Why Africa 2063?
– adapted from the AU’s Agenda 2063: ‘the Africa we want’! A blueprint for transforming Africa into a global powerhouse of the future!
The Organization for African Unity (OAU) was formed in 1963, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the founding fathers recognized that the fragmentation of Africa, created through colonialism was its ‘achilles heal’ preventing Africa’s unity, growth and development, and ultimately prosperity for all Africans:
- Kwame Nkrumah, a political theorist and revolutionary (First Prime Minister of Ghana – 1957 to 1960, and President of Ghana – 1960 to 1966);
- Julius Nyerere – anti-colonialism activist and (Prime minister of the then Tanganyika – 1961 to 1962, President of Tanganyika 1963 to 1964, President of Tanzania (formerly Tanganyika) – 1964 to 1985);
- Haile Selassie (Emperor of Ethiopia – 1930 to 1974); and
- Jomo Kenyatta – anti-colonialism activist (First Prime Minister of Kenya – 1963 to 1964, and then President of Kenya -1964 to 1978).
These great leaders had a vision of a United States of Africa. They collaborated with other African leaders forming the OAU which become known as the African Union (AU), from 2002. The bold vision of a united Africa is yet to be realized almost 60 years later, due to various systemic and structural issues! 2063 will be 100 years since the project to re-unite Africans was initiated.
What could Africa look like in 40 years from now? Africans can fundamentally change its trajectory, to accelerate economic and social development of Africa if certain key actions are taken at a continental level in an integrated manner.
Firstly, undoing the shackles of colonialism and integrating the continent, by breaking down the physical borders that separate Africans, improving transport infrastructure linking key business corridors, building out telecommunications infrastructure for the Fourth Industrial Revolution .
Secondly, leveraging of its own people and resources to create the next growth frontier of the globe are key factors. This includes ending the legacy of being just an exporter of raw materials and minerals to developed economies and increasing industrialization on the continent as illustrated below:
- Ghana’s president Nana Akufo-Addo recently declared that there shall be no further exports of raw bean cacao to Switerzerland, and that all manufacturing of chocolate would be localized.
- In Nigeria, Dangote Group is developing one of Africa’s largest oil refineries to process crude oil for local, regional and international exports.
Africa has a population of almost 1,4 billion people (the worlds youngest population with a median age of 19,7 years), abundant arable land (with a surface area of 30,37 million square kilometers), and large stretches of land with a climate suitable for almost year round agricultural output.
Lessons that Africa can learn from China’s Economic Miracle!
In the past 40 years, China has leveraged its very large population (1,45bn people -2021), and large country (with a surface area of 9,597million square kilometers), among other attributes to overcome its colonial history. China’s transformation since 1980 from one of the poorest third world countries to the current second largest economy by GDP (14,6 trillion – 2019), trailing only the United States of America ($21,43 trillion -2019). The transformation has lifted the Chinese population’s living standards exponentially to levels even surpassing those of the developed Western world in many aspects, including education, health, agriculture, technology, infrastructure and militarily.
Summary of other key attributes leading to the China of today! – Source: International Socialist Review (ISR)
- China leveraged its colonial past, utilizing Hong Kong (a British colony till 1997), Macau (Portuguese controlled till 1999) and Taiwan (currently a US protectorate). China used these as a connection to the world even before opening its economy to world trade.
- Hong Kong provided one third of China’s foreign currency, and without Hong Kong, China would not have been able to import so much technology, and a skilled labor force, like management professionals.
- China used Macau (also known as Casino City) for capital import and exports, and Taiwan was not only important in terms of capital investments, but more importantly in the long run was its technology transfer, first and foremost in the semi-conductor industry.
- Hong Kong and Taiwanese investors were also one of the key reasons for rapid growth of the Chinese provinces of Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong.
- China also took advantage of a very large pre-capitalist peasantry to provide a very large source of very cheap labor, drafting 300 million rural migrants to the cities to work in export processing zones, working like slaves in sweat shops.
- China’s backwardness also enabled it to leapfrog certain developmental steps by replacing archaic developmental methods with advanced processes (i.e. adoption of high technology in the telecommunications sector), where they laid fiber optic cabling through out the country almost at once.
- China has managed in just 40 years, capitalist modernization that took other states 100s of years to accomplish, and is rapidly building on this foundation to streak even further ahead through its Belt and Road Initiative.
In Part II of Africa 2063, we will take a deep dive into some of the actions that Africa can take, learning from China, with a sector specific focus.