How Africa Subsidized the Development of the West

Colonialism did a lot of harm on the cultural, political and economic nerve of the African heritage. But we cannot continue to blame colonialism endlessly. But whether we are now in a phase of pan- Africanism, that does not require reparation; with the damage to Africa, to the damage of our capability for unity, and the capability for democracy, good governance and the question of nation building, to the issue of the harm done to the people of Africa and Africans in Diaspora, the damage is not in the past; the damage is here with us now. It is in the wars which are going on in Africa today. We are people of the day before yesterday and the day after tomorrow; long before slavery, we lived together in one human village called Africa; then the strangers came and took some of us away, scattering us in different directions of the globe. This have made Africa a donor to both developed and the relatively rich economies of the world. But this is more so in terms of the brain drain syndrome. Before the strangers came, our village was the world, we knew no other. Now, we are scattered so widely that the sun never sets on the descendants of Africa. The world is now our village and we plan to make it more human between now and the day after tomorrow.

At the same time the West cannot afford to abandon us. The price of negligence is not only high, but is usually paid in anguish.

But no matter how willing and well intentioned the West might be in salvaging Africa from the doldrums, few of them have better knowledge on local conditions and problems than the Africans. Africa must occupy the drivers seat, sort out those things we can do for ourselves, do them before soliciting for external support and help.

Although, glorious future awaits Africa, that future does not lie with any ethnic section, cliquish, religious bigots or the scoundrels who parade themselves as our leaders. What Africans need is a national ethos and no group is better placed to do this than the youths. They must be given the opportunity to begin the re-examination of Africa. The youth’s needs to constantly challenge themselves even in the midst of deprivation and wants. They must not let the baggage of ethnic chauvinism and many other ills that have mired our great continent in underdevelopment to weigh them down. With these, African renaissance is here to stay.