NBM OF AFRICA
“WHO IS THE NEO-BLACKMAN?”
INTRODUCTION
I am so honoured to be a member of the Neo-Black Movement of Africa worldwide and it is a privilege to tell us, who the Neo-Blackman is.
We are members of the Neo-Black Movement of Africa world-wide; this implies we should be aware that as members we have an obligation to carryout. We have a cross to carry and service to deliver. In a clear note, NBM has a goal which is “Equal Right and Social Justice for All” and as members it is our duty to drive all our actions towards attaining this goal.
This topic “Who is the Neo-Blackman?” is a very important topic because most of us members of this great movement do not know our responsibilities; it should be noted that as members of NBM, we are role models and development-inclined individuals. This implies that we should not be found or associated with immoral and illegal activities; most of us are active violators of laws, perpetrators of various crimes that is destroying the NBM’s image world-wide. If you do not know, we are a great movement with a great task of upholding and sustaining the Black race; when our members have no orientation that will help us execute our task, and then we are doom. This has made me to come up here to tell us who the Neo-Blackman is.
NEO-BLACKMAN
The Neo-Black Movement of Africa world-wide as an organization emerged to save the Black race from inequality and injustice, thereby contributing to the development of the Black race. NBM has chances of attaining her goal “Equal Right and Social Justice for all”; but her chances have been narrowed because her members have not been well articulated and guided in her doctrines. NBM at her inception employed Neo-Blackism as her ideology, this ideology came up when there was observed compromise of the ancient Blackism ideology (the betraying acts of some ancient Blacks); there was need to agitate new measures of promoting and sustaining the Black race. Thus, the Neo-Blackism ideology was adopted by NBM who emerged in 1977 as an organization that has obliged her to tackle and help promote the Black race; Neo-Blackism is a contemporary African ideology that came up to re-structure, re-orient and equip contemporary Africans to mend the loop holes of the ancient Blackism.
Neo-Blackism is not a negative inclined ideology as some people see it; it is an ideology that should be inculcated in all Africans, gearing them towards studying and knowing the African land and understanding her diverse people and culture. It is an ideology that fosters equality in all spheres of the Africa land despising status-quo. Neo- Blackism as an ideology foster the vitality of Africans to Reason, as one united people that has Courage, and promising they will possess Grace to be conquerors (Reasoning+Courage=Grace). It is an ideology that foresee sustainable development for Africa as it task Africans to be steadfast in reviving ancient Africa culture; ancient Africa dynasties and kingdoms; ancient Africa traditional religion as well becoming proud of who they are (Africans).
Considering the ideology adopted, this implies that any member of the Neo-Black Movement of Africa is a Neo-Blackman; as a Neo-Blackman, one must adhere to the principles of Neo-Blackism. He is one that must rationally think and be courageous in attending to matters that affect the Black race; he must be patriotic and be ready to persevere at all expense to ensure he attains the goal of NBM.
The Neo-Blackman is one that venture in activities that drive towards re-claiming of Black ancestral knowledge; he is one that acknowledges that the possession of ancestral knowledge will build in Blacks the immune gadgets that will remove western civilization and install a new dawn of Black civilization. He is one that is anxious to patronize and accept Africa values, beliefs, ethics and norms; an individual who is against xenophobic attacks among Africans.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NEO-BLACKMAN
Considering the afore-gone, Neo-Blackman has the following characteristics:
• One that is capable of promoting activities that will encourage black people towards the full exercise of African human spirit, the re-awakening of all its inventive, creative and moral capacities.
• One that can stand against all acts of racial contempt and conflict, exclusion, discrimination and intolerance.
• One that can encourage in researches on African traditions and culture.
• One that can internalize and create realistic approach towards providing solutions for Africans problems.
• One that can enhance and promote the image of Black power all over the world.
PROBLEMS FACED BY THE NEO-BLACKMAN
There is no smooth way to success, as there are hurdles, constraints as well as obstacles that pose on the way but the zeal of one’s perseverance establishes one’s success in whatever situation he or she may find himself or herself. The Neo-Blackman is bound to experience series of constraints as some Neo-Blackmen have backslidden while some others have triumphed over confronting constraints.
The following are some constraints that can confront the Neo-Blackman:
• Tribalism
• Religious differences
• Organization policy implementation
Tribalism as a constraint of the Neo-Blackman
Tribalism as a prevailing factor poses as a constraint to the struggle of the Neo-Blackman; this problem is associated with some Neo-Blackmen as they tend to uphold their tribes of high-esteem to other tribes; they at all cost establish policies that will favour their tribes. Tribalism is a problem that looks like a fluid in our veins; it is a problem that is destroying the Neo-Blackman’s zeal of attaining NBM’s goal of Equal Right and Social Justice for all.
Religious differences as a problem of the Neo-Blackman
Africa is a continent with diverse religions both adopted and indigenous, it is a land that is spiritually conscious; she despises whatever it takes to establish their success in spiritualism. Most practiced religious in Africa can be categorized into three: Christianity, Islam and Africa Traditional Religion. These religious groups have gravely affected the Neo-Blackman’s quest for sustainable Africa development as they create contradictory doctrines; their beliefs differs and also varies from societies to societies. For instance, in the Christian group, there are sub-groups with different views and interests likewise the Islamic and the Africa traditional religious groups; these diverse views coming from religious practices in Africa had foiled the pace of the Neo-Blackman to combat oppression and betrayal in the continent.
No doubt most Neo-Blackmen are religious and do not dwell in events against their religious beliefs which adversely affect decision-making as well as policy formulation in their quest to combat oppression and betrayal.
Organizational Policy Formulation as a problem of the Neo-Blackman
The establishment of organization as well as the success of such organizations largely depend on the policy initiated; how it is initiated who and who initiates it and how it is been implemented. Policy formulation is a vital trend to the success of any organization, thus it should encompass vital opinions and view as it will affect them. The policy formulation is a constraint of Neo-Blackmen in their zeal to execute their duty for NBM. The Neo-Black Movement of Africa has a sole-aim of liberating Africa and establishing sustainable development in Africa; this implies that all policies formulated revolves around their aim but the presence of intervening policies that are contrary show disunity and disagreement in decision-making process of the organization. This kind of policy will yield no progress but more hatred and disunity among Blacks; this has made it a problem of the Neo-Blakman.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
This paper explained Neo-Blackman as an individual member of NBM that is guided by the Neo-Blackism ideology which has guided NBM since her inception; the Neo-Blackman is one that can liberate the Black race from external control and become full independent and competent in handling her affairs. The Neo-Blackman is a the sole-hope of NBM in attaining her goal of Equal Right and Social Justice for all.
Furthermore, the paper which posited some problems that can restrain the Neo-Blackman’s quest for executing his duty for NBM has brought up the following recommendations as solutions to the problems:
1. The Neo-Blackman should be patriotic in dealing with African affairs.
2. The Neo-Blackman should establish standing policies that will detest nepotism, tribalism and cronyism for active governance.
3. The Neo-Blackman should map out strategies and measures such as peaceful protests, campaign, conferences, seminars and workshops to sensitize both African leaders and the followers of the adverse effects of the negative concepts of tribalism, religious differences and policy formulation which have long foiled the pace of Africa sustainable development.
4. NBM decision-making should be at all cost be made by her members, there should be no third party in the decision-making of NBM affairs
5. NBM intellects should be hunted and utilized for NBM productivity
6. The persistent cold-war which entails grievances that exist between NBM members should be avoided and unity in diversity established
7. NBM elites who are rich and famous should invest in NBM
8. And finally, the NBM culture and tradition of initiating members and choosing leaders should be upheld to a high esteem by all
Revolutionary Regards
– Umudjere Africaman
UNITED AFRICA STATE: SALVAGING ROUTE TO AFRICA FULL REDEMPTION
By Umudjere Africaman
A people without power cannot make any change in a society they belong; Africans without power cannot put in place all they have lost or redirect the Africa vehicle that has be and is be driven under the auspices of imperial control.
The United Africa State which we agitate for is not a tribal/ethnic nationality but an Africa political entity graced with tribal nations bounded with a unity of purpose thus it is imperative we will address our needs, resolve our issues and acknowledge our efforts not on tribal/ethnic affiliations but on a political territorial quest for sovereignty and development
The United Africa State is the dream for the realization of full Uhuru for us Africa people; it is the earlier proposed vision of Ancestor Kwame Nkrumah and subsequently buttressed by present day agitating Pan Africanists. This vision was earlier antagonized by Julius Nyerere of Tanzania in 1963 at the Organization of Africa Unity Conference; though he later regretted that decision but unfortunately his stand against the United Africa State was so supported by other Africa independent states that foiled Kwame Nkrumah’s hope of establishing the United Africa State. The United Africa State might seem odd as many will ask:
What is the United Africa State?
How can we achieve the United Africa State?
What are the benefits of the United Africa State?
What is the United Africa State? – The United Africa State is the disbandment of all authorities accrued to all sovereign countries in Africa and establishing a one country Africa called the “United Africa State”; Here, the various resources (Natural Resources, Human Capital, Security Assets and all therein Africa) in the various countries in Africa will be harnessed together for the betterment of Africa and not the Western Countries.
The United Africa State which presumably was the dream of Kwame Nkrumah and later buttressed by Mummar Gaddafi will afford Africans a United Defense against the imperialists and a United Africa Nation-building for our Development
How can we achieve the United Africa State?
It is no longer news that we are just independent on paper and enslaved mentally; we still service and pledge loyalty to the imperialists who have all these years exploited us of our resources. It is also necessary to say that It is not new that Africans are suffering at the expense of our rich resources; the only way out is the United Africa State and it is important we know how to achieve this.
The pathway of achieving the United Africa State is total devotion to Pan Africanism; some of us that are not conscious of what Pan Africanism is will ask:
What is Pan Africanism? – Pan Africanism is an ideology that professes an inward and outward love for Africa and her people; it is the ideology that equips one who subscribes to it, the skills to harmonize Africa resources for the betterment of Africa and her people.
The United Africa State cannot be achieved through ethnicity, religion supremacy, political party supremacy; it can only be achieved when we dedicate our actions to Pan Africanism. To achieve the United Africa State, we must set the following as our targets:
1. Africans’ consent to the Referendum for the United Africa State
2. Dissolution of all independent countries in Africa
3. Dissolution of all independent countries’ political parties
4. Establishment of political parties for the United Africa State
5. Establishment of the United Africa State country
Benefits of the United Africa State
The Africa people can be powerful to cater for their losses and reclaim their lost fate when they establish the United Africa State; the United Africa State will guarantee us the following benefits:
1. An African Central bank for Africa people
2. An Army for Africa people
3. A Central Government
4. A General constitution that binds all
5. An avenue for consumption for made in Africa
6. A Court for Africa people
7. A Single Currency
Please note that the problem of Africa was the problem of USA, China, India and other developing countries of the world. This also requires us to know that the solution that helped them is also needed in Africa; they agreed to have a united government that will see themselves as their sole responsibility.
The United Africa State is our only solution because when this is established we can put in place economic strategies to grow our economies, put in place policies that can address our differences such as cultural, religious, political and ethnical
As we engage in the struggle for the United Africa State let’s not forget this is our only solution and we must not relent nor let go of this chance before us
Revolutionary Regards
– Umudjere Africaman
Africa is the world’s second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.2 million km2 (11.7 million sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers six percent of Earth’s total surface area and 20.4 percent of its total land area.With 1.1 billion people as of 2013, it accounts for about 15% of the world’s human population.
The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, both the Suez Canal and the Red Sea along the Sinai Peninsula to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.
The continent includesMadagascar and various archipelagos. It has 54 fully recognized sovereign states (or countries), nine territories and twode facto independent states with limited or no recognition.
Africa’s population is the youngest amongst all the continents; the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4.
Algeria is Africa’s largest country by area, and Nigeria by population. Africa, particularly central Eastern Africa, is widely accepted as the place of origin of humans and the Hominidae clade (great apes), as evidenced by the discovery of the earliest hominids and their ancestors, as well as later ones that have been dated to around seven million years ago, including Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Australopithecus africanus, A. afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliest
Homo sapiens (modern human) found in Ethiopiabeing dated to circa 200,000 years ago. Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas; it is the only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones.
Africa hosts a large diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. In the late 19th century European countriescolonized most of Africa. Most modern states in Africa originate from a process of decolonization in the 20th century.
Prehistory
Lucy, an Australopithecus afarensis skeleton discovered on November 24, 1974, in theAwash Valley of Ethiopia’s Afar Depression
Africa is considered by most paleoanthropologists to be the oldest inhabited territory on Earth, with the human species originating from the continent.
During the middle of the 20th century, anthropologists discovered many fossils and evidence of human occupation perhaps as early as 7 million years ago. Fossil remains of several species of early apelike humans thought to haveevolved into modern man, such as Australopithecus afarensis (radiometrically dated to approximately 3.9–3.0 million years BC),Paranthropus boisei (c. 2.3–1.4 million years BC)and Homo ergaster (c. 1.9 million–600,000 years BC) have been discovered.
After the evolution of Homo sapiens sapiens approximately 150,000 to 100,000 years ago in Africa, the continent was mainly populated by groups of hunter-gatherers. These first modern humans left Africa and populated the rest of the globe during the Out of Africa II migration dated to approximately 50,000 years ago, exiting the continent either across Bab-el-Mandeb over theRed Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar in Morocco, or the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt.
Other migrations of these modern humans within the African continent have been dated to that time, with evidence of early human settlement found in Southern Africa, Southeast Africa, North Africa, and the Sahara.
The size of the Sahara has historically been extremely variable, with its area rapidly fluctuating and at times disappearing depending on global climactic conditions.
At the end of the Ice ages, estimated to have been around 10,500 BC, the Sahara had again become a green fertile valley, and its African populations returned from the interior and coastal highlands in Sub-Saharan Africa, with rock art paintings depicting a fertile Sahara and large populations discovered in Tassili n’Ajjer dating back perhaps 10 millennia.[31]However, the warming and drying climate meant that by 5000 BC, the Sahara region was becoming increasingly dry and hostile. Around 3500 B.C., due to a tilt in the earth’s orbit, the Sahara experienced a period of rapid desertification.The population trekked out of the Sahara region towards the Nile Valley below the Second Cataract where they made permanent or semi-permanent settlements. A major climatic recession occurred, lessening the heavy and persistent rains in Central and Eastern Africa. Since this time, dry conditions have prevailed in Eastern Africa and, increasingly during the last 200 years, in Ethiopia.
The domestication of cattle in Africa preceded agriculture and seems to have existed alongside hunter-gatherer cultures. It is speculated that by 6000 BC, cattle were already domesticated in North Africa. In the Sahara-Nile complex, people domesticated many animals, including the donkey and a small screw-horned goat which was common from Algeria to Nubia. In the year 4000 BC, the climate of the Sahara started to become drier at an exceedingly fast pace. This climate change caused lakes and rivers to shrink significantly and caused increasing desertification.
This, in turn, decreased the amount of land conducive to settlements and helped to cause migrations of farming communities to the more tropical climate of West Africa.
By the first millennium BC, ironworking had been introduced in Northern Africa and quickly spread across the Sahara into the northern parts of sub-Saharan Africa,and by 500 BC, metalworking began to become commonplace in West Africa. Ironworking was fully established by roughly 500 BC in many areas of East and West Africa, although other regions didn’t begin ironworking until the early centuries AD. Copper objects from Egypt, North Africa, Nubia, and Ethiopia dating from around 500 BC have been excavated in West Africa, suggesting that Trans-Saharan trade networks had been established by this date.
What’s driving Africa’s growth
Africa’s economic pulse has quickened, infusing the continent with a new commercial vibrancy. Real GDP rose by 4.9 percent a year from 2000 through 2008, more than twice its pace in the 1980s and ’90s. Telecommunications, banking, and retailing are flourishing. Construction is booming. Private-investment inflows are surging.
To be sure, many of Africa’s 50-plus individual economies face serious challenges, including poverty, disease, and high infant mortality. Yet Africa’s collective GDP, at $1.6 trillion in 2008, is now roughly equal to Brazil’s or Russia’s, and the continent is among the world’s most rapidly growing economic regions. This acceleration is a sign of hard-earned progress and promise.
While Africa’s increased economic momentum is widely recognized, its sources and likely staying power are less understood. Soaring prices for oil, minerals, and other commodities have helped lift GDP since 2000. Research from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) shows that resources accounted for only about a third of the newfound growth.1 The rest resulted from internal structural changes that have spurred the broader domestic economy. Wars, natural disasters, or poor government policies could halt or even reverse these gains in any individual country. But in the long term, internal and external trends indicate that Africa’s economic prospects are strong.
Each African country will follow its own growth path. We have developed a framework for understanding how the opportunities and challenges differ by classifying countries according to levels of economic diversification and exports per capita. This approach can help guide executives as they devise business strategies and may also provide new insights for policy makers.
More than a resource boom
To be sure, Africa has benefited from the surge in commodity prices over the past decade. Oil rose from less than $20 a barrel in 1999 to more than $145 in 2008. Prices for minerals, grain, and other raw materials also soared on rising global demand.
Yet the commodity boom explains only part of Africa’s broader growth story. Natural resources, and the related government spending they financed, generated just 32 percent of Africa’s GDP growth from 2000 through 2008.2 The remaining two-thirds came from other sectors, including wholesale and retail, transportation, telecommunications, and manufacturing (Exhibit 1). Economic growth accelerated across the continent, in 27 of its 30 largest economies. Indeed, countries with and without significant resource exports had similar GDP growth rates.
Exhibit 1
Widespread growth
Africa’s growth was widespread across sectors from 2002 to 2007.
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The key reasons behind this growth surge included government action to end armed conflicts, improve macroeconomic conditions, and undertake microeconomic reforms to create a better business climate. To start, several African countries halted their deadly hostilities, creating the political stability necessary to restart economic growth. Next, Africa’s economies grew healthier as governments reduced the average inflation rate from 22 percent in the 1990s to 8 percent after 2000. They trimmed their foreign debt by one-quarter and shrunk their budget deficits by two-thirds.
Finally, African governments increasingly adopted policies to energize markets. They privatized state-owned enterprises, increased the openness of trade, lowered corporate taxes, strengthened regulatory and legal systems, and provided critical physical and social infrastructure. Nigeria privatized more than 116 enterprises between 1999 and 2006, for example, and Morocco and Egypt struck free-trade agreements with major export partners. Although the policies of many governments have a long way to go, these important first steps enabled a private business sector to emerge.
Together, such structural changes helped fuel an African productivity revolution by helping companies to achieve greater economies of scale, increase investment, and become more competitive. After declining through the 1980s and 1990s, the continent’s productivity started growing again in 2000, averaging 2.7 percent since that year. These productivity gains occurred across countries and sectors.
This growth acceleration has started to improve conditions for Africa’s people by reducing the poverty rate. But several measures of health and education have not improved as fast. To lift living standards more broadly, the continent must sustain or increase its recent pace of economic growth.
Promising long-term growth prospects
A critical question is whether Africa’s surge represents a one-time event or an economic take-off. The continent’s growth also picked up during the oil boom of the 1970s but slowed sharply when oil and other commodity prices collapsed during the subsequent two decades. Today, individual African economies could suffer many disappointments and setbacks. While short-term risks remain, our analysis suggests that Africa has strong long-term growth prospects, propelled both by external trends in the global economy and internal changes in the continent’s societies and economies.
Global economic ties
Although Africa is more than a story about resources, it will continue to profit from rising global demand for oil, natural gas, minerals, food, arable land, and the like. MGI research finds that over the next decade, the world’s liquid-fuel consumption will increase by 25 percent—twice the pace of the 1990s. Projections of demand for many hard minerals show similar growth. Meanwhile, Africa boasts an abundance of riches: 10 percent of the world’s reserves of oil, 40 percent of its gold, and 80 to 90 percent of the chromium and the platinum metal group. Those are just the known reserves; no doubt more lies undiscovered.
Demand for commodities is growing fastest in the world’s emerging economies, particularly in Asia and the Middle East. Despite longstanding commercial ties with Europe, Africa now conducts half its trade with developing economic regions (“South–South” exchanges). From 1990 through 2008, Asia’s share of African trade doubled, to 28 percent, while Western Europe’s portion shrank, to 28 percent, from 51 percent.
This geographic shift has given rise to new forms of economic relationships, in which governments strike multiple long-term deals at once. China, for example, has bid for access to ten million tons of copper and two million tons of cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in exchange for a $6 billion package of infrastructure investments,3 including mine improvements, roads, rail, hospitals, and schools. India, Brazil, and Middle East economies are also forging new broad-based investment partnerships in Africa.
The global race for commodities also gives African governments more bargaining power, so they are negotiating better deals that capture more value from their resources. Buyers are now willing to make up-front payments (in addition to resource extraction royalties) and to share management skills and technology.
At the same time, Africa is gaining increased access to international capital. The annual flow of foreign direct investment into Africa increased from $9 billion in 2000 to $62 billion in 2008—relative to GDP, almost as large as the flow into China. While Africa’s resource sectors have drawn the most new foreign capital, it has also flowed into tourism, textiles, construction, banking, and telecommunications, as well as a broad range of countries.
The rise of the African urban consumer
Africa’s long-term growth will increasingly reflect interrelated social and demographic changes creating new domestic engines of growth. Key among these will be urbanization, an expanding labor force, and the rise of the middle-class African consumer.
In 1980, just 28 percent of Africans lived in cities. Today, 40 percent of the continent’s one billion people do—a proportion roughly comparable to China’s and larger than India’s (Exhibit 2). By 2030, that share is projected to rise to 50 percent, and Africa’s top 18 cities will have a combined spending power of $1.3 trillion.
Exhibit 2
Urban Africa
Africa is nearly as urbanized as China is and has as many cities of one million people as Europe does.
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To be sure, urbanization can breed misery if it creates slums. But in many African countries, urbanization is boosting productivity (which rises as workers move from agricultural work into urban jobs), demand, and investment. Companies achieve greater economies of scale by spreading their fixed costs over a larger customer base. And urbanization is spurring the construction of more roads, buildings, water systems, and similar projects. Since 2000, Africa’s annual private infrastructure investments have tripled, averaging $19 billion from 2006 to 2008. Nevertheless, more investment is required if Africa’s new megacities are to provide a reasonable quality of life for the continent’s increasingly large urban classes.
Meanwhile, Africa’s labor force is expanding, in contrast to what’s happening in much of the rest of the world. The continent has more than 500 million people of working age. By 2040, their number is projected to exceed 1.1 billion—more than in China or India—lifting GDP growth. Over the last 20 years, three-quarters of the continent’s increase in GDP per capita came from an expanding workforce, the rest from higher labor productivity. If Africa can provide its young people with the education and skills they need, this large workforce could become a significant source of rising global consumption and production. Education is a major challenge, so educating Africa’s young has to be one of the highest priorities for public policy across the continent.
Finally, many Africans are joining the ranks of the world’s consumers. In 2000, roughly 59 million households on the continent had $5,000 or more4 in income—above which they start spending roughly half of it on nonfood items. By 2014, the number of such households could reach 106 million. Africa already has more middle-class households (defined as those with incomes of $20,000 or above) than India. Africa’s rising consumption will create more demand for local products, sparking a cycle of increasing domestic growth.
Africa’s diverse growth paths
While Africa’s collective long-term prospects are strong, the growth trajectories of its individual countries will differ. Economists have traditionally grouped them by region, language, or income level. We take another approach, classifying 26 of the continent’s largest countries5 according to their levels of economic diversification and exports per capita. This approach highlights progress toward two related objectives:
Diversifying the economy. In the shift from agrarian to urban economies, multiple sectors contribute to growth. The share of GDP contributed by agriculture and natural resources shrinks with the expansion of the manufacturing and service sectors, which create jobs and lift incomes, raising domestic demand. On average, each 15 percent increase in manufacturing and services as a portion of GDP is associated with a doubling of income per capita.
Boosting exports to finance investment. Emerging markets require large investments to build a modern economy’s infrastructure. Exports are the primary means to earn the hard currency for imported capital goods, which in Africa amount to roughly half of all investment. This is not to say that African countries must follow an Asian model of export-led growth and trade surpluses, but they do need exports to finance the investments required to diversify.
History shows that as countries develop, they move closer to achieving both of these objectives. Most African countries today fall into one of four broad clusters: diversified economies, oil exporters, transition economies, or pretransition economies (Exhibit 3). Although the countries within each segment differ in many ways, their economic structures share broad similarities. Our framework is useful for understanding how growth opportunities and challenges vary across a heterogeneous continent. Although imperfect, this framework can guide business leaders and investors as they develop strategies for Africa and can provide new perspectives for its policy makers.
Exhibit 3
Four development paths
Segmenting African countries by exports per capita and by economic diversification reveals how growth opportunities and challenges vary across the continent.
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Diversified economies: Africa’s growth engines
The continent’s four most advanced economies—Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, and Tunisia—are already broadly diversified. Manufacturing and services together total 83 percent of their combined GDP. Domestic services, such as construction, banking, telecom, and retailing, have accounted for more than 70 percent of their growth since 2000. They are among the continent’s richest economies and have the least volatile GDP growth. With all the necessary ingredients for further expansion, they stand to benefit greatly from increasing ties to the global economy.
Domestic consumption is the largest contributor to growth in these countries. Their cities added more than ten million people in the last decade, real consumer spending has grown by 3 to 5 percent annually since 2000, and 90 percent of all house-holds have some discretionary income. As a result, consumer-facing sectors such as retailing, banking, and telecom have grown rapidly. Urbanization has also prompted a construction boom that created 20 to 40 percent of all jobs over the past decade.
Looking ahead, these diversified economies face the challenge of continuing to expand exports while building a dynamic domestic economy. Apart from Egypt, their exports have grown much more slowly than those of other emerging markets, in part because they have unit labor costs (wages divided by output per worker) two to four times higher than those in China and India. Like other middle-income countries, such as Brazil, Malaysia, and Mexico, these African states must move toward producing higher-value goods. They have started to do so—witness South Africa’s and Morocco’s automotive exports—and should continue to build on their comparative advantages, which include proximity to Europe and facility with European languages.
Along with other countries seeking to make this jump, Africa’s diversified economies need to improve their education systems. Broadly speaking, they already have the continent’s highest rates of literacy and school enrollment; the next step will be to increase secondary and tertiary enrollments and improve the overall quality of their education systems.
Another priority for the diversified economies is to continue building their internal service sectors, which will be important sources of future employment. (MGI research finds that internal services account for virtually all net job creation in high-income countries and for 85 percent of net new jobs in middle-income ones.) The diversified economies can also expand manufacturing, particularly in food processing and construction materials, for local and regional markets. This move could increase exports and reduce the need for imports, easing these countries’ current-account deficits.
Oil exporters: Enhancing growth through diversification
Africa’s oil and gas exporters have the continent’s highest GDP per capita but also the least diversified economies. This group—Algeria, Angola, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, and Nigeria—comprises both countries that have exported oil for many years and some relative newcomers. Rising oil prices have lifted their export revenues significantly; the three largest producers (Algeria, Angola, Nigeria) earned $1 trillion from petroleum exports from 2000 through 2008, compared with just $300 billion in the 1990s. For the most part, Africa’s oil and gas exporters used this revenue well, to reduce budget deficits, fund investments, and build foreign-exchange reserves.
Economic growth in these countries remains closely linked to oil and gas prices. Manufacturing and services account for just one-third of GDP—less than half their share in the diversified economies. The experience of emerging-market oil exporters outside Africa illustrates the potential for greater diversification. In Indonesia, manufacturing and services account for 70 percent of GDP, compared with less than 45 percent in Algeria and Nigeria—even though all three countries have produced similar quantities of oil since 1970.
Nigeria provides an example of an African oil exporter that has begun the transition to a more diversified economy. Natural resources accounted for just 35 percent of Nigeria’s growth since 2000, and manufacturing and services are growing rapidly. Banking and telecom, in particular, are expanding thanks to a series of economic reforms. Since 2000, the number of Nigeria’s telecom subscribers increased from almost zero to 63 million, while banking assets grew fivefold.
The oil exporters generally have strong growth prospects if they can use petroleum wealth to finance the broader development of their economies. The experience of other developing countries shows it will be essential to make continued investments in infrastructure and education and to undertake further economic reforms that would spur a dynamic business sector. But like petroleum-rich countries in general, those in Africa face acute challenges in maintaining political momentum for reforms, resisting the temptation to overinvest (particularly in the resource sector), and maintaining political stability—in short, avoiding the “oil curse” that has afflicted other oil exporters around the world.
Transition economies: Building on current gains
Africa’s transition economies—Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia—have lower GDP per capita than the countries in the first two groups but have begun the process of diversifying their sources of growth. These countries are diverse: some depend heavily on one commodity, such as copper in Zambia or aluminum in Mozambique. Others, like Kenya and Uganda, are already more diversified.
The agriculture and resource sectors together account for as much as 35 percent of GDP in the transition countries and for two-thirds of their exports. But they increasingly export manufactured goods, particularly to other African countries. Successful products include processed fuels, processed food, chemicals, apparel, and cosmetics. As these countries diversified, their annual real GDP growth accelerated from 3.6 percent a year in the 1990s to 5.5 percent after 2000.
Expanding intra-African trade will be one key to the future growth of the transition economies, because they are small individually, but their prospects improve as regional integration creates larger markets. If these countries improved their infrastructure and regulatory systems, they could also compete globally with other low-cost emerging economies. One study found that factories in the transition countries are as productive as those in China and India but that the Africans’ overall costs are higher because of poor infrastructure and regulation—problems that the right policy reforms could fix.6 The local service sectors (such as telecommunications, banking, and retailing) in the transition economies also have potential. While they are expanding rapidly, their penetration rates remain far lower than those in the diversified countries, creating an opportunity for businesses to satisfy the unmet demand.
Pretransition economies: Strengthening the basics
The economies in the pretransition segment—the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mali, and Sierra Leone—are still very poor, with GDP per capita of just $353—one-tenth that of the diversified countries. Some, such as Ethiopia and Mali, have meager commodity endowments and large rural populations. Others, devastated by wars in the 1990s, started growing again after the conflicts ended. But many pretransition economies are now growing very fast. The three largest (the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and Mali) grew, on average, by 7 percent a year since 2000, after not expanding at all in the 1990s. Even so, their growth has been erratic at times and could falter again.
Although the individual circumstances of the pre-transition economies differ greatly, their common problem is a lack of the basics, such as strong, stable governments and other public institutions, good macroeconomic conditions, and sustainable agricultural development. The key challenges for this group will include maintaining the peace, upholding the rule of law, getting the economic fundamentals right, and creating a more predictable business environment. These countries can also hasten their progress with support from international agencies and new private philanthropic organizations that are developing novel ways to tackle poverty and other social issues.
In a more stable political and economic environment, some of these countries could tap their natural resources to finance economic growth. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, controls half of the world’s cobalt reserves and a quarter of the world’s diamond reserves. Sierra Leone has about 5 percent of the world’s diamond reserves. Ethiopia and Mali have 22 million and 19 million hectares of arable land, respectively. If these countries could attract businesses to help develop their resources, they could push their economies upward on the path of steadier growth.
If recent trends continue, Africa will play an increasingly important role in the global economy. By 2040, it will be home to one in five of the planet’s young people, and the size of its labor force will top China’s. Africa has almost 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land and a large share of the natural resources. Its consumer-facing sectors are growing two to three times faster than those in the OECD7 countries. And the rate of return on foreign investment is higher in Africa than in any other developing region. Global executives and investors cannot afford to ignore this. A strategy for Africa must be part of their long-term planning.
The time for businesses to act on those plans is now. Companies already operating in Africa should consider expanding. For others still on the sidelines, early entry into emerging economies provides opportunities to create markets, establish brands, shape industry structures, influence customer preferences, and establish longterm relationships. Business can help build the Africa of the future. And working together, business, governments, and civil society can confront the continent’s many challenges and lift the living standards of its people.
About the authors
Acha Leke is a principal in McKinsey’s Lagos office, Susan Lund is director of research at the McKinsey Global Institute, Charles Roxburgh is a London-based director of MGI, and Arend van Wamelen is a principal in the Johannesburg office.
The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of the following colleagues to this article: Martijn Allessie, Charles Atkins, Mutsa Chironga, Norbert Dörr, Reinaldo Fiorini, Michael Kloss, Corrado Ruffini, Sven Smit, Amine Tazi-Riffi, Till Zeino-Mahmalat, and Nadia Terfous.
TIGRAY’S CRISIS, ETHIOPIA RETALIATION AND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE ETHIOPIA PEOPLE: THE ADVERSE STAND ON THE UNITED AFRICA STATE
The significant of today was once the significance of yesterday and definitely the significance of a proposed tomorrow; there was crisis, there is crisis and there will be crisis because we laid significance to things worth no address or accent.
-Umudjere Africaman
Africa is no longer battling on how to secure their land but no doubt Africa is battling on how to secure the lives of her inhabitants ”Africans”; she has over the years facilitated means not secure her land or natural properties but on how to see the dawn of every new day. Africans have never been so happy than seeing the dawn of a new day; we no longer rejoice so much over acquiring land or other properties because we know these are temporal things that the Imperialists determine when, how and where to utilize them. We only rejoice because we are alive to serve the Imperialists, strike their targets and enforce their demands or needs are meant at the expense of our lives and resources. The outplay of stoogery to the imperialists is enough a reason to stand up on our toes, March in resistance and stake our lives which has become meaningless as collateral NO to the persistent control and manipulation of the Imperialists in Africa and on Africans.
The Tigray’s crisis in Ethiopia is indeed a calling strike towards the United Africa State which has been perceived as the redemption of the Africa people; it has elicited a grave damage to the sustainability of the sovereignty of the Ethiopia people. This will be emphasized in this article and correlate how it has recalling adverse effect or stand on the United Africa State
TIGRAY’S CRISIS
The Tigray’s crisis which evolved on the 4th day of November 2020 has become a bane to the unification of the Ethiopia people and a threat to the sovereignty of the Ethiopia Nationalism; though the crisis has been perceived as a political Strategy and enormously to attain supremacy and significance in Government, the crisis is indeed an invisible plan by the Imperialists to keep us divided. This is to buttress the 1884-1885 Berlin Conference Resolution; instability and consistent call for division; secession has elicited signs of relief to a battling set of people called “imperialists”. Day in day out, the Imperialists are busy putting measures to arrange crisis, unrests and other restive cases to foster disunity in Africa; they are relentlessly pressuring anti-groups in all parts of Africa, be it economic, religious, political, social affiliations and a host of other media.
The Tigray’s region of Ethiopia is significantly one of the regions piloted under ethnic strata; it has through it’s ethnic nationalities fostered an inevitable presence in the control, manipulation and influence of the affairs of Ethiopia. They constitute about 6% of the Ethiopia population and have over some decades dictated influential decisions of Ethiopia. Their paucity for power led to the emergence of the 1975 Tigray’s People Liberation Front and in their sagacity and ruggedity staged an offensive war against the Derg Military which they won and assumed leadership in 1991. This power attained was long lived till the arrival of Abiy Ahmed as Prime Minister who is from Oromo ethnic group; this can be perceived as grievous attempt to end the Tigray’s quest for Ethiopia leadership. As discussed in several media outlets, the era of Tigray’s leadership commenced a war against the Eritrean people which gravely consumed lives of Africans and elicited immense poverty and instability in the country. Abi Ahmed’s leadership put an end to the war and eventually he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Tigray’s crisis can also be perceived as a political beef between Abiy Ahmed and the Tigray’s People Leadership Front; this can be further attested to the incessant complaints of Tigray’s leaders of been unfairly targeted and illegally penalized in corruption prosecution. They feel unsafe and threatened as citizens; the September election held by the Tigray’s people in the bid to emerge leaders as well as their undiluted withdrawal from the ruling coalition party enforced practical stand of the Tigray’s people objecting against the leadership of Abiy Ahmed. The 4th day of November 2020 witnessed the offshoot of the Tigray’s crisis when the Tigray People’s Leadership Front claimed they had carried a self-defense attack; this elicited severe damages as people were killed, properties and government structures destroyed as well as the looting of weaponry. This enforced a state of emergency in the region. The crisis has lingered through the 5th, 6th , 7th till date with hundreds of people killed and still dying.
No doubt, this is leading to a “Civil War” which is inevitable, there were even calls that the Northern Region had joined forces with the Tigray’s region; though this was announced false by the Ethiopia government but this is really a burdensome task towards sustaining the sovereignty of the Ethiopia people.
ETHIOPIA RETALIATION
The Ethiopian Government like any other government should be on it’s toes when there is unrest or perceived disunity in a terrain it was elected to protect, secure and preserve; it should be on it’s toes not to buttress instability but to establish instability, not to buttress insecurity but to foster security and definitely not condone disunity but to sustain unity. The Ethiopian Government in this likelihood should have employed strategic measures to checkmating factors responsible for the unrest state of Ethiopia; the Ethiopian Government headed by Ahmed Abiy has over the past weeks launched offensive and defensive attacks to and from the Tigray army. They have secured efforts that have killed Tigray people (army and civilians); they have sanctioned the region and put pressure on the region to ensure their army surrenders their war-quest. Hundreds of thousands have died, properties destroyed and many have been displaced for a war some knew nothing about; most painful is the victimization of the region. The war was never a consensus decision but the Ethiopian Government has riddled all fora to engaging all in the region; this has spelt more hardship for the people in the region, thus, telling failed leadership tactics to secure, protect and sustain the country.
Though, this is apt for establishing a discipline state but it’s adverse effects should have been carefully be addressed; it should have followed enshrined measures to exterminating instability. The civilians in the Tigray’s region should have been withdrawn from the tensed areas and put to safety rather than treating them as prospective rebels. The retaliation was not in any form justifiable because many are victims for a war they are novices.
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE ETHIOPIA PEOPLE
Ethiopia is a country that was inaugurated a sovereign state on the 1st day of March 1896; she has since then lived in promising pace of fostering unity in diversity, procuring measures to grow politically, economically and otherwise. She has survived several leadership and administrations which have been immensely under the leadership of the Tigray’s leadership; they have over the years embattled internal crisis and other forms of restive cases ranging from Political to Communal crisis. The Ethiopia people are a recognized people honoured in Africa and in the International Community. The question here is what does the sovereignty of the Ethiopia people signifies for Africa people and their much desired quest for a United Africa State; the Ethiopian people are citizens of Ethiopia which fundamentally stand out as a member country in the United Nations and the home-host to the Africa Union. They are a people housing the unity of Africa and outrightly since the establishment of the Africa Union projecting consensus agenda for the piloting the presumed affairs of the Africa people.
The sovereignty and stability of the Ethiopia people and the Ethiopia territory is indeed of immense significance to Africa people and their quest for a unified force; thus, we must enforce all measures to keep it sovereign and safe. The sovereignty of the Ethiopia people is under threat with the envisaged crisis or war called by the Tigray’s people and welcomed by the Ethiopian Government; the call by the Tigray’s army to an aggressive note acquiring dominance of control and leadership is an explicit threat to the unity, sovereignty and stability of the country. In as much, there are perceived factors responsible for the ongoing conflict, it is also of preference that the sustainability of peace and stability is most desired; over times we have realized that the more we sweat in war the more blood we spill, this adversely has no fortunate ending for us as a people. Thus, there is need for Ethiopians to rethink and reframe from all that have consumed peace in Ethiopia; they need to recap all that begot peace fostered by Abiy Ahmed when he assumed office as the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. The sovereignty of the Ethiopia people which is no doubt threatened must be rescued and measures to sustain it is put forward by all in Ethiopia; the people must not let the Government tackle this alone and this must not be an issue for external influence or determination. The sovereignty of the Ethiopia people is the task of the Africa Union and not the European Union; thus, if the Africa Union fails this task, a resignation letter from its leadership should be expected.
TIGRAY’S CRISIS: THE BAD TALE FOR THE QUEST FOR THE UNITED AFRICA STATE
The erection of the Organization of Africa Unity later Africa Union was a perception geared to the United Africa State; Kwame Nkrumah thought, planned and requested for the United Africa State as a Lee way to achieving full freedom for Africa people but unfortunately many leaders then never saw a future light to the request of Kwame Nkrumah. They were blinded with the expected income from their individual country resources; they never assumed the enhancement to Africa and her people in having a great and single income from a unified Africa resources. The collated income from each African state ought to have doubled the presumed income of the United States of America and even the Chinese; we never allowed the prospective hope proposed by Kwame Nkrumah to see the light of the day. Not totally contrary, they emerged the Organization of Africa Unity which they proposed as an near alternative to Kwame Nkrumah’s proposal; this has buttressed unity in diversity in paper form but not in reality. The divisive units called countries in Africa have not tolerated each other, they haven’t seen their neighbours as blooders instead Africa people now themselves foreigners in their Homeland, they now sanction their existence and have little or not contributed to self-growth nor that of their neighbouring countries which ought to be their blood. Sadly, the emergence of the Organization of Africa Unity now Africa Union has not elicited any form of unity among countries in Africa; it has wholeheartedly signed the lease and even the execution of their fellow leaders to external powers and countries. The killing of Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, Gaddafi, and a host others are evident loss of capacity of the Africa Union
The Tigray’s crisis is no doubt a line that cannot be cut short because the Africa Union has not stood on their toes; hundreds of thousands have been killed, injured and displaced but the Africa Union hasn’t deemed it fit to visit the Ethiopia country defensively and offensively. Notwithstanding, the United Africa State which was proposed by Kwame Nkrumah is still alive to collapse the Imperialists’ stooge called Africa Union; Africa needs a one government (United Africa State), one people (Africans), one flag (Red, Black and Green), one army (Pan Africanists), one goal (Full Freedom) and one approach (Unity). The Tigray’s crisis is an undiluted attempt to foil the quest for the United Africa State; it is purported a strategy to keep dividing Africa into Imperialists controllable units; this strategy is no longer new as it has been over-experienced. Sudan divided into two, the Congo following suite and other countries agitating are predominant measures of the Imperialists to divide just further and sustain the resolution of the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885. This we have observed and must not fall victims again; it’s time to wake up and start walking the line of full freedom.
The Tigray’s crisis is no doubt a bad tale for the quest for the United Africa State because efforts geared at ensuring the United Africa State emerges in less than a generation has been foiled as efforts have been and are been directed to ensuring peace in Ethiopia, unite Ethiopia and sustain their sovereignty. This has inevitably approved a longer struggle duration for the attainment of the United Africa State; this is also going to elongate our unbearable hardships and daily oppression and intimidation.
WAY-FORWARD
To this end, it is hereby recommended:
I am writing from the desk of the Chairman, Africaman Development Initiative
In great assurance, I wish Ethiopia a quick recovery from the ongoing crisis
United Africa State Now
Signed:
Cde. Umudjere Africaman
Chairman, Africaman Development Initiative
Umudjere Sunday Oghenebrorhie (Umudjere Africaman)
4 POWERFUL BUSINESS LESSONS FROM MARCUS GARVEY
Recently, one of the Members of the Pan African Alliance made the following comment:
“…We must study the movements from the past that found success among our people such as the Marcus Gravy UNIA, the Nation of Islam, and the Black Panthers. We must build institutions that will stand long after their founders are dead and gone. Institutions like wealth are multigenerational, and this is a concept we, as Blacks have missed. Blacks in America have a combined annual income approaching one trillion dollars and we own nothing…”
His comment forced me to go back and look at how Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association sustained itself economically, and what his philosophy was when it came to black men and women doing for themselves.
The business lessons that we can learn from Garvey, the Father of the Black Nationalist movement would serve us well, especially in today’s global crisis prone economy.
“Why should not Africa give to the world its Black Rockefeller, Rothschild and Henry Ford? Now is the opportunity. Now is the chance for every Negro to make every effort toward a commercial, industrial standard that will make us comparable with the successful business men of other race
MASTER VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION
Vertical integration is the degree to which a firm owns its downstream suppliers and its upstream buyers. In other words, rather than just buying and frying a chicken to serve in your restaurant, you own the chicken farm, the seed company that feeds the chicken, the processing plant that cuts the chicken, the land that produces the brick and mortar to build the restaurant, and the construction company that builds the restaurant.
Horizontal Integration is the expansion of a firm within an industry in which it is already active for the purpose of increasing its share of the market for a particular product or service. In our example above, you would use your profits to buy out competing chicken farms, seed producers, other pieces of real estate, etc -think monopoly on a macroeconomic scale.
McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, and De Beers have all executed successful horizontal and vertical integrations.
In effect, Vertical and Horizontal Integration is what Marcus Garvey attempted to do with The Black Star Line, three seaworthy steamships that were purchased to move raw material from one Black Nation to the next. Bananas and Coffee from Central America could be taken to Africa using those three steamships. Mineral wealth from Africa could be brought back to the U.S., and finished goods could then be sent to the Caribbean.
To source raw material for industrial and manufacturing activities, Garvey began the process of acquiring land in Liberia and building infrastructure to establish a colony.
However, Marcus Garvey’s plans were ultimately ruined by white colonial powers that brought pressure on the Liberian government. Liberia reversed its decision to support Garvey, and instead turned the land over to the white American industrialist Harvey Firestone (of the present day Firestone Corporation).
All the expensive equipment shipped to Liberia for the use of Garvey’s colonists was seized. If not for sabotage on the part of the United States, the Black Star Line and Liberia industrial colonies would have laid the foundation for a Pan-African economic empire that would still serve us today.
BUILD LOCAL INDUSTRIES
The finished goods that would be produced with Black hands and sold in Black communities and countries around the world we to be managed by The Negro Factories Corporation, a cornerstone entity for U.N.I.A.
Within two months of its establishment in March of 1920, the corporation had created:
• Universal Steam Laundry
• a Universal Tailoring and Dress Making department at 62 West 142nd Street in Harlem (where U.N.I.A. uniforms, insignia, and clothing was designed and manufactured),
• three grocery stores in New York,
• and a printing press that produced Garvey’s organizational newspaper, The Negro World.
Plans were also made for a string of national black-owned factories, retailers, and other businesses that would eventually be profitable enough to power and sustain a global all-Black economy.
CULTIVATE ENTREPRENEURS FROM WITHIN YOUR RANKS
The Black Star Line shipping company and the Negro Factories Corporation were to be the money behind Garvey’s movement, but Black men and women were encouraged to start their own enterprises, with or without the help of the U.N.I.A.
The U.N.I.A. however, would still serve as a key link between individual buyers and producers. Raw material was offered to independent resellers so that they could profit on their own.
The Negro World Newspaper – the voice of the U.N.I.A. – was offered at wholesale rates to individuals and was resold all over the world, from Kenya to Kansas and provided millions of Black men and women with streams of income.
At its peak, the publication had a circulation of two hundred thousand and was the most popular black newspaper in the United States. It ultimately became so prolific that it was banned by many white controlled countries.
In terms of physical retail operations, U.N.I.A steam laundries, millineries, retail shops, restaurants, and hat factories employed hundreds in Harlem at a time when most Blacks were excluded from anything close to economic freedom.
…the Colon, Panama branch of the U.N.I.A. ran a cooperative bakery, while the Kingston, Jamaica branch ran a laundry and a cooperative bank, the shares of which were available to U.N.I.A. members only. Garvey’s vision for economic self-reliance extended beyond the Negro Factories Corporation. U.N.I.A. branches often acted as mutual aid societies, providing death benefits, small loans, and employment assistance to members…. – American Experience
LEVERAGE THE POWER OF VENTURE CAPITALISM
Venture Capitalism, or the funding of startup enterprises, was a key component of Marcus Garvey’s economic empowerment strategy. 100% of all of the money used for U.N.I.A projects came from individual Black men and women who bought stocks from the organization, or who made donations.
The U.N.I.A. would then use that money to buy profit yielding assets (printing presses, buildings, steamships) that would put money right back into investors pockets. With this socially responsible approach to raising money, investing, and creating value, the U.N.I.A was able to fund and fuel their worldwide empire.
21ST CENTURY APPLICATIONS
If we want to recreate Garvey’s success today, we must control our economy – vertically and horizontally. Not only will this insulate us from the chaos of today’s market, it will also set us free from the chains of economic slavery that all Blacks in all Black Nations face.
Don’t be content with owning a restaurant; set your sights on the next link up in your supply chain – buy the chicken farm, the feed store, the land, the trucks, the whole damn chain.
We must invest in our own economy. It has been said that Black men and women can only become economically successful by fully integrating themselves into mainstream capitalism. I disagree.
Member dues have funded local Pan-African Alliance projects and profit yielding web ventures. The money came from Black hands, the products and services went to Black consumers, and the profits all went back into Black hands. Don’t tell us it can’t be done – we’re doing it!
Organize other Black men and women. Build companies and institutions to give other Black people the chance to make money with you. Organizations, even if they are only two people deep, carry more credibility than a sole proprietor, and are easier to manage.
Your organization can be divided into a social media management department, a shipping department, a processing department, a retail department, and a finance department, all with their own heads and staff members.
Do not underestimate the pain of others, even if we do not feel it ourselves.
BOATS IN A STORM
We are all navigating a storm, but not in the same boat. The waves may capsize yours while gently rocking mine or vice versa.
For some, quarantine is a moment of reflection, of re-connection. Easy, in flip flops, with a glass of whiskey in hand
For others, this is a desperate crisis. Some experience it as loneliness and isolation, while for others; a time of reconnection with family and friends.
Some lament the absence of a brand they love, others worry about bread for the weekend, or if the noodles will last a few more days.
Some work in their “home office”, others have lost their homes and offices. We criticize those who break the quarantine but some have no choice, they have to pay the bills.
Others choose to escape to their country homes or favorite vacation destinations. Some have experienced the virus, some have already lost someone from it, some are not sure their loved ones are going to make it and yet there are some who don’t even believe this is a big deal
Many are getting vaccinated. Some have faith in God and miracles. Others lack faith in science. Some think the storm is passing, others think the worst is yet to come.
So my friends, we are not in the same boat but in the same storm. How we perceive it depends on the boat we are on. And when the storm passes, each of us will emerge in our own way. Some stronger, some unscathed, some scarred, some on a stretcher, and some will not make it.
It is very important to see beyond our own experience. See beyond our politics, beyond religion, beyond race and beyond the nose on our faces.
Do not underestimate the pain of others even if we do not feel it ourselves. Do not judge the good life of one nor condemn the choices of the other. Let us not judge the one who lacks, nor the one with possessions.
We are all simply on different boats
Let’s navigate our routes with respect, empathy, responsibility and lets avoid sensationalizing gruesome images or scenes.
Pls stay safe and healthy
~ Dr. Prof Patrick
School Kidnap: NBM Of Africa Worldwide Decries Nigeria’s Helplessness
A Pan-African group, the Neo-Black Movement of Africa Worldwide (NBM) has decried what it described as Nigeria’s seeming helplessness in the face of the rising mass abduction of pupils and students alike.
The group in a statement signed by its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Oluwatosin Dixon, said it was saddened that at least one pupil was killed, while about 200 others were abducted by bandits from a school in Niger State, not long after the release of over 100 pupils who fell victims of the similar mass abduction of children in Kankara.
It cautioned non-state actors in areas of the North West and South East to rein in their excesses, so as not to turn those areas into new theatres of war.
The NBM called on President Muhammadu Buhari and other state leaders not to be unmindful of the oaths of offices they swore to, and hence, accord the protection of the lives and property of Nigerians the attention they deserve.
The statement read: “Barely two months after the abduction of an embarrassing number of pupils in Kankara and Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari assurance in a statement that it would be the last of such unwholesome kidnap of children in Nigeria, last Sunday’s killing of at least one, and the reported kidnap of over 200 pupils in Niger State, will, however, confirm things to the contrary.
“This development aside myriad of other criminalities that clearly exhibit the lack of capacity or unwillingness on the part of the authorities to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians as pledged by those that put themselves forward to serve cannot be allowed to continue unabated. We fear that the President is exposing himself as being incapable of keeping his words.
“We condemn in all ramifications the seeming free passage offered bandits and other violent criminals by the federal government of Nigeria.
“We demand the immediate release of the kidnapped pupils, just as we continue to call on the political leadership to live up to their responsibilities.
“We must not fail to point out that what we are witnessing is a culmination of inaction and/or outright complicity of state actors, working to bring the most populous country in Africa to its knees.
“We, as a responsible organisation, committed to the advancement of Blacks all over the world, cannot but express our grave disappointment in the manner that state apparatus under the present administration has gone far under.
“We frown at the activities of non-state actors who are seemingly keen on turning the Northwestern and Southeastern parts of Nigeria into another theatre of war and terror as we presently have in the Northeastern part of the country.
“We call for restraint in the Southeast, whose people have genuine grievances of marginalisation; elected officials and representatives from the Southeast can no longer afford to play the ostrich. They must take a lead in the demand for justice and equity from federal authorities.
“Efforts must be intensified to rein in and stamp out the activities of bandits in the Northwest, who have recently imported their activities to the fringes of the Federal Capital Territory.”
“This is the time to act.
“The time to act is now,” he reiterated.
The Neo Black Movement (NBM) of Africa Worldwide, a socio-cultural association, has called on the Nigerian government to tread carefully over its suspending social media platform Twitter from operating the country.
According to a press statement made available to reporters in Lokoja, signed by the group’s spokesman, Oluwatosin Dixon, the ban could lead to job losses, which could affect the economic activities of the nation which is already in a fragile condition.
We hereby appeal for the reversal of this policy direction, following what we have come to observe as a rapidly degenerating situation in the last couple of days; snowballing into the said banning of Twitter by the Nigerian Government and the accompanying threat of prosecution of violators by the country’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami. By the government’s fiat on the Twitter ban, we are not unaware of the dire economic consequences on the lives of an estimated 44 million Nigerians and a daily loss of about N2 billion in transactions. In a country faced with unprecedented unemployment and inadequate government economic safety measures, this is a recipe for general unrest, strife and exacerbation of insecurity levels. This, aside from the grave implication of government’s infringement on constitutionally guaranteed rights of the Nigerian people enshrined in Section 39(1) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria which guarantees freedom of expression as a fundamental right. This right is also guaranteed under the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments, of which Nigeria is signatory to. We note with trepidation the disturbing path and line of action so far undertaken in this regard by the government, which we consider capable of denting the country’s image in the international community, and therefore warn that the government avoid, by all means, turning Nigeria once more into a pariah state. The US, Canada, the European Union, UK and the Republic of Ireland had in a joint statement on Saturday condemned the government’s banning of Twitter, while more countries are expected to follow in their condemnation, this coming a day after the government threatened to arrest and prosecute any resident found using the app. The NBM of Africa, true to our mandate as a Pan Africanist organisation, among whose mission statement is the socio-economic development and liberation of Black people, hereby call for a reversal of the government’s ban on Twitter. We note that this will not only further impoverish an already groaning people, but deplete the inadequate economic infrastructure open to the millions of the unemployed youths of Africa’s most populous country.’
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