In 2050, a quarter of the world’s population will be African, half of which will be under 25 years old. However, the prospects are limited for these young people. According to Togolese politician Kako Nubukpo, we must therefore rethink the development of the African continent and move away from its colonial heritage.
Africa must achieve true independence in terms of agricultural production and processing of raw materials, believes economist Kako Nubukpo in his latest book “Africa and the Rest of the World” (ed. Odile Jacob).
“At the moment, we see clearly that there are no prospects for our youth, because there are no jobs. And there are no jobs, because we have a productive system which is the colonial system, that is to say exporting raw materials without transforming them on site”, affirms the former Togolese minister in La Matinale de la RTS. “And that’s something, in my opinion, that caused his exhaustion.”
Of the top six African economies, there are three that depend exclusively on oil. So when we talk about African growth, we are actually talking about oil prices
“Neo-extractivism”
Africa is a continent of incredible wealth. Kako Nubukpo, however, denounces the “neo-extractivism” of the West, and increasingly also of other actors, such as China and Russia. “The rest of the world is rushing to Africa to access rare earths, lithium, nickel, all the raw materials for the digital energy transition in fact,” he explains. However, these resources are not transformed in Africa, depriving the local population of jobs there.
Kako Nubukpo recalls that the first six African economies – South Africa, Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Morocco and Nigeria – alone represent 65% of African gross domestic product (GDP). “But there are three which depend exclusively on oil: Nigeria, Angola and Algeria,” specifies the economist. “So when we talk about African growth, we are actually talking about oil prices.”
“That means it’s not even something that prints in terms of creating activity and on-site,” he continues. “So even if there is great African heterogeneity, the strong tendency still remains this extractivism.”
Complicity of the elites
What gives legitimacy to the African elite today is the fact of responding to these Western orders. Which means that you do not have elites whose legitimacy is endogenous
Kako Nubukpo also regrets that this predation of African resources by Western multinationals is carried out with the complicity of African elites, even speaking of “voluntary servitude”.
“What gives legitimacy to the African elite today is the fact of responding to these Western orders. Which means that you do not have elites whose legitimacy is endogenous,” indicates he. “So from there, you have a form of extroversion which is perpetuated and which is the colonial heritage, but you are faced with a billion young people who are waiting for real, coherent public policies.”
According to the Togolese politician, as long as this inconsistency between the vision of the elites and the aspirations of the youth persists, the problems of “massive debt, bad governance and inability to think in the long term” will also persist.
Comments collected by Pietro Bugnon
Web adaptation: Emilie Délétroz
