The 49th Africa Day occasion is a moment for reflection. Africa is a stereotyped continent that conjures distressing images of poverty; horrifying scenes of famines, blighted tales of corruption, tragic narratives of civil conflicts resulting in despicable human rights abuses and a damning prognosis of outright catastrophe. Simply, pessimists cannot envisage a foreseeable solution to the crisis presented by the sum of Africa’s misfortunes.
Such pessimism is not justified considering that the natural resources of the world’s poorest continent include a gold mine which has never ceased to tantalise predators outside the continent and their surrogates within. Africa possesses 99% of the world’s chrome resources, 85% of its platinum, 70% of its tantalite, 68% of its cobalt, 54% of its gold plus significant oil and gas reserves.
It is perplexing how a continent with such vast amounts of natural resources can still remain the poorest, 50 years after the formation of the AU, with a mandate to ensure the economic emancipation of the continent. In what is known as the resource curse theory, the blame has been incongruously laid on the resources themselves rather than on the greed of the bloodsucking marauders and their cohorts. It certainly calls for reflection.
But how can we put an end to this? This is the question the AU should be looking towards answering as we prepare to embark on another half-century aiming at total emancipation and meaningful utilisation of our resources to achieve growth and development. With a population density of 65 people per square mile and all the resources mentioned above, Africa should be able to produce enough for its citizens when it celebrates its next 50 years after the formation of the AU. One way of ensuring this is to first make sure that our resources work towards benefiting the citizens of the continent first before their exportation and expropriation.
Youth Forum Information and Publicity Department
