African Renaissance Vol. 19, (No. 3), September 2022
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Africa’s contemporary problems have partly been traced to the period of colonialism. Although colonialism bequeathed to Africa some legacies, its negative consequences outweigh the positive ones and have continued to underdeveloped Africa. Prior to this period, Africa had developed a well-organized indigenous administrative system built around strong traditional institutions and abundant natural and human capital resources. Despite this initiative and Africa's wealth of resources, the continent was largely perceived as a land with groups of people who had little or no knowledge of how to effectively harness and maximize their limitless resources. This belief partly stimulated the arrival of colonialism and the scramble for Africa, which consequently brought lots of problems to Africa. It partitions Africa and bequeaths it with inappropriate border designs that have partly contributed to boundary disputes and migration problems in Africa.
One of the recurring challenges confronting Africa today is irregular migration; the hostile reception of African migrants; and boundary disputes partly occasioned by artificial borders. Many Africans have attacked their fellow African migrants because of the movement into their country. African countries have gone to war over ownership of boundaries that were poorly demarcated by the European imperialists for their own selfish gains. Relatedly, the inordinate attitude and excessiveness of some African leaders in governance, politics, and administration of their countries has partly been blamed on the exploitative nature of the colonial system. This exploitative authoritarian system is still strongly held by some African countries and leaders. Africa, unlike other continents, has a huge number of leaders who have perpetually remained in power with abysmal performance in governance. This has provoked violent protests and demonstrations as well as the reappearance of military takeovers in some African countries and African politics. It has further provoked tendencies towards terrorism, insurgency, banditry, and militancy in parts of Africa. Although colonialism has remained one of the leading factors contributing to Africa’s problems, the collaborative efforts of some African leaders, who acted as agents of these European imperialists, during and post-colonial cannot be overemphasized. Comparatively, Africa has continually lagged behind and struggled to achieve development and sustainable peace because those at the helm of affairs still carry on with a colonial mentality.
Today, the colonial masters have left Africa, yet the continent is littered with a myriad of problems such as corruption, insecurity, poverty, malnutrition, bad governance, military interventions, electoral mal-practices, poor service delivery, terrorism, low quality of life, high mortality rate, among others. Lives have never been the same for Africans, who have continually nursed the desire that their quality of life and standard of living would be better and more desirable under their indigenous government that is free of the imperial control of the West and Europe. However, despite this expectation, Africa is still laden with problems rooted in ethnic identity, glorification of primordial interests over civic interests, and self-aggrandizement. Several mitigation strategies have been suggested to lift Africa from these shackles; yet, Africa’s problems seem to be devoid of solutions. This has earned some African countries names like "failed states" or "underdeveloped nations". It has left some African countries at the mercy and assistance of developed countries like China and the US. With this assistance, which is mostly in the form of loans, infrastructure, technology transfer, foreign aid, and security collaboration, among others, Africa has gradually lost its assets to these modern-day imperialists, whose major motive is to give little and take more from Africa. To reclaim its lost fortunes, Africa needs a rethink and a rebirth of Pan-Africanism, where Africa’s problems can be mitigated by Africans using African solutions. African Renaissance allows think tanks to intellectually debate African problems and propose Afrocentric solutions through the publication of well-researched articles by African and non-African scholars.
The current issue of African Renaissance is a collection of well-researched articles that largely discuss African contemporary issues and problems that are deep-rooted in colonialism, bad governance, leadership problems, artificial border demarcation, xenophobic attacks, insecurity, and corruption, among others. A solution to these problems forms the basis of discussion in the current issue of the African Renaissance. It is aimed specifically at providing adequate information on how Africa can be transformed and sustainably developed through multi-disciplinary research articles that cover issues such as colonialism, migration, transformational leadership, governance, security, humanitarian services to protect civilians during war, public service delivery in municipalities, restructuring, federalism, African free trade area, local governance, water sanitation, and government response to insecurity. Indeed, the results of these articles provide and advance knowledge on how Africa’s development can be achieved through the regeneration of African spirits that are rooted in Pan-Africanism. The current issue of the African Renaissance is a positive contribution to African knowledge, which can be tapped by African governments to mitigate African problems and transform Africa.
Professor Victor Ojakorotu
Department of Political Studies & International Relations