Africa: Next big thing that may not materialise

Africa is the second largest continent in the world after Asia. It is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean. It is divided in half almost equally by the Equator. The continent includes the islands of Cape Verde, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Comoros. It is bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on the east by the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and on the south by the mingling waters of the Atlantic and Indian oceans. As at 2022, the population of Africa was about 1.228 billion.

Africa contains an enormous wealth of mineral resources, including some of the world’s largest reserves of fossil fuels, metallic ores, and gems and precious metals like gold and diamond. This richness is matched by a great diversity of natural resources that includes the intensely lush equatorial rainforests of Central Africa and the world-famous populations of wildlife of the eastern and southern portions of the continent. While agriculture (primarily subsistence) still dominates the economies of many African countries, the exploitation of these resources became the most significant economic activity in Africa in the 20th century.

Climatic and other factors like war and disasters have exerted considerable influence on the patterns of human settlements in Africa – with its plateau-like nature. While some areas appear to have been inhabited more or less continuously since the dawn of humanity, enormous regions – notably the desert areas of northern and south-western Africa – have been largely unoccupied for prolonged periods of time. Thus, although Africa is the second largest continent, it contains only about 10 percent of the world’s population and can be said to be under-populated.

The greater part of the continent has long been inhabited by Black peoples, but in historic times there also have occurred major immigrations from both Asia and Europe. Seventy-five percent or more of Africa is populated by youths who are less than 35 years old. Africa is also covered by about 85% arable land! It is richly blessed with human and natural resources. Lack of selfless leaders, high rate of corruption, ethnicity, military incursion into governance and religious bigotry are some of the economic development challenges of Africa. If African nations can ward-off these listed challenges and focus on self-development using local resources, African nations will be listed among the league of developed nations where there would be food security, higher rate of employment, higher life expectancy rate and zero tolerance to poverty!

Foreign immigrants are making their impacts in the socio-economic development of Africa. The Asians and Europeans are in charge of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and technologies. Asians are in charge of trades and processed foods manufacturing. Of all foreign settlers in Africa, the Arabs have made the greatest impact, especially in the northern part of the continent. The Islamic religion, which the Arabs carried with them from Asia, spread from North Africa into many areas south of the Sahara, so that many western African peoples are now largely Islamized. Other Africans are Christians, especially in eastern and southern Africa, with few Africans still practising the traditional religions.

The belief in foreign religion, alien to our culture and tradition, is also affecting our mutual trust for each other. Africa can supply the rest of the world with food and agricultural produce like yam, cocoa, maize, potatoes, orange, timber, bamboo, vegetables, and cattle but misunderstanding leading to civil war and insecurity will not allow this to happen. Africa is a big market because of its size. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a free trade area encompassing most of Africa. It was established in Kigali, Rwanda on 21 March 2018 by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which has 44 parties and another 11 signatories, making it the largest free-trade area by number of member states, after the World Trade Organisation, and the largest in population and geographic size, spanning almost 1.3 billion people across the continent.

About two decades ago, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) were the focus of the world for economic development. But now it is the turn of Africa. The whole world is looking forward to Africa to rediscover itself and become an economic force to reckon with in the world. In December 2022, President Joe Biden hailed cooperation with Africa and said he looked forward to visiting the continent soon as he endeavours to expand ties with the continent. Africa has been crucial to China’s foreign policy since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1947. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was established in 2000 as a uni-multilateral partnership platform between China and 53 African states (all African states except Eswatini, which maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan).

The European Union, EU’s, partnership with Africa is a key priority for the two continents. This is because Africa is Europe’s closest neighbour and any progress or adversity that affects Africa will directly be felt by Europe. Also, Africa not only shares a rich history with EU countries, but also common values and interests. Through the Africa-EU partnership, the two continents engage in political and policy dialogues, and define areas of cooperative relationship with Africa. What is happening today in Africa, economically and politically, makes this relationship all the more important. The rampant take-over of democratic governments by military juntas, especially in West Africa, and high level of corruption in government circles are some of the issues needing urgent international attention.

Africa’s renaissance as a developed continent may not materialise because of global politics which makes it impossible for western world to intervene in countries where there are bad leaders called “national sovereignty”. Though we have a large number of people in Africa, we have low human capacity development. We have the natural resources including mineral resources and arable land, but we lack the wherewithal to develop them. Until our best brains in medicine, engineering and technology stay in Africa and until our leaders do not go for medical tourism and their children for education in western world, Africa’s renaissance may remain a mirage.