous child that tree, young and strong, that tree over there
Splendidly alone amidst white and faded flowers, That is your Africa springing up anew
springing up patiently, obstinately, Whose fruit bit by bit acquires, The bitter taste of liberty. (Extract from the Poem, Africa by David Diop)
Next step: Africa countries should stop behaving like the Biblical prodigal son, our leaders must realise the ‘sons of whom we are’ like the Lion King, develop your institutions, stop been beggarly, when we owe let us man up and pay back, those countries and institutions lending to us are not charitable organisations they are in business to lend to those who are capable, not to the needy. Africa countries must sit back and plan their way out of poverty. Economic integration presently at its weakest must be reversed; corruption and failed leadership culture should be halted, while weak institutions of governance and democracy must be strengthened. Trade negotiations between Africa and its partners must be on equal terms based on equality of sovereignty and not on weak versus the strong and it should be based on efficiency of utilisation not on the basis of pity, Africa must demonstrate performance in credit utilisation and impact.
Africa countries, just like its peers in Asia, should leverage on its access to the oceans and seas and mountains to develop its maritime and shipping capacity, tourism, entertainment and tap on the capacity of its youthful population. Perhaps this is the best time, Africa should leverage on its Diaspora communities and the strong African –America relationship to fastrack its development. It is noteworthy and acknowledged that some African countries are already doing well on this score like Ghana and Rwanda. More needs to be done. Individual African states supervised by the African Union should establish think-tanks modelled along United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), African countries should look inward and take responsibility in expanding and growing their economies and adding value to their exports. At this rate, the present abysmal trade position will be reversed from a miserly 3% to 10% in the next decade.
Just like King Solomon of Biblical fame asked for wisdom instead of wealth and fame, it is high time all African leaders especially the laggard states sit back and seek wise counsel and tap into the enormous talents of their people and start lifting their people out of poverty, misery, low quality life such as lack of access to good health care, basic education and comfortable shelter and low trading opportunities despite the enormous possibilities that abound in the continent as history has clearly demonstrated. Africans cannot lay claim to be descendants of the rich King and Emperor Mansa Musa, the Pharaohs of Egypt and the great Kings of Benin Empire and yet be the world poorest continent.
Taiwo Akerele, is Country Rep, Policy House, Chairman FCT chapter Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and Coordinator Borrow Right Africa Program, New York.