CONSEQUENCES OF MEDIOCRITY BY AFRICAN COUNTRIES AND THE WAY FORWARD

Africa is and has always been the best continent on earth.Africa has a large quantity of natural resources including
Diamonds,salt,gold,iron,cobalt,Uranium,copper,bauxite,silver,petroleum and Cocoa beans,but also woods and tropical fruits.All these natural resources can be exploited by African themselves but as at now,they are being exploited by the West and Africans do not gain much in return.If Africans were to utilize these resources on their own,the continent would have been much far in terms of development than it is now.

The problem with Africans is laziness,corruption and over reliance on donor funding and with due respect to these institutions,it is DFID,USAid among others which are none African Institutions.Africans will never go anywhere as long as we depend on friends of goodwill whose names we keep on changing from time to time e.g donors,development partners e.t.c.

As I write this article,Sub-Saharan Africa is grappling with record level of displacement and hunger due to conflict and drought but president Donald Trump is proposing"deep cuts to foreign aid"that would hit this continent the hardest.

Trump's "skinny" budget,released by the white house last week,aims to slash the State Department and U.S Agency for International Development(US-AID)budgets by close to 30%,while eliminating several executive agencies,including the U.S African Development Foundation,which funds grassroots development projects in 30 African countries.

Even though the blueprint leaves intact funding for HIV/AIDS and malaria treatment both of which are critically important for Africa,it hints at a deep cuts elsewhere in the aid budget.Until Trump administration submits a more detailed budget proposal in May,it's impossible to pin-point which programs will be hit the hardest but the bottom line is,Africa must rise up and stop relying too much on donor funding.

Finally as I conclude,Africa has the potential for economic growth and this can only be realized through the following measures:

1. Get the fundamentals right

A few basics can help underpin an inclusive and sustainable economic transformation. These include macroeconomic stability, access to finance and better management of sub-Saharan Africa’s abundant natural resources  Greater voice and accountability are essential to ensure government responds to people’s needs, in the fight against corruption and  for more effective management of public budgets. On the social side, the fundamentals include social and human development policies, with an emphasis on public health, education and gender equality.

2. Transform agriculture and land use

Low crop yields and rapid population growth have pushed the expansion of cropland in sub-Saharan Africa far beyond the global rate, since more farmland is needed to grow more food for more people. This contributes to deforestation, exacerbates vulnerability to climate change and puts pressure on the fragile ecology in the region’s vast drylands. Intensifying agriculture to boost yields, combined with climate-smart farming techniques, can help boost farmers’ incomes, reduce environmental degradation and strengthen resilience to climate change. Landscape management efforts in Niger have allowed farmers to produce 100 kg/ha (90 lbs/acre) more grain than before, with gross real annual incomes increasing $1,000 per household for more than a million households. These approaches should be mainstreamed into national agriculture plans.


3. Diversify into manufacturing and other high-productivity sectors

Sub-Saharan countries have the potential to make robust gains in manufacturing and other modern sectors. Africa’s share of world manufactured export markets is so tiny – less than 1 percent – that even a modest increase could have a big impact on the sector’s growth. To build up manufacturing, there is an urgent need to strengthen infrastructure, in particular for electricity. Focused efforts are needed to promote manufactured and tradable service exports through better logistics, special economic zones and other initiatives. Selective industrial promotion policies can help overcome market failures, as long as they’re accompanied by transparency and accountability.

4. Unleash the power of urbanization

By 2050, sub-Saharan Africa’s cities will increase by almost 800 million people, nearly half of the projected rise in urban population globally. Urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa has been something of a missed opportunity so far, as it hasn’t been accompanied by economic transformation. Many cities already suffer from severe traffic congestion, long travel times, high road fatality rates, low energy efficiency, rising outdoor air pollution and rising GHG emissions. While urban populations are growing rapidly, in many cases, cities' physical footprints are growing even faster, creating urban sprawl. Kampala, for instance, grew geographically by more than 10 percent a year from 1990-2000, while population grew by 4.3%. A shift towards more compact, connected and coordinated cities will assist in creating a more productive, inclusive and clean urbanization.

5. Foster a modern energy transition

Economic transformation in sub-Saharan Africa will require a large increase in energy supply. At present electricity consumption per capita is 17 of the world average, not enough to continuously power a 50-watt light bulb. Some 620 million people lack access to electricity. Sub-Saharan Africa has a few good things going for it on energy, though. For one, it has an enormously rich portfolio of clean energy assets: about 1,100 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity, 350 GW of hydro, and 109 GW of wind. In addition, global technological progress has created the potential for developing countries to leapfrog to much more energy efficient processes and products than were available to other countries as they developed decades ago.

                                     References

Reynolds, Lloyd G. (1985) “China,” Economic Growth in the Third World, 1850-1980, New Haven: Yale University Press, Chapter 11, pp. 268-292.

Riskin (1996) “Social Development, Quality of Life and the Environment,” JEC, pp. 361-380.

Marshall, Alfred (1948) Principles of Economics, New York: MacMillan Company. Section #4, pp. 5-10.

Edmonds, Richard L. (1999) “The People’s Republic of China after 50 Years,” China Quarterly, No. 159, September, pp. 563-568.

O’Keefe, Hsu and William O’Keefe (1997) “Chinese and Western Behavior Differences: Understanding the Gaps,” International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 24, No. 1-3, pp. 190-196.

Confucius (1938) “Ethics and Politics,” in Lin Yutang (Ed.) Wisdom of Confucius