Literal slavery might have ended in
Africa but economic slavery continued and had never stopped but rather becomes
intensified. This is because, the secret of the development of the western
world is hinged on this and they will put up a great fight to resist any
attempt to reverse the trend. It is important to note that the Sub-Saharan
Africa is fundamental to the development and prosperity of the western world.
They source the raw materials for manufacturing in their factories from Africa
and so they will do everything to keep Africa where it is in order for them to
keep their status as a developed nation.
The western world is doing everything
possible to convince Africa that they need to continue to produce raw materials
in order to build wealth. They provide all the necessary support to aid the
production of raw materials. They provide equipment, training on good
Agricultural practices, post harvest handling, all in the bid to ensure that
Africa effectively deliver their raw materials. Africa must come to terms with
the fact that its prosperity can never lie in the production of raw materials.
It lies in the production of finished goods not as assisted by nature but
production of complex products as assisted by the intellectual capacity.
The trade report of the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) in 2015 showed that the total merchandise export in the
world in 2014 was about $18.5 Trillion. Out of this volume, the total value of
manufactured goods was about $12.5 Trillion while that of Agricultural
commodity was about $1.76 Trillion. This data therefore showed that no matter
the volume of agricultural commodities being exported out of Africa, the value
of African export will remain low because the pricing of primary products are
usually very low since the demands are limited to few companies in few
countries that use them as raw materials.
More importantly is the fact that they
create a monopoly by ensuring that there are few major buyers of these commodities
in their continents. They then add different regulations and commodity
specifications that will be difficult for many African farmers to achieve.
These two prong approach makes it easy for them to therefore grossly underprice
the agricultural commodities. As a matter of fact, Africa is always at their
mercy as far as selling the commodity is concern. They pose as if they are
doing Africans a favour by buying below the stated regulation and
specifications.
Another tool in the hand of the west
to keep Africa small is aids and one sided trade. They ensure that the
underdevelopment in Africa persist by giving aids to keep regimes that will do
their bidding in power. Such aids are never given for infrastructure
development that will aid intra African trade, rather, they are only given to
advance their own course. Even when they propose trade agreements it is not
about you exporting to them it is about them exporting to you. The strength of
Africa is its people and the huge markets that this has created. This is the
target of the Western world. Our misery is what defined their relevance. Their
factory are running on the strength of the poverty and underdevelopment of
Africa.
The international monetary funds (IMF)
and world bank are also tools in the hand of the west. The majority of the
seats available at the helms of affairs of these organisations are occupied by
the West. They advice Africans to take loans because this is an indicator to
foreign investors that their economies are viable and these further impoverished
the African nations because the West know that the money will be embezzled but
the nation will still have to pay for these loans and thus become poorer. So
funds for development are used to service the loans while the people sink
further down into poverty. They also advise African countries against
subsidising their Farmers while they give subsidies to their own farmers.
One of the ways out of this economic
slavery is for Africans to grow intra-African trade. This is very important
because it is going make a lot of difference in terms of growth and development
among Africans nations if it is taken very seriously. For example the European
Union (EU) with just about 509 million people controls about 33% of world trade
and about 66% of these trade are done among the EU members. If the EU could
achieve this with a market size that is below 50% of the African market, the
positive impact of the growth in intra African trade can only be left for one
to image. If Africa can grow its current intra-African volume from below 20% to
just about 40%, it would have succeeded in lifting hundreds of millions of its
population out of poverty just the way China have lifted over 200 million of
its citizens out of poverty in the last 7years.
This is why the African Continental
Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is not just a necessity but rather the major
solution to the current underdevelopment of the African continent.The African Continental Free Trade
Agreement (AfCFTA) was launched exactly a year ago. Out of 55 countries on the
continent, only Nigeria, Tanzania and Eritrea are yet to sign this agreement.
Out of the 22 countries required to ratify for it to take effect, 21 have
ratified and just one more country this agreement will take effect leaving
Nigeria behind.
What still baffles me is what Nigeria
is afraid of. Nigeria is the major beneficiary of such agreements in ECOWAS and
now we have opportunity for larger market and we have refused to be part of it
just because of politics, unfunded fear, ignorance, opacity and lack of
foresight. I just hope that Nigeria will not be left behind in this largest
free trade agreement in the world.
Finally, I will like to urge the
African nations to reduce resist the external influence of Western world who
are using the instruments of civil society organisation and the organised
private sector to mount pressure on the African governments in order to prevent
them from signing and ratifying the all important African Continental Free
Trade Agreement.
Bamidele Ayemibo
bayemibo@3timpex.com.
