“Ha!”-That was my reaction when I came across this seemingly harsh statement. Is all we do in our continent nourish its soil with our corpses when we die? Why not? After all, nothing works. The system is rigged and impossible to mend. This is a blatant lie.
Is Africa really just a cemetery?
Permit me to give credit to Mrs Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu on her unique insight which inspired me to
also write on this matter. Just in case you are unaware, the general standard of living in Africa is not at the state where it should be. Now before anyone begins an argument on how our GDPs are improving and all that, I just want to put out there that we have weak economies, high unemployment, poor infrastructure, extremely poor capacity utilization and poor intra-African trade. I do admit that bodies like ADB and ACFTA are doing their best on economic development and the intra trade issue but do not believe that we have taken a highly significant measure to repairing the broken continent.
Why is Africa in its current state?
Let’s go back, way back. Slavery. I know
right. You remember how generations of Africans were maltreated and manhandled for being less human than Europeans? How could you forget? The people were divided and corrupted. The Europeans came with fancy items, guns and alcohol to present to our ancestors. They introduced corruption to us and used the items they brought to turn us against each other. Inter-tribal wars destroyed what the people developed and turned them against each other, making it easy for the Europeans to take our human resources. The continent lost human capital, peace, family and stability.
Now, let’s discuss colonialism. The aim of Europeans was to exploit. They wanted to make use of the resources we had but they couldn’t just go to these structured empires and take what they wanted. They had to appear as if they were benefiting us and we had to accept it. Divide and rule-gaining and maintaining power by breaking larger concentrations of power into individual sections with less power than the body implementing it- was adopted by the colonialists to make it easier to conquer African states. They turned us against each other. They developed our infrastructure so they could plunder our resources and they looted our wealth. They destroyed our self-esteem. They placed upon us a new religion, culture, language and medicine. They convinced us that everything we believed was wrong. “Everything African is bad and everything European is good”. Unfortunately, we still hold on to this mentality and still to pass it on.
What was Africa like Pre-colonialism?
Did you know that centuries ago kingdoms in Africa thrived? The Benin kingdom, the Songhai empire, the Mali empire, the Oyo kingdom, the Nubian empire and needless to say the Egyptian empire were parts of Africa with impressive governing systems, smooth running and trade and steady development that ran well in the past. These parts of Africa as well as other parts were self-developed and doing well prior to colonial rule. The Benin kingdom, for example was spectacular at trading and were extremely fierce. Africa was blessed with rich culture and traditional practices that were highly effective in developing kingdoms in the continent. We have wonderful history and past practice which is not being embraced.
All is not lost!
I refuse to accept that we are doomed to only make use of our continent when we die. I strongly believe that we can build here, develop here, train here, work here, innovate here and trade here. No country can really thrive without retaining tradition. However, no country can develop while remaining insular either. We need to take our rich heritage as well as the beneficial knowledge, products and strategies we gained from colonialism and trade to build a brighter future for ourselves.
[Let it be known that the heading used was gotten from a meme on social media and was rumoured to be said by a notable world leader- President Vladimir Putin. However, I have discovered that this is false as no reliable evidence nor basis has been given to when or where the statement was made.]
Comments