The major barrier to innovative abilities in most African countries is corruption. Africans are bereft of innovative ideas because of the high level of corruption in the continent. Corruption is dishonest or fraudulent practices or conduct by those in positions of authority, such as fraud, stealing, bribery, inflation of contract sum, sharp practices, misappropriation, mismanagement and favouritism. Corruption is a double-whammy situation; it hurts both sides. Corruption depletes the funds of the nation and swells the population of people who become indolent after believing corruption is a good way of life. A lot of youths find it difficult to think of innovative developments because of the way of life of some corrupt leaders. Most people who are supposed to rack their brain on innovative products are waiting for their turn to get to positions of power and enrich themselves through corruption. Those who cannot get to a position of power will rather beg for money to survive and continue to hope for a better life until the end of their lifecycle!
Environmental factors are another bane of innovation in Africa. A lot of people, especially children, live below the poverty line and are underfed. There are hormones secreted by various glands and organs in the human body which help thinking ability and innovation. Dopamine hormone is a neurotransmitter which not only promotes feelings of focus, enjoyment and well-being, but also promotes motivation by giving humans drive to perform and achieve. All hormones that affect emotions also affect intellect. Oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone play important roles in brain health, including mood balancing, improving memory, and enhancing overall cognitive function. Oestrogen especially appears to have neuro-protective effects on the brain. Myelin is an insulating layer, or sheath that forms around nerves, including those in the brain and spinal cord. It is made up of protein and fatty substances. The myelin sheath allows electrical impulses to transmit quickly and efficiently along the nerve cells. Poor diet and lack of food do not help formation of myelin around the nerves, hence poor innovative abilities.
Innovative abilities are acquired as a talent or through training. China has a “Special Class for the Gifted Young” (SCGY) aimed to select gifted young students that will be trained in the universities to become knowledgeable leaders. Similarly, Nigeria School for the Gifted was located in Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). It was formerly known as Government Gifted Secondary School. It was established in 1994 to cater for the educational needs of the exceptionally gifted and intelligent students in Nigeria. The school had free boarding facilities. Talented children, one each from the 774 local governments, were to be sent by the chairman of each local government to the school for admission. These students were to be modelled to become innovators and inventors in the future. The chairman of a local government once sent his son who could neither write nor read in English to the school. The ‘Gifted Children Development Scheme’ thus, became a wasted effort shortly after its establishment in Nigeria.
According to Zak Dychtwald in the Harvard Business Review of May–June, 2021, in an article titled ‘China’s New Innovation Advantage’, “The future of the Chinese economy lies in innovation, and every one in China knows it. But that hasn’t always been true.” China started its manufacturing miracle not with innovation but imitation. China’s imitation of other countries’ products and innovations earned China the name, ‘global copycat’. Today, China can no longer rely on imitation but has to innovate to be a force to reckon with in the global products market. California is the largest sub-national economy in the world. If California were a nation, it would rank in terms of nominal gross domestic product (GDP) as the world’s fifth largest economy, behind Japan and ahead of India ($3.937 trillion). The California economy is built on technology (innovations and inventions), trade, media, tourism, and agriculture (Bull Oak Capital, 2024).
Innovation enables problem-solving and provides creative insight that allows nations to look at things from a different perspective, regardless of whether they are developing a new product, refreshing strategy for economic development and growth or finding an original way to stay ahead of the competition. Innovation can grow businesses and the economy; it can help a people to stay ahead of the competition; and it can help a nation have technology advantages over other nations. The Atlantic City located on the site of former Bar Beach in Victoria Island, Lagos State, is designed to accommodate high-rise buildings of average 30 floors. These buildings can only be built with the aid of cranes imported from overseas. With the adoption of innovation, foods, technology, vehicles, clothes and building materials, being imported from other countries will seize. It is the lack of innovation that has resulted in our tallest building – originally known as ‘NET Building’ – along Marina, Lagos State, to lie fallow. It is the same innovation gap that resulted in food scarcity despite our massive arable land and massive waterfront that can be farmed all year round.
Africans are short of innovative ideas because the leaders are not providing the required impetus to develop innovators and inventors despite that civilisation started in Egypt (an African country) before the western world! Civilisation in the world first started in Mesopotamia in Iraq (extending to Kuwait and Syria). The Mesopotamian people first developed modern ways of writing, farming and construction. The people of Egypt, along the Nile River were innovative and invented so many farming, construction and manufacturing technologies and ideas around 3100 BC. Lack of focus and motivation of African people have led to lack of new innovative ideas to lift the people out of abject poverty. The leaders are not helping matters and have turned leadership positions, which are supposed to be opportunities to serve, into money-making ventures. African politics has now become the most lucrative business and the elites are no longer those that can innovate or invent but those that are in political offices.
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