Africa is a region of diverse cultures and abundant resources but even after many years of post colonialism, one can hardly say Africa has truly grown.
Most of the African nations if not all, are still considered developing nations with hardly any substantial evidence of becoming developed in a short time. Africa has been known to be a region with very few occurrences of natural disasters and extreme weather conditions but poverty has continued to eat deep into most of the African nations with only a selected few of its population enjoying immeasurable wealth and good life. Nigeria, for instance, is an African nation blessed with oil, coal, marble and several other resources in abundance. But, even after 57 years of independence, most of her citizens still live below the poverty line as an average Nigerian lives on a dollar per day.
Nigeria has made significant progress in socio-economic terms over the last 15 years. Between 2005 and 2015, Nigeria’s Human Development Index value increased by 13.1 percent. However, the country continues to face massive developmental challenges, which include reducing the dependency on oil and diversifying the economy, addressing insufficient infrastructure, and building strong and effective institutions, as well as governance issues, public financial management systems, human development indicators, and the living conditions of the population.
Inequality in terms of income and opportunities has been growing rapidly, and has adversely affected poverty reduction. The North-South divide has widened in recent years due to the Boko Haram insurgency and a lack of economic development in the northern part of the country. Large pockets of Nigeria’s population still live in poverty, without adequate access to basic services, and could benefit from more inclusive development policies. The lack of job opportunities is at the core of the high poverty levels, of regional inequality, and of social and political unrest in the country. http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/nigeria/overview
One can only imagine what could possible be the cause of these. However, on a personal note, I think that Africa is where it is today because most of the African nations still live in the ancient realities where only the head or rulers gets to be rich and treated as royalties while others dwell in abject poverty. Even with the advent of democracy, the ancient ways of leadership still persists with hardly any methods of wealth distribution being put in place. Democracy has been modified to the ancient style of leadership where only one or a few number of families are entitled to leadership and royalty, where a ruler gets to rule for the rest of his life until he dies and then, leadership is usually rotated between other members of the ruling family.
The president of Nigeria was once the head of states in Nigeria in 1985 during the military regime, today he's the democratic president of Nigeria and is aspiring to rule for another tenure of 4 years as it is the norm. His predecessor, who was a vice president and then became the president after the demise of his boss, was reelected for a second tenure as the president and he even aspired for a third but lost. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who was the fifth head of states between 1976-1979 became a democratic president in 1999 and was reelected for a second tenure in 2004. He also aspired for a third tenure but lost. Enough about Nigeria, let's move to other African nations.
- King Mohammad IV has been ruling Morocco since 1999 till present
- Paul Kageme has been the president of Rwanda since 2000 till present
- Ernest Bai Koroma has been the president of Sierra Leone since 2007 till present
- Salva Kiir Mayardit has been the president of South Sudan for 10 years now
- Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, president of Sudan 1989 - present
- King Mswati III, Monarch of Swaziland since 1986
- Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete has been the president of Tanzania since 2005
- Faure Gnassingbe, president of Togo since 2005
- Yoweri Kaguta, president of Uganda since 1986 till present
- The very famous president Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe from 1980-2017 and he even hesitated for a while before finally handing over to the new president.
- Abdelaziz Bouteflika, president of Algeria since 1999
- Jose Eduardo Dos-Santos, president of Angola since 1979 till present
- Yayi Boni has been the president of Benin since 2006
- Pierre Ukurunziza, president of Burundi since 2005
- Pual Biya, president of Cameroon since 1982
- Idriss Debby, president of Chad since 1990
- Joseph Kabila, president of D. R. Congo since 2001
- Dennis Sassou Nguesso; president of the Republic of Congo
- Ismail Omar Guellah; president of Djibouti 1999 - present
- Teodoro Obiang; president of Equatorial Guinea, 1979 - present
- Isiaas Afewerki; president of Eritrea, 1991 - present
- Yahya Jammeh; president of Gambia since 1994 - 2017, resisted handing over for several days
- King Letsie III of Lesotho; 1996 till present.
The list goes on and on. Their excuses has always been that continuity of leadership ensures growth and development of these nations but you may want to ask how these countries has fared under the continued leadership style; "Not good"; that's how. There's hardly any developments ever recorded. For some counties such as Nigeria, there has rather been setbacks instead of growth and development. A large proportion of her citizens keep on going from middle scale to lower scale on a daily per. Many businesses are being shutdown because of the unfavorable economic situations. However, the rich keeps on getting richer as many of the big businesses take advantage of the poor economy to extort the people. They go as far as doubling the prices of goods and services or even make it 3 times the usual cost.
Africa has been the most poverty-stricken land in the world for the past century. Africa is affected by absolute poverty. According to the World Bank, anyone who makes less than $1.25 a day is considered to be in absolute poverty.
http://www.borgenmagazine.com/overview-poverty-africa
Now, the big question is, how long will we let this go on before we do something to change it for good? We the young ones need to realize that finding a solution to all these issues lies on our shoulders. African youths need to wake up, put their individual differences aside and act swiftly as one. We can't continue to recycle these old people as our leaders. People who are considered inactive based on the age scale. People who are still living in the ancient, uncivilized and barbaric ages. People who don't understand the value of technology and how fast it can push the nation to the top. People who are uninterested in the distribution of wealth and equity. People who are power mongers and control freaks. Greedy and unpatriotic men and women whose only priority is to make their lineage filthy rich, powerful and unquestionable.
We must realize that there is no help out there coming, we must stand up and make things right for ourselves. We must stop living the lives designed for us by our parents and/or guardians if they don't favor us. Don't get married without a job. Don't put a kid to this earth if you don't have the resources to cater for them. We should understand the need to make the right choices on leadership matters. We must put aside all religious and tribal sentiments, and make choices based on merits and legacies. We must stop putting up with all the sufferings because we think we can, life doesn't have to be so filled with hardship and unending suffering. Ultimately, we must accept the responsibility of patriotism, the fact that 999 people are doing wrong doesn't mean you should do wrong as well. If you can't beat them you don't necessarily need to join them, instead you take on them one after the other.
We can take Africa forward, we just need to realize that have the power to and make a will. Africa is what it is today and whether or not it's our fault, it won't change until we get up and change it.
Wake up African youths, wake up. We are blacks, we are strong, we are Africa but most importantly, we deserve BETTER 