Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony

Decolonising the Colonised African Mind – The First 5 Steps

I have recently been reading of and writing on many African issues. One thing that strikes me quite strongly is the depth to which false perceptions of Africa have sunk in our collective subconscious. While I think it is forgivable for people whose only experience of Africa is aid adverts with awfully malnourished children and news bulletins featuring some rabid warlord spouting maledictions – this delusion of utter dependence should not be replicated by Africans. This is why we have autobiographies and biographies. The person describing herself has greater insight than the person retelling the tale. A self-portrait is not a caricature. We Africans have flipped the script. We have reproduced the caricature in our understanding of ourselves, in telling our stories and understanding the heart of Africa. We have replaced the cradle of life with a heart of darkness. So I have a 5 step solution. We need to begin thinking and fast.

What is Africa? Take a step back from all that has been said, especially by the media. Read the works of Africans. Look at the Africa around you. Africa is not the few unscrupulous leaders we have, Africa is its people. So look at its people. Africa is an eternal thought in the mind of God. There was always Africa. Ignore the countries/states. While I am not in favour of the breakup of states, we must remember that nation-states are made, not imagined. The states in Africa were imagined by people who never set foot on our tropical shores. Obama once said ‘The worst thing that colonialism did was to cloud our view of our past.’ We need to claim our identity as African and divorce this quest from a political one.  We have bought into thinking we can truly be what we should be by ensuring our ‘brothers’ place in political office. How’s that working for you thus far? Go and explore, and think what it means to be Africa. Africa was before Nigeria.

Colonisation and the sense of inferiority: Now I really do hate to bang on about colonialism. However, let us say as an analogy, someone scratched you with a sharp nail. Then went away. The scratch becomes septic because the wound is not cleaned, because the damage is not understood. Do we say the scratch is in the past and fail to treat the wound? By no means! We may forgo pursuit of the culprit. We may refrain from a lengthy and arduous litigation, but we do not deny existence of the wound. Make no mistake colonialism is a wound on the psyche and insult to the soul, a generational offense that lingers unacknowledged on the edges of our subconscious.

Thomas Pynchon, said, ‘Colonies are the outhouses of the European soul, where a fellow can let his pants down and relax, enjoy the smell of his own shit.’ (Imagine!)

Our Africa was the Petri dish in which the experiment of empire was conducted. And when the experiment failed, the apparatus of psychological oppression hangs on in our minds like a never-fading apparition. How did a handful of administrators manage to shackle the African giant? By imprisoning the most important part of a people – their sense of self-worth. By making us believe that we were inferior, that our laws, customs ideas were of no value, thus our minds were captured into the colonial Black Maria and our bodies soon followed. We see vestiges of this in everyday discussions and actions: Parents failing to teach their children African languages, people using ‘that’s what they do in London’ as a trump card in arguments, skin bleaching, naming of children, the repugnancy principle, acceptance of non-African standards of beauty……. The list could go on for years.

Patrice Lumumba of Congo is famed to have said to the departing Belgian colonists ‘Nous ne somme plus vos singes [or macaques].’ ("We are no longer your monkeys). The truth is more complex as words are cheap. Attitudes need to change.

Self-knowledge: The first step to changing attitudes is self-knowledge. Africans, I believe have a problem with self-awareness and self-knowledge, especially as concerns the nature of that self- knowledge. Arundhati Roy talks about the psychology of globalization thus: ‘It's like the psychology of a battered woman being faced with her husband again and being asked to trust him again. That's what is happening. We are being asked by the countries that invented nuclear weapons and chemical weapons and apartheid and modern slavery and racism - countries that have perfected the gentle art of genocide, that colonized other people for centuries - to trust them when they say that they believe in a level playing field and the equitable distribution of resources and in a better world. It seems comical that we should even consider that they really mean what they say.”’

The problem with Africa is that we still trust foreign ideas more than our own. We take these false narratives, these illusions of altruism and we internalise them and make them our own. In the quest for a better world, we intuitively understand our world to be worse. We make no allowance for our intersectionality. We are black, generationally oppressed, women, men, children, poor, third world… yet we do not speak of how these factors affect us personally. No one else can see our pain. This pain is ours, but we swallow it, we stomach it, and let it fester deep within us like fermenting cassava, its poisonous cyanide, killing us from the inside. Spit it out!

Ask a hundred non-Africans to describe Africa, there responses would be fairly similar. Ask the same of a hundred Africans… Self knowledge unlocks the heart of Africa. Africa defies definition, but that is no excuse not to think of her.

‘Africa is mystic; it is wild; it is a sweltering inferno; it is a photographer's paradise, a hunter's Valhalla, an escapist's Utopia. It is what you will, and it withstands all interpretations. It is the last vestige of a dead world or the cradle of a shiny new one. To a lot of people, as to myself, it is just “home.”’ Beryl Markham

Africa is home, I am Africa…

Historical and Contemporary knowledge: There are very few things that upset me and annoy me as much as an African spouting inaccurate and derogatory ‘facts’ about Africa. A multiple degree holder once told me, ‘no African entity had ever succeeded.’ I had to physically restrain myself, or else we would have needed industrial cleaners to clean the blood from the walls. Did he not know of the Ghana Kingdom with its riches in gold that existed for 1000 years? Or the Oyo Empire that traded far and wide? Or the Buganda and Bunyoro kingdoms of present day Uganda? Or the supposition that Africans do not know about leadership… All I have to say to that is… Mai Idris Alooma, Nana of Itsekiri, Askia Mohammed (Askia the Great), Sonni Ali, Shaka Zulu (kaSenzangakhona), Mansa Kankan Musa, Sundiata Keita, Alaafin Oranyan, Cetshwayo kaMpande, Ahosu Ghezo, Asantehene Opoku Ware and ASANTEHENE OSEI TUTU AGYEMAN PREMPEH II!!

And African women? Oya come and read this:

Cleopatra, Moremi Ajasoro, Iyeki Emotan Uwaraye, Efunsetan Aniwura, Queen Amina, Inikpi of Igalaland, Taytu Betul, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Queen Nzinga, Omu Okwei of Osomari (Felicia Ifeoma Ekejiuba), Aba women’s Riot, Lagos Market women’s riot and the Dahomey Mino (a Fon all-female military regiment).

If you don’t know who these people are or what I am talking about, shame on all the education systems in the world. Our history is a fact that happened no matter what you have heard, I dare you to act like it.

Answer me these questions:

Who discovered the River Niger?

Who was the first man in South Africa?

We need to be aware that schools set up by the colonial powers were primarily set up to enable communication between the coloniser and the colonised. In that sense they were mainly centres of instruction. However, they have gradually become educational institutions, though educational content in many African curricular still retains vestiges of post-coloniality. This the point of the questions I asked above.

On the other hand, African indigenous education emphasises training individuals to contribute to the development of their community and the benefits of a cohesive communal life. Conversely colonial education emphasised the value of the individual and deemphasised the importance of community and culture. Where education seems to isolate the individual from her community, education and its proponents become a communal enemy. These incongruences as well as the colonial purposes of education result in an irrelevant curricular – Shakespeare taught without context – inherited inadequate teaching methods, and disengaged cohorts of students.

Why do we learn Shakespeare? Or why is cramming an integral part of our education?

Education is not entirely beneficial if it becomes a means by which a person’s identity, culture and language becomes obscured. Education is meant for the FULL development of the human person – the mind, the body, the heart and the soul. Nelson Mandela once said ‘If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language… that goes to his heart.’

We fail to learn our own languages, sing our own songs, dances to our own rhythms, to the beat of our hearts, to the steady thrum of our soul. The problem is that we approach knowing from an externalised perspective. We see knowledge as something outside of us that we have to assimilate. But it is not. We need to read more, [aim to read a book a week – any book will do], to be more self-aware, then connect what we have learnt with who we are, for the full development of the African personality that lies inside of us.

As Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley sang

‘Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;

None but ourselves can free our minds.’

Word!

Self-esteem: The first black African woman to win a Nobel Prize, Wangari Mathaai said ‘our people have been persuaded to believe that because they are poor, they lack not only capital, but also knowledge and skills to address their challenges. Instead they are conditioned to believe that solutions to their problems must come from ‘outside.’’’

We can only shed this innate belief when we accept the validity and worth of our existence. What the colonised African mind suffers from is a severe case of post-colonial internalised oppression. Even when the primary source of the oppression no longer exists, we oppress ourselves with our own feelings of inferiority. We think anything from ‘oversea’ will be better than ‘tiwantiwa’ just by the fact of their different sources. Aba shoemaker will make fine shoe and stamp Italy on it. As some status-conscious person once told me, even her dead body would refuse to wear lace that wasn’t Swiss or other European origin, to the extent that we import traditional attire. I am sure many Nigerians will refuse to enter a car that is made in Nigeria.

On a more psychological level and especially in the diaspora, we see many people exhibit shame and refuse to identify as African. To this end they twist their tongues into unimaginable shapes to produces sounds completely unintelligible, in attempt to adopt an accent foreign to them. We call our languages vernacular, yet these are languages of a living people, not a jargon to be hidden from the sun.

The focus on English, French and Portuguese as languages of instruction and national communication has also contributed to the disappearance of African languages and customs. Prof E. E. Adegbija notes ‘Over 90% of African languages,…exist as if they don’t really exist; they live without being really alive. Living functional blood is being sucked out of them…’

So we live a half-life as Africans, other people tell us what should matter to us. The West tells us we should resist our ethnicities and cultures, our governments and their corruption. Our governments tell us that the West is our enemy, and that our next door neighbour is our enemy and ‘see, I built this road!’ Did they build it with their own money? 

These are the symptoms of self-oppression, not being able to refute the fallacies around, because we fear the dark recesses of our own minds and fear lurking in the corners of our consciousness. If we dare to, quietly and stoutly, consider all around us, take those books off of the shelves and learn of truth that is not really hidden, we may learn one certainty. Our minds are being held captive by our own thoughts, that captivity imprisons us into a life less than we were made for.


How did a handful of administrators manage to shackle the African giant? By imprisoning the most important part of a people – their sense of self-worth. By making us believe that we were inferior, that our laws, customs ideas were of no value.

How will we unshackle the African giant? By freeing our minds from mental slavery, by realizing that we are worth as much as anyone else, by eschewing narratives based on inferiority, by connecting once again with the Africa that lies inside of us - The true Africa whose heart is golden.

Africa is poor and 5 other myths | Simon Moss | TEDxWarwick

Nigeria's Democracy Delusion

Nigeria has been at the democracy game for  about 15 years now and a lot of talk goes on about the  ‘dividends of democracy.’ This makes it sound like democracy is some kind of equation where D (democracy) + SS (sovereign statehood) = DoD (dividends of democracy, fill in the gaps.) 

So I try to work out in my head, why is Nigeria a democratic country? (and I am using the term democratic as loosely as possible, we are a civilian autocracy, or a subgroup oligarchy,  a pseudo democracy, or a confusion of people led by an embarrassment of politicians but who cares about labels?) is it because we, the people, want it? The answer is no. what the people want has no impact whatsoever on the systems of government in a country. (a critical study of history will reveal this) 

However, to step into the arena of international relations, a government has to prove itself to be suitably amenable to standards acceptable by the big dogs (except you have oil like Saudi Arabia, then no one will dare tell you, that you can’t be a monarchy.), it’s like when Abacha empowered ECOMOG as regional peacekeeper, (costing Nigeria millions) to keep the eyes of the world from his internal chicanery. To borrow money from the international financial institutions one has to exhibit a modicum of democracy. Then the millions are released to the leaders who spirit the money away to the ubiquitous Swiss accounts that dot the Zurich landscape.

A quick study of countries and their welfare of their people reveals that democracy is not a cure for our ills but an occlusion of our woes, while we fight the ballot box and watch for the councillors and congressmen we shove aside the true problems. While the country is wrapped in a bubble of pseudo-democracy, the world can rub its hands in self adulation while death and destruction continue within a state.

Examine the following

1. Under a flag of democracy, the US (and several other countries) traded in human flesh, locking human flesh in the holds of vessels to endure the horrors of the middle passage, which only half of the ‘livestock’ survived. The injustice of it was continued and compounded when the south went to war in indignation when their right to keep, sell, rape, and kill other human beings was challenged.
2. In 1948, by means of the popular vote in South Africa 70% of the population was forced onto 3% of the land. The world watched in relative impotence and indifference as black men and women were killed, tortured and treated like vermin.
3. The largest democracy in the world, India, continues side by side with democratic government to allow untouchability and the burning of brides unable to pay their dowries.
4. Germany was democratic when six million Jews were burned Auschwitz and other camps, which some politicians in democratic countries now say was a holiday camp.
5. A democratic government deliberately killed 64, 000 in Nagasaki and Hiroshima tainting the land for years.

Am I saying no to democracy? No I am not, but making it a bench mark when it is no guarantee of rights or fair treatment is like calling a dog a cat so you can give it milk. If asked any Nigerian will tell you he/she wants security of person, food, employment; I think it is rare person who will plead for democracy. Then why are we being given a rude imitation of what we didn't ask for? I have no idea. What I know without a shadow of a doubt is that no one will give us what we want, what we need... we have to take it. We the people, are the owners of Nigeria, we should not be distracted by ethnicity to the detriment of unity. The politics of tribalism and religion is the price of our servitude.

God bless Nigeria.

Welcome to Lagos: A misnomer, an insult or no more than absolute truth?

(For anyone unfamiliar with the TV program 'Welcome to Lagos... Youtube/Amazon is your friend!' This is a rewrite from 2010)

Hi everyone! 

The above greeting is my attempt to start this piece with a light-hearted comment, to diffuse the tensions between us, or the tensions against BBC and W2Lag (for the uninitiated that’s Welcome to Lagos). Events may have overtaken the airing of the series (the hanging of the British parliament, the cultural and allegatory crisis at the BBC, impending scrapping of the licence fee, the deletion of a Nigerian president, the clueless era, the prediction of electoral doom and purported goslowedness in 100 days ...) I hope these events may give us an objective look at the documentary. 

Given the detrimental nature of exposure naija and Lagos gets usually I was quite sceptical about watching W2Lag. What convinced me to watch it was the number of FB comments on Esther and her problems with her husband. It made me wonder if the BBC was actually going to show true Nigerians and not some demonised version which seems to be imprinted in people’s head. So I watched W2Lag, from part 3 to part 1, then from part 1 to 3. 

One thing struck me as profound about the series. I have been in the UK for a while now, so I guess it must have been particularly poignant for me to see everyone with a smile. In the most squalid of circumstances, everyone was smiling. And not that fake just-for-the-cameras kind of smile, but a smile that extended from the slightly askew teeth up the dusty face into the rheumy eyes, no matter the circumstances. I believe that the eyes are the window of the soul and a smile that goes to the eyes, tells of souls that are undefeated despite the situation around them, undefeated despite the fact that those who have taken oaths of office to serve the people are ready and willingly to smash the people’s homes and throw into the street the meagre collection of the people. If W2Lag achieved nothing else it de-demonised my people and for that I am grateful. I would like the whole world to know that Nigerians are not criminals or fraudsters, but a people pushed to the edge of their limits by murderous, bloodsucking and power-hungry leaders and an outside world that have grown too selfish to care. I would want all to understand that at the edge of those limits lies an untapped resource of strength, resilience, imagination and courage. God bless all true Nigerians!

Nevertheless, this does not detract from the reality that in a programme titled W2Lag, the BBC crew bypassed the airport, clean roads, and rows of palatial houses before they deigned to bring out their cameras to signal a welcome. It is the cinematographic equivalent of describing the essence of a flowering frangipani tree by studying its roots, the roots may be an integral part of the tree, but its not the part that welcomes you. On the other hand the BBC has no duty to market Nigeria and its beauties, if we don’t market, and by we, I mean our epileptic non-government which grows fat on the flesh of children and distracts us by fomenting strife among those who should join together and kick the unmentionables out of office and existence. 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/30800356/Re-Welcome-To-Lagos-Nigerian-High-Commission-UK-s-Letter-to-the-BBC

This link is a letter written by the Nigerian High Commission to the UK addressed to BBC. The letter laments the fact that the BBC did not set itself up as an advertising agency for the work that Fashola is doing. In addition to these sort of presumptuous statements, the letters contains such elementary errors as substituting the word “slums” with “slumps” and “scanvage” instead of “scavenge.” The second example clearly showing that, the high commissions computer either does not have spell-check or the 'Seke' doesn’t know how to use it. (The latter reason is most likely as he/she probably got the job as per who-you-know and not what-you-know. In this case not much.) The letter says that this documentary is a distortion of life in Lagos. And thereby they deny the existence of a large percentage of the population of Lagos, and the rights they have to a better society to be provided by our inept, inadequate and demented government. 

Of all the sinners at the table of W2Lag; BBC, Nigerians and the Nigerian Government; the greatest sinner in my opinion (as you may have surmised from my restrained descriptions) is the Nigerian government. The government’s reaction to the documentary is irrational, illogical and moronic. As for BBC, they do what they want to do and always get away with it, but in this instance they seemed to have inadvertently captured the hearts and lives of people we will hardly ever see on international TV, evoking with clean cinematography and an almost flawless soundtrack the complicated nature of lives and dreams of SOME people in Lagos. Maybe we should not ask a biased, ex-colonial for more than that, after all “Nous ne sommes plus leur singes.” And as for until we learn and are able and free to tell our own stories, it is to the Esthers, Vocal Slenders and Zagedes that we look to, to speak our heart, to tell of our realities and to be to the world, the real Nigeria.

Stronger Than Hate

The history of humanity seems to be defined by human eyes 

looking away... 

Looking away from dead bodies floating in the water, 

Looking away from people trapped in steel cans, 


Looking away from dead bodies, 

Looking away from people turned to blood and bone, 


Looking away from people turned smoke and dust, 

Looking away, looking away from dead bodies... 


Always we look away, turn away, go on with our day, 

Guard jealously our plate...leave them to their fate... 

Let's leave them to their fate, 


They died long before, 

Long before their breathing ceased,

Long before their blood was shed,

Long before the bombs and the fire,

Long before the waters bore them away,


They died from indifference much stronger than hate.

My Argument Proposing the Motion to End Aid to Africa

(So I am going to be doing this in the format of my old primary and secondary school debates. I will not start with ‘Good day’ however, because Mr Olasehinde said it sounds rude!)

Hello my fellow Africans, valued (so not!) statesmen, honourable(?) financial analysts impeccable (cough, cough!) policy makers and the esteemed citizens of the world (audience). I am here to propose the motion that no aid should be sent to Africa, from this day forward, forever, amen. My points are as follows:

Great men, like Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin and David Boswell, have been attributed with the honour of defining insanity as ‘doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.’ Irrespective of who said it, at the core of the statement lies a truism. Since circa 1960 and the creation of African states in an arbitrary and haphazard manner, that disregarded the needs and desires of the African people, aid has poured into the continent like water into a basket. He who pours water into a basket shows where exactly his level of common sense lies. There has not been a proven empirical link between aid and growth/development. No African state can be proven to have developed strictly because of the aid received.

The purposes of giving aid have always been dubious. During Nigeria’s civil war, it has been stated that the aid given to Biafra extended the length of the conflict for over a year, thereby increasing the number of dead and wounded. The activities of aid agencies in the continent are hardly ever in concert with actual development. The proportion of overall aid dedicated to technical assistance, emergency food and health aid, as well as debt forgiveness, is relatively low. These forms of aid are logical in the short term. However, project and program aid has not been shown to make a massive difference to the lives of African people. In actual fact, as the amount of aid started dropping due to the financial crisis in Europe and America, the GDP of African countries began to increase. There has to be a systematic reduction in health aid, coupled with technical assistance that leads to an infrastructural improvement in African states.

Let’s move to the structural adjustment programs of the 1990s, when we all joked that life was being SAPped out of us. Do you remember? The IMF and World Bank programs caused a lot of suffering in many African nations, slashing spending on health care, education and agriculture. Were these cuts meant to be made up by aid? Any solution that ignores the root cause and logic is no solution at all.

Rather than aid, governments of developed countries should make policy changes to enhance African development. John Hilary, executive director of War on Want, cites trade liberalisation policies that subject firms in poor countries to competition they cannot handle and tax loopholes that allow firms to minimise payments to developing countries. Dani Rodrik, the development economist, says rich countries should pursue a "do no harm" approach with policies that include carbon taxes and other measures to ameliorate climate change; more work visas to allow larger temporary migration flows from poor countries; strict controls on arms sales to developing nations; reduced support for repressive regimes; and improved sharing of financial information to reduce money laundering and tax avoidance. Note that some aid is actually in the form of loans that contribute to Africa’s debt crisis. Basically give 1 carrot with the left hand and collecting 2 with the right hand.

Secondly, the Wolof of Senegal say that ‘a dish which is going to be tasty will smell good when it boils.’ However, the stench of aid clings to Africa like a beggars rags. I heard someone say something on TV in the UK implying that Africans should have picked themselves up after all the money she has given us. The Yoruba people say that it is for the day of trouble that each person has a unique name. I would have like to have told that woman that no aid had ever come to me. Let’s take a few examples of where aid actually goes…

Aid to Morocco was used to fund L’Oasis de Noria – a vast £60million holiday complex comprising a lagoon complete with waves, a golf course, almost 1,000 apartments and villas. £800,000 was given by EuropeAid, which Britain significantly funds.

Yegna, a girlband dubbed the Ethiopian ‘Spice Girls’, was given £3.8m by the UK Department for International Development.

Iraq receives the largest proportion of US aid.

Due to the greed and therefore corruption of many African leaders, a large proportion of aid goes missing. Conclusively, aid hardly enriches the lives of a large proportion of Africans, most especially, those who need it. If aid were not given, the lazybones leaders who are waiting for handouts, will make something of their countries and actually make more money. Idiots!

Thirdly, the Somalis say that ‘Bad counsel may cause you to fall into an abyss.’ The motivation for giving aid by developed countries is questionable and the statistics upon which the motivation is based is unverifiable. The British PM said that if aid is not given ‘the problems of conflict, the problems of mass migration, the problems of uncontrollable climate change are problems that will come and visit us at home.’ Again, this motivation has proved futile as, African migration via the Mediterranean has reached a high in 2015.

We can look back through African history as to how aid has been used. Let us go to 1958. When General Charles de Gaulle assumed supreme power in 1958, an independence referendum was held in the African colonies. Guinea-Conakry alone voted for independence; France responded by granting Guinea independence in 1958 but withdrawing its officials and its financial aid.

The reluctance to grant aid is also worrisome. Since 1970, when the world’s rich countries agreed to give 0.7% of their Gross National Income as aid yearly, targets are rarely met. The US is often the largest donor in monetary terms, but ranks amongst the lowest in terms of meeting the 0.7% target. The Ethiopians say ‘A bird hanging between two branches will get bitten on both wings.’ You either give aid or you do not. You either give for the right reasons, or you do give at all. (See my carrot and hand analogy above.)

Fourthly, while the percentage amount of aid is negligible, the fact of aid confirms Africans (and therefore black people) as helpless and subhuman in many people minds. This feeds into the intractableness of racism in the world today. British politician, Peter Mandelson said that aid has ‘demeaned many African governments by turning them into professional beggars.’ Every aid advert on television is accompanied by bony African children, with flies on their eyeballs. For many, many people, these are the only Africans they will ever see.

Now let’s look at colonialism. The colonial powers managed to convince themselves that they were subjugating Africans (and others) for their own good. European violence was going to stop the wars endemic to Africa, and their enlightened (over-)rule would be to the benefit of all. (Sound familiar?) Enough is enough. E don do!

The Ewe of Ghana say that ‘a beggar can beg for certain things but cannot beg for an ostrich's egg.’ Our self-worth cannot be maintained while presidential begging subsists. The Fulani of West Africa say that ‘He who gallops the horse of greed arrives at the door of shame.’ The horse of aid will only lead Africa to more shame. The Swahili say that ‘when the crocodile smiles, you should be extra careful.’ Collecting aid is no aid.

The Akan of Ghana say that ‘When you grab the head of a snake, the rest is mere rope.’ This problem and the solution is in African hands. African can and should care for itself. Africa has 58 countries and 1 billion people. Now I am going to give you some critical information.

The export of African forest products from Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea, brings in significant revenue. Africa’s fishing industry, mainly coastal West Africa, Namibia and South Africa, provides income to more than 10 million people and has an annual export value of $2.7 billion. African inland fisheries contain more than 3,000 fish species and account for two-thirds of global inland fish production. Lake Victoria is the most productive freshwater fishery in the world, producing more than 500,000 tons of fish worth $600 million every year. Africa’s agricultural products include cocoa (which alone accounts for 70% of the continent’s agricultural exports), coffee, tea, cotton, sugar, pineapple and bananas. Over the period of 2000 to 2011, West Africa recorded a large trade surplus of coffee, tea, cocoa and spices, which rose from just below US$ 2.5 to 7.5 billion. However, African products are largely unprocessed products (less than 6% of African cotton is processed, and only 25% of cocoa), as most of the processing is done in importing countries.

In 2008, Africa produced about 483 tons of gold, or 22 percent of the world’s total production. South Africa accounts for almost half of Africa’s gold production. Ghana, Guinea, Mali, and Tanzania are other major producers of gold. In 2008, the continent produced 55 percent of the world’s diamonds. Botswana, Angola, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Namibia are Africa’s largest producers of diamonds. In 2007, the continent produced 12.5 percent of the world’s total oil production and 6.45 percent of the world’s total natural gas production. Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Egypt, and Angola dominate Africa’s oil industry.

The Aswan Dam, a complex of two dams in Aswan, Egypt, captures the world’s longest river, the Nile, in the world’s third-largest reservoir, Lake Nasser. The Aswan High Dam, the newer and larger of the two dams, produces more than 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity every year, enough power for about 15 percent of the country. Lagos is Africa’s second most-populous city, with a population of about 10.2 million people. Lagos is growing 10 times faster than New York City, New York, or Los Angeles, California, in the United States. The United Nations estimates that Lagos will be one of the largest megacities in the world by 2015.

The Cold War illustrated that whoever controlled Africa, controlled the world. China’s association with Africa attracts caution, for this reason. Despite its resources, with the exception of cocoa, for which Africa is the main producer, the continent is unable to influence international prices (price taker). Imported products represent 1.7 times the value of exports. Exportation is actually done at a loss, which is why dependence on aid is required. According to the World Bank, just 5% of Africa’s cereal imports come from other African countries. It is estimated that more than 60% of the world’s available and unexploited cropland is located in sub-Saharan Africa. Africa can feed the world.

Africa and its countries need to look inwards. Africa needs to close its borders to resources. Nothing comes in, nothing goes out… for 5 years. During that time all Africa’s resources should be used to develop Africa and Africa only. While human resources cannot be conscripted, the more Africans who dedicate their time and skill to this project, the better. ‘When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.’

The Setswana of Botswana say that ‘life, like a wheel, turns.’ Africa can develop and turn poverty into wealth.

We should also not ignore the good and beneficial teachings in our culture. As the Yoruba say. ‘If we stand tall it is because we stand on the backs of those who came before us.’

With these few (ahem) words of mine I hope I have been able to convince and not confuse you that Aid to Africa should stop now.

We are what we think

We are here!

We are proud!

We are free!

We are Africa!!!