Reasons for Africa Underdevelopment

INTRODUCTION

It is well known that Africa is falling behind the rest of the world in terms of economic wellbeing. Absolute poverty in many African nations is in fact rising (Sachs, 2005). Africa is rich in natural resources and the proceeds from the sales of these natural resources to other countries are mismanaged by African leaders. Since the early 1960s when most African countries were gaining independence, the rich nations of the world extended developmental aids to Africa, yet Africa remains the lease developed continent in the world.

An indispensable component of modern underdevelopment is that it expresses a particular relationship of exploitation, namely; the exploitation of a weaker country by a stronger country. All of the countries named as ‘underdeveloped’ in the world are explored by others, and the underdevelopment in which the world is now preoccupied is a product of capitalist, imperialist and colonial exploitation. Many parts of the world that are naturally rich are actually poor and parts that are not so well off in wealth of soil are enjoying the highest standard of living.

Different schools of thought have developed in order to find out the causes of Africa’s underdevelopment. For instance, the Modernist school believes that Africa needs to follow the development strategies of the industrialized nations before it can be developed, while the Dependency theorists argued that the exploitation of Africa by the super powers was responsible for Africa’s underdevelopment.

The aim of this paper is to explicate the cause of Africa’s unending underdevelopment. Section one is the Introduction. Section two examines the characteristics of the developed continents. Section three elucidates the factors hindering Africa’s development; while section 4 is the conclusion.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

The main characteristics of a developed country are those that account for the social, economic, political and environmental advances made. A developed country possesses a high level of progress and a significant projection of growth of those factors. Traditionally, the focus was on the economic progress of nations to determine their degree of development. Today the levels of industrialization of the country and the balance of its commercial operations are also considered.

The characteristics are:-

1.      Industrialization–Developed countries have high level of agricultural productivity. They produce more goods because they are industrialized in that the use machines and fertilizers to increase the growth of their crops; and their exports are largely manufactured. When there is maximum productivity, there is high level of development.

2.      Gender Equality – Developed countries often experience gender equality; both males and females have the opportunities and choices with regards to education, employment, community participation, recreation etc.

3.      Education and Employment – There is high level of education and employment in most developed countries. People often have choices with regards to the level of education and the type of career they pursue; and government contributes significant funds to provide educational and job opportunities.

4.      Social Security and Legal Systems – High level of economic development and stable political system increase the ability      of government to provide social security payments for those in need. Individuals who are unemployed or unable to work as a result of illness or disability are often provided with financial assistance to assist in promoting their well-being.

5.      Less Corruption – The political situation is also key to determining the development of countries. Good governance should be considered as the pillar of the country’s political welfare. In a situation where corruption is the order of the day there is bound to be underdevelopment. Increased corruption undermined the governance of people and increased the current crisis of democratic representation in some regions. The lower the level of corruption, the faster the development of societies.

IMPEDIMENTS TO AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT

1.      CORRUPTION– This is expressed through incompetent leadership and poor governance. The argument attributing African underdevelopment to the colonial powers exploitation of the continent is justifiable; however, it has been decades the colonial masters left. Forty years is enough to move the continent forward. African leader’s defalcate huge sum of money that would have been used to provide infrastructural facilities; send the money to Western countries for safe keeping to the detriment of African development.

Corruption slows down development. African leaders place their selfish interest above the interest of the people they lead. Most past and present African Leaders have failed the region woefully. In the case of Nigeria, another way of embezzling fund is through the self-increment of salaries by the so-called leaders without recourse to the constitutional body that is responsible for fixing the salaries of elected public officers.

Colonialism created a system of capitalism which had two classes; firstly, the capitalist or bourgeoisie who own the factories and banks (the major means of producing and distributing wealth) and secondly, the workers or proletariat who work in the factories of the said bourgeoisie. The capitalist monopolize the means of production, loot public funds in order to continue being rich at the expense of the workers which absolutely leads to excessive poverty. Corruption has been canonically accommodated, entertained and celebrated in Africa. African leaders have made poor choices and decided to keep the continent in abject poverty. The fundamental cause of African underdevelopment and conflicts lies in the vicious leadership in the continent from 1960’s. Africa is poor, ultimately because its economy and society have been ravaged by international capitalist as well as by local elites who are often propped up by foreign powers. The public and private sector have worked together to drain the continent off resources which otherwise, if harnessed and shared fairly – should meet the needs of the people of Africa.

2.      LACK OF INDUSTRIALIZATION – The presence of industries in Europe fostered and multiplied scientific techniques. The reserve side of the coin was present in Africa. No industry meant no generation of skills and further unemployment. Colonial era left a negative impact on Africa, industries using African raw materials were located outside of Africa, and there was no beneficial linkage inside Africa. In the case of Nigeria, her leaders have deliberately refused to create industries which would foster scientific techniques, but rather prefer to import products from the Western countries which absolutely impoverish Africans. The poor policies of our leaders brought about technological backwardness in agriculture. Africa is blessed with fertile lands and other natural resources, but due to failure to improve agricultural tools; farming has stalled. Africa’s agriculture is unscientific and its yields are far less compared to the developed countries that have far more goods not because they have fertile lands but because their agriculture is scientific. Most African countries do not have heavy industry such as steel industry which is capable of producing machinery for other types of industry and agriculture.

3.      ECONOMIC DEPENDENCE – Man has always exploited his natural environment to make a living. Since underdevelopment deals with comparative economies of nations, it is the last kind of exploitation. One of the common means by which one nation exploits another is exploitation through trade. The whole import/export relationship between Africa and its trading partners is one of unequal exchange and of exploitation. For example in trade between US and Nigeria, when the terms of trade are set by US in a manner entirely advantageous to itself, then the trade is usually detrimental to Nigeria. Africans deal so much on importation rather than exportation and savings made within the economy of Africa are mainly sent abroad or flittered away in consumption rather than being redirected to productive purposes. Africans as a whole do not embrace the spirit of production, we mostly believe on consuming only. African leaders are not committed to development in that they do not concentrate on those sectors of economy which in turn will generate growth and raise production to a new level. Most of the income made; if not looted, goes to pay individuals who are not directly involved in producing wealth but only in rendering auxiliary services.

Far more reaching than just trade is the actual ownership of the means of production in one country by the citizens of another. When citizens of Europe own the land and the mines of Africa, this is the most direct way of sucking the African continent. Today foreign ownership is present in many African countries thereby making African economy dependent on European.

Another way of perpetuating underdevelopment in Africa is through Foreign Aid given by western countries to African in other to trade.This Aid could be Bi-lateral (between two countries) or Multi-lateral (e.g World Bank and International Monetary Fund ‘IMF’), and they come with their conditions. For example, Bi-lateral aid between Britain and Nigeria; one of the conditions is the purchase of machineries from Britain; the money is paid in their currency and they are overpriced than would have been bought in another country. The Insurance Company to cover these machineries is also owned by Britain as well as the vessels that will carry these machineries and are all paid for in their currency. These machineries are obsolete which when faulty will still require Britain to repair them, since Nigeria do not have an idea of where it broke down. Another condition is the provision of experts by Britain. These so-called experts are fresh graduates who would have been job-hunting in their country. With this, Nigeria has solved the problem of unemployment of Britain. They are paid higher in Nigeria than they would have been paid in their country with reason being that they left their comfortable abode to a harsh climate condition. By so doing, so much money has left Africa to Europe thereby making Africa rot in abject poverty and further underdevelopment.

CONCLUSION

Although Africa is rising, poverty is curtailing the continent’s growth efforts. As a region, Africa needs to embrace production rather than consumption and also address the negligence of sound economic policies, corruption, selfish personal interests, thirst for power; religions and ethnic differences are clogging the pipeline within which development would have flowed. The resources, manpower and all the potentials are there. What is lacking is the will and determination.

By 1885, when Africa was partitioned, the peoples and polities had already lost a great deal of freedom. In its relations with the external world, Africa had lost a considerable amount of control over its own economy over since the 15^th Century.

Africa has the potential to rise above any other continent if only it laid emphasize on providing basic amenities including water, food, shelter, education, employment opportunities, industries and security for all. If we look at what is going out of Africa in terms of profits, tax evasion and debt payments, Africa can be summed as wealthy. In fact, Africa is financing other continents.

REFERENCES

Ø    Aidt, T. S. (2003) Economic Analysis of Corruption: A Survey. The Economic Journal 632 – 652.

Ø    Bardhan, Pranab (1997) Corruption and Development: A Review of Issues. Journal of Economic Literature. Vol xxxv. Pg 1320 – 1346.

Ø    Blackburn Keith, Niloy Bose & M. Emranue Haque (2005). The Incidence and Persistence of Corruption in Economic Development. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control. Vol 30. Pg 2447 – 2467.

Ø      Omotoye, R. (n.d) Corruption and Underdevelopment: The Nigerian Experience. LUMINA. Vol 22 No 1.

Ø    Sachs J. (2005) “The End of Poverty: How Can We Make it Happen in our Lifetime”, Penguin Books, London.

Ø     Sachs J. and A. Warner (1997) “Sources of Slow Growth in African Economics” Journal of African Economics.

Ø       Walter Rodney (1973) “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa”, Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications, London and Tanzanian Publishing House, Dar-Es-Salaam.