THE BITTER TRUTH WITH AFRICA AND THE REST OF THE WORLD – THE NEED FOR CHANGE
July 21, 2021 | News
I am of the opinion that, regardless of a continent’s or nation’s past/unfortunate bad experiences, what matters is how the people of that continent/nation are able to rise above such bad experiences to become what they ought to be amongst the league of nations.
-By Zik Gbemre
THE BITTER TRUTH WITH AFRICA AND THE REST OF THE WORLD – THE NEED FOR CHANGE
African countries have remained the ‘fertile farm land’ for the Asians and the Europeans ‘plant’ and ‘harvest’ for their continuous growth, but to the detriment of the African people… Sadly, Africans are the ones who have ‘positioned themselves’ to remain the guinea pig that should be exploited for the benefit of others…
Every sort of assistance/aid ever given to African countries via the IMF, World Bank, etc., are usually laced with stringent conditions and cutthroat terms that are primarily intended to keep Africa in perpetual underdeveloped state…
“The US, when they borrow money, they get it with 1.1% to 1.5% interests’ rate. Africans, when they get the same amount of money, they get interest rate of 9.9% to 10%.” - This has to change…
“We Africans are the ones who would have to say ‘We know your game now. Enough is enough, we are not playing it anymore.’…
The destiny and future of any nation or continent, squally rests on the hands of its people. This includes both the political leaders and the masses…
I am of the opinion that, regardless of a continent’s or nation’s past/unfortunate bad experiences, what matters is how the people of that continent/nation are able to rise above such bad experiences to become what they ought to be amongst the league of nations. We have seen this play out in different countries and continents across the world. So, regardless of the fact that the African continent has been massively exploited for centuries and decades and even up till now in the hands of capitalist Europe, North America, and the Asians, however, I am of the view that the destiny and future of any nation or continent, squally rests on the hands of its people. This includes both the political leaders and the masses. It is the people of the continent of Africa that will decide if they will allow themselves to be ‘exploited by others’ continuously, or if that narrative will change. And until that decision is collective made by both the leaders and the led, Africa and its supposed giant Nigeria, will remain underdeveloped and a ‘farm’ for others developed nations to feed from.
Without sounding like a broken record, I have repeated it times without number that no Asian or European/American in Western developed nations will ‘deliver’ African countries and bring her out from the shackles of underdevelopment and backwardness. African countries have remained the ‘fertile farm land’ for the Asians and the Europeans to ‘plant’ and ‘harvest’ for their continuous growth, but to the detriment of the African people. But we cannot really blame them for that because Africans are the ones who have ‘positioned themselves’ to remain the guinea pig that should be exploited for the benefit of others. Name it, every sort of assistance/aid ever given to African countries are usually laced with stringent conditions and cutthroat terms that are primarily intended to keep Africa in perpetual underdeveloped state. From the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and other International finance corporations, they are all ‘farming in Africa’ to ‘feed’ their home counties. And that is how they want to keep this narrative and statuesque for as long as possible because the developed countries know that if African countries are to get developed, there won’t be much patronage of their manufactured cars, Aeroplanes, spare parts, generators, clothes, etc. the saddest part in this picture is the fact that African countries, especially Nigeria, have all the manpower, population (both in Africa and Diaspora) and natural resources required to lift the nation and continent out of the woods of underdevelopment and backwardness. But are we doing what we are supposed to do? Sadly not!
These were some of the reiterated highlights of a shot video interview of Arikana Chihombori-Quao, former AU Ambassador to the US, which was recently circulated online. In her words: “IMF, World Bank and other financial Institutions, they make African countries jump through loops, to get loans that we will not be able to pay. The US, when they borrow money, they get it with 1.1% to 1.5% interests’ rate. Africans, when they get the same amount of money, they get interest rate of 9.9% to 10%. The people who need a break, don’t get the break, while the ones that don’t need a break, get the break. The shares and vitals of IMF, World Bank and the others, is based on the fact that, African countries and many other developing countries do not succeed. THEIR SUCCESS IS BASED ON OUR FAILURES. THAT HAS TO CHANGE. AND GUESS WHO CAN MAKE THE CHANGE, WE THE CHILDREN OF AFRICA.
“We Africans are the ones who would have to say ‘We know your game now. Enough is enough, we are not playing it anymore.’ And this is where the diaspora comes in. There are more Ghanaian Doctors in New York City than in the entire country in Ghana. There are more Nigerian Doctors in LA (Los Angeles), than in the entire country of Nigeria. So, let’s be serious here. What Africa needs is capacity and more capacity. And that capacity is in the Diaspora. So, ours is to bring the Diasporas together, let them understand what is really going on in our Africa. Diasporas’ are not going home, Diasporas are angry at Africa because they are not understanding the root cause of what, and why Africa is where it is today. They think getting rid of the President will take care of the problem for us. Far from it. That President is going to be replaced by another one, who is going to equally face and suffer from the same difficult environment working. So, let’s look at, an Africa that must be free to take care of herself. An Africa that is free from exploitation from outsiders.
“The multinationals who are stealing from Africa every day in broad day light. I use the example of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). If you ever fly very low over the DRC, you’ll see farmers in the jungle. You’ll see several forces flying into DRC picking up minerals and flying right out. The same multinationals are responsible for arming young people and giving them AK16 because why, there are satellites in the sky which are telling them we got villages where there are lots of diamonds. So, what do they do? Arm young people, drug them up, and send them to go chop off a few heads. The rest of the villagers run away. So, they come behind and do their illegal mining.
“We black people must understand what is really going on because what we are shown in stages; is look at South-Africans they are killing each other. Whereas, there are some serious games going on and been played in Africa for far too long, and once we understand that, we can strategize on how we can begin to bring the difference and bring the change that Africa needs. And that change can only come if Africans in Diaspora are united, and the "Wakanda" villages as I call them. It is our organized way of saying - starting with one African Diaspora of excellence, it will be a new city, a developmental hub that can then take from there and have every sector developed. Take health care, how many Doctors do we need in this region to take care of this many people? We pick up education, same thing. We pick up Engineering; we pick up electricity, how many Megawatts of power do we have in the region? How many do we need? Be it solar, be it wind, be it hydro, be it nuclear…”
The truth of the matter is that, the world as it is, has always been for the survival of the fittest. So, Nigeria and the rest of the countries in the African continent, cannot afford to remain docile and a ‘feeding-farm’ for the rest of the developed world. No matter how we look at it or try to justify it, the countries in Africa, really do not have any iota of excuse to be where they are presently - as nations that are replete with all kinds of problems which are making life daily miserable for their common citizenries. The bitter truth, like I have repeated before, is that no foreigner can effectively and efficiently take Africa out of this forest and develop the continent for us. That onerous task, no matter how challenging and daunting it might seem, only belongs to us and can best be done by us. So, it is high time our political leaders and all African citizenry as followers, to stop making excuses and start using their ‘thinking faculties aright’ in developing their nations and get them out of the leagues of Third World countries in no distant future. That can only happen when we stop depending and relying on foreign developed countries to do things for us – be it in technology, science, medicine, infrastructure construction, etc.
Agreed that no country is an island, and that every country needs the inputs of others to achieve some levels and measures of transformation. But when a country’s/continent’s dependence on others is on the roof top, then something is intricately wrong. That is not a healthy bilateral-relationship at all angles.
Zik Gbemre.
July 21, 2021
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
-By Zik Gbemre
THE BITTER TRUTH WITH AFRICA AND THE REST OF THE WORLD – THE NEED FOR CHANGE
African countries have remained the ‘fertile farm land’ for the Asians and the Europeans ‘plant’ and ‘harvest’ for their continuous growth, but to the detriment of the African people… Sadly, Africans are the ones who have ‘positioned themselves’ to remain the guinea pig that should be exploited for the benefit of others…
Every sort of assistance/aid ever given to African countries via the IMF, World Bank, etc., are usually laced with stringent conditions and cutthroat terms that are primarily intended to keep Africa in perpetual underdeveloped state…
“The US, when they borrow money, they get it with 1.1% to 1.5% interests’ rate. Africans, when they get the same amount of money, they get interest rate of 9.9% to 10%.” - This has to change…
“We Africans are the ones who would have to say ‘We know your game now. Enough is enough, we are not playing it anymore.’…
The destiny and future of any nation or continent, squally rests on the hands of its people. This includes both the political leaders and the masses…
I am of the opinion that, regardless of a continent’s or nation’s past/unfortunate bad experiences, what matters is how the people of that continent/nation are able to rise above such bad experiences to become what they ought to be amongst the league of nations. We have seen this play out in different countries and continents across the world. So, regardless of the fact that the African continent has been massively exploited for centuries and decades and even up till now in the hands of capitalist Europe, North America, and the Asians, however, I am of the view that the destiny and future of any nation or continent, squally rests on the hands of its people. This includes both the political leaders and the masses. It is the people of the continent of Africa that will decide if they will allow themselves to be ‘exploited by others’ continuously, or if that narrative will change. And until that decision is collective made by both the leaders and the led, Africa and its supposed giant Nigeria, will remain underdeveloped and a ‘farm’ for others developed nations to feed from.
Without sounding like a broken record, I have repeated it times without number that no Asian or European/American in Western developed nations will ‘deliver’ African countries and bring her out from the shackles of underdevelopment and backwardness. African countries have remained the ‘fertile farm land’ for the Asians and the Europeans to ‘plant’ and ‘harvest’ for their continuous growth, but to the detriment of the African people. But we cannot really blame them for that because Africans are the ones who have ‘positioned themselves’ to remain the guinea pig that should be exploited for the benefit of others. Name it, every sort of assistance/aid ever given to African countries are usually laced with stringent conditions and cutthroat terms that are primarily intended to keep Africa in perpetual underdeveloped state. From the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and other International finance corporations, they are all ‘farming in Africa’ to ‘feed’ their home counties. And that is how they want to keep this narrative and statuesque for as long as possible because the developed countries know that if African countries are to get developed, there won’t be much patronage of their manufactured cars, Aeroplanes, spare parts, generators, clothes, etc. the saddest part in this picture is the fact that African countries, especially Nigeria, have all the manpower, population (both in Africa and Diaspora) and natural resources required to lift the nation and continent out of the woods of underdevelopment and backwardness. But are we doing what we are supposed to do? Sadly not!
These were some of the reiterated highlights of a shot video interview of Arikana Chihombori-Quao, former AU Ambassador to the US, which was recently circulated online. In her words: “IMF, World Bank and other financial Institutions, they make African countries jump through loops, to get loans that we will not be able to pay. The US, when they borrow money, they get it with 1.1% to 1.5% interests’ rate. Africans, when they get the same amount of money, they get interest rate of 9.9% to 10%. The people who need a break, don’t get the break, while the ones that don’t need a break, get the break. The shares and vitals of IMF, World Bank and the others, is based on the fact that, African countries and many other developing countries do not succeed. THEIR SUCCESS IS BASED ON OUR FAILURES. THAT HAS TO CHANGE. AND GUESS WHO CAN MAKE THE CHANGE, WE THE CHILDREN OF AFRICA.
“We Africans are the ones who would have to say ‘We know your game now. Enough is enough, we are not playing it anymore.’ And this is where the diaspora comes in. There are more Ghanaian Doctors in New York City than in the entire country in Ghana. There are more Nigerian Doctors in LA (Los Angeles), than in the entire country of Nigeria. So, let’s be serious here. What Africa needs is capacity and more capacity. And that capacity is in the Diaspora. So, ours is to bring the Diasporas together, let them understand what is really going on in our Africa. Diasporas’ are not going home, Diasporas are angry at Africa because they are not understanding the root cause of what, and why Africa is where it is today. They think getting rid of the President will take care of the problem for us. Far from it. That President is going to be replaced by another one, who is going to equally face and suffer from the same difficult environment working. So, let’s look at, an Africa that must be free to take care of herself. An Africa that is free from exploitation from outsiders.
“The multinationals who are stealing from Africa every day in broad day light. I use the example of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). If you ever fly very low over the DRC, you’ll see farmers in the jungle. You’ll see several forces flying into DRC picking up minerals and flying right out. The same multinationals are responsible for arming young people and giving them AK16 because why, there are satellites in the sky which are telling them we got villages where there are lots of diamonds. So, what do they do? Arm young people, drug them up, and send them to go chop off a few heads. The rest of the villagers run away. So, they come behind and do their illegal mining.
“We black people must understand what is really going on because what we are shown in stages; is look at South-Africans they are killing each other. Whereas, there are some serious games going on and been played in Africa for far too long, and once we understand that, we can strategize on how we can begin to bring the difference and bring the change that Africa needs. And that change can only come if Africans in Diaspora are united, and the "Wakanda" villages as I call them. It is our organized way of saying - starting with one African Diaspora of excellence, it will be a new city, a developmental hub that can then take from there and have every sector developed. Take health care, how many Doctors do we need in this region to take care of this many people? We pick up education, same thing. We pick up Engineering; we pick up electricity, how many Megawatts of power do we have in the region? How many do we need? Be it solar, be it wind, be it hydro, be it nuclear…”
The truth of the matter is that, the world as it is, has always been for the survival of the fittest. So, Nigeria and the rest of the countries in the African continent, cannot afford to remain docile and a ‘feeding-farm’ for the rest of the developed world. No matter how we look at it or try to justify it, the countries in Africa, really do not have any iota of excuse to be where they are presently - as nations that are replete with all kinds of problems which are making life daily miserable for their common citizenries. The bitter truth, like I have repeated before, is that no foreigner can effectively and efficiently take Africa out of this forest and develop the continent for us. That onerous task, no matter how challenging and daunting it might seem, only belongs to us and can best be done by us. So, it is high time our political leaders and all African citizenry as followers, to stop making excuses and start using their ‘thinking faculties aright’ in developing their nations and get them out of the leagues of Third World countries in no distant future. That can only happen when we stop depending and relying on foreign developed countries to do things for us – be it in technology, science, medicine, infrastructure construction, etc.
Agreed that no country is an island, and that every country needs the inputs of others to achieve some levels and measures of transformation. But when a country’s/continent’s dependence on others is on the roof top, then something is intricately wrong. That is not a healthy bilateral-relationship at all angles.
Zik Gbemre.
July 21, 2021
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes