For centuries, the world was in a state of economic stasis. In other words, if you check the gross world product (aggregate of all national GDPs) over the last 2000 years, nothing was happening at scale. But things started changing. The data (the map above) shows the actual wealth of nations since that Adam Smith classic of the invisible hand and productivity. Until Africa begins to show up on this map, it cannot advance the welfare of its citizens.
More money in the national purse does not improve the lives of citizens. That is why crude oil money deceives. You receive $10 billion in your bank account with limited economic activity since the oil is picked raw and moved to another country to be refined. Sure, you can employ 20,000 people. With limited economic activity, your GDP is $20 billion. That GDP is a measure of your economic activity which gives us jobs and opportunities.
But someone who does not have oil, but gets $5 billion in the bank through its farming processes, outperforms. Yes, that farming involves many economic activities: cultivation, transportation, processing, etc. Because GDP measures economic activities, not money in the bank, that person can end up having a GDP of $40 billion since that agriculture enables many activities, providing ways to support lives.
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In our modern history, nothing does that economic translation better than manufacturing. Unfortunately, Africa has no impact therein. That must change for Nigeria and Africa.
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Comment: In all seriousness, our narrative ought to have transcended “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” to how Africans are developing Africa. Rather regrettably, the narrative has remained constant in our mouths.
Until we graduate from economic over-dependency to self-reliance —not that the needed human and natural resources for such economic growth and development are lacking but the obvious inability, for too long, of the African leaders to activate the inertia —through transformational leadership, across-the-board. In that direction, the sleeping giant will be awakened to her position among the comity of nations.
My Response: We actually regressed from where Europe left us in the manufacturing space. So, instead of making progress, we are moving backwards.
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We have been harping on these things, and yet year after year, nothing really changes for the better, rather it keeps deteriorating. It is not enough to diagnose and list the problems, if nothing is done to change the trajectory, then we are only getting worse.
If we can’t manufacture for the rest of the world based on their biased and prejudiced ‘standards’, can we just manufacture for ourselves, at least with our numbers we can make a big market?
We start by reforming our education system to something that truly liberates and empowers.