SOME FACTORS
RESPONSIBLE FOR AFRICA BEING UNDERDEVELOPED
There
are various factors that have affected the development of the continent Africa,
however, some reasons behind the underdevelopment of Africa is highlighted
below, they include
CORRUPTION
AND POLITICAL INSTABILITY: - this is one factor that has affected the
development pattern of Africa leading to underdevelopment. Due to the selfish
nature and the corrupt practices of African leaders who only think of enriching
themselves to the detriment of the population, the African continent remains to
be underdeveloped. If the revenue generated in Africa was judiciously managed
by the African leaders, by now, the level of development would have increased
and also the standard of living in the African population. Therefore, one of
the internal factors contributing to the underdevelopment of Africa is the
corrupt tendencies found in the African continent. The political leaders lack
the commitment and patriotism for the development strive of Africa, due to the mismanagement of funds gotten from
financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World
Bank etc, Africa still remains backward and underdeveloped.
the African continent has witnessed
series of political instability ranging from military takeover to civil wars
etc. these political disorders have widely affected the development process of
Africa, thus enhancing the underdevelopment of Africa. The military takeover
for instance brought about leaders who have no idea of how leadership ought to
be administered for effective development, instead these leaders looted the
revenues which would have been used for the development of Africa. (Ake 1996)
·
THE
COLONIAL MENTALITY OF CONSUMPTION RATHER THAN PRODUCTION
The
advent of European colonialism in Africa was accompanied by the expansion of
the needs of the African peoples as a result of the altered conditions of life
in a colonial environment. Illiterates and unlettered, lacking the theoretical
knowledge, technical know-how and practical skills required for the production
of manufactures, the colonized Africans could not produce the expanded
necessities for their changed life. Moreover, they were made to think and
believe that they were inherently incapable intellectually of acquiring the
knowledge, know-how and skills needed for such production, and, consequently,
that their expanded needs could only be met by importation from abroad. The
real reason for the official prohibition or discouragement of local industrial
production and the preference for importation from abroad was to create a
market in Africa for the manufactures of the factories in the imperial
countries, and thereby to increase their own industrial production. Thus was
implanted in colonized African a dependency mentality, a mentality that
inclined the African, especially the educated African, to depend on foreign
manufactures for most of its need such as clothing, medicines, and means of
transportation and even for many of its food requirement. The mentality of the
crave for white collar jobs to work for European mercantile establishment made
Africans believe that getting these jobs and working with the colonial
officials elevated them in terms of social standing, believing that the work
involving manual labour, agricture in particular, was looked down upon as
menial, because it was not done by the white man in Africa, it was regarded as
work not meant for the educated, only for the lower, illiterate classes. (Offiong1980).
·
THE
COLONIALIST/ IMPERIALIST EXPLOITATION
The
exploitation of Africa by European economic imperialism was, as earlier noted,
by means of trade, which antedated colonialism by some four centuries. It began
in the 15th century when Europe, using its control of shipping on
the high seas, supported by its cannon power, opened trading relations with
parts of Africa. But the trade was not one between two equal trading partners.
On the contrary, it entirely subordinated Africa to Europe, integrating its
economies into those of Europe as a dependent or satellite part thereof. The
subordination took various forms.
First,
Africa was made to serve Europe as a source of cheap labour and raw materials,
and as a market for European manufactures.
Secondly,
the terms of trade were indicated and controlled in a manner that favoured
Europe at Africa’s expense. European capitalism determined the price of African
countries received for their exports, the quantities of commodities exported,
and the prices charged to them for imports. There were fixed so as to ensure a
large balance in favour of imports, which was then expatriated as profit to
Europe. The unequal exchange was forced upon African countries by the
monopolistic power of the imperialists.
Thirdly,
what goods Africa could export were dictated by the changing needs of Europe
from time to time; gold, ivory and slaves at first and later when the trade in
slaves was stopped, then, minerals, ivory, palm produce, groundnut, rubber,
cotton etc. in the result, as Walter Rodney observed, African economies “ceased
to be directed exclusively or even primarily towards the satisfaction of the
want of its inhabitants ;” rather their economic efforts were made to serve
external interest, thereby undermining their capacity for development. But no
sooner was the slave trade stopped that European colonization was foisted in
the latter half of the 19th century. The establishment of colonial
rule, with its direct political control and domination bestowed upon
imperialist exploitation of Africa the backing of governmental power, thus eroding
further Africa’s capacity for development. Africa now served as market for
investments in highly profit yielding enterprises like banking, insurance and
other finance business, shipping, mining, plantation agricture producing export
like palm, cocoa, tobacco etc but not manufacturing industries of course, the
absence of manufacturing industries prevented the acquisition of technical
know-how and industrial skills by Africans and the diffusion of skills
generally. Thus, lack of skills among African was an integral part of
capitalist impact on the continent thus resulting to underdevelopment. (Nkrumah 1996)
THE ACTIVITIES OF
BRITTON WOODS INSTITUTION
The
activity of Britton woods institutions is also one factor affecting Africa
underdevelopment. The loans given by
these institutions sometimes makes one wonder if they are for developmental
purposes or for under developmental purposes due to the conditions usually
attached to loans from IMF and World Bank. These Britton woods institutions
require that the recipient countries must not only pay for consultancy which
often takes half of the loan, but also purchase the materials that would be
used to execute the projects from the West, notably the major financial
contributors to the institutions. The consultants who are to carry out these
projects are also expatriate from the institutions or the West. This is part of
the dependent nature which still exists in the African continent causing the
continent to still be underdeveloped. The danger related to these loans is that
consultancy alone consumes significant percentage of the loan thereby leaving
little or nothing for the execution of the projects. Also, the recipient states
spend huge part of the loan on importation of materials which otherwise could
be sourced or produced locally. All these factors establish the fact that the
Britton woods institutions also contribute to underdevelopment. ( Ake 1996)
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