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Olayinka Akanle • Jìmí Olálékan Adésìnà
Editors
The Development of Africa
Issues, Diagnoses and Prognoses
Editors
Olayinka Akanle Jìmí Olálékan Adésìnà
Department of Sociology SARChI Chair in Social Policy
University of Ibadan University of South Africa (UNISA)
Ibadan, Nigeria Tshwane, South Africa
ISSN 1387-6570 ISSN 2215-0099 (electronic)
Social Indicators Research Series
ISBN 978-3-319-66241-1 ISBN 978-3-319-66242-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-66242-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017955373
© Springer International Publishing AG 2018
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This book is dedicated to everyone laboring
positively to understand, contribute to,
and achieve Africa’s development.
Preface
For generations of Africans (policymakers, intellectuals, and ordinary people), the
development of the continent has always been an urgent task and a challenge that
needs to be met. While there might have been divergent opinions on the most appro-
priate ways to ensure this objective, the focus, nonetheless, is broadly shared. That
this collection of essays by two generations of African scholars would return to the
issue is to be understood within the context of this long-term concern. The context,
local and global, remains in flux and elusive, but as Mwalimu Nyerere observed, we
must run while others walk.
As Samir Amin once noted, “‘Economic development’ was an important item in
the nationalist programs and since every known path of economic development has
involved industrialization and also partly because in no other sector was colonial
blockage so transparent, the struggle for independence closely linked nationalism
with the ‘right to industrialize’.” It was a matter on which the nationalists asserted
themselves. While it is common to argue that development was an imperial agenda
by Western powers, it is important to remind ourselves that the impulse for “catch-
up” is grounded in the emancipatory aspirations and that the dominance of the West
is underpinned by its developmental advantage. Victims of colonialism and persist-
ing imperial order know that their technological disadvantage is a major factor in
their subjugation and humiliation. The impulse that was eloquently expressed at
the 1956 Bandung Conference would find expressions in the demand for “the right
to development.”
While Africa’s efforts at industrialization have been out of sync with the interna-
tional trend, the first generation of post-independence nationalists in Africa were
animated by it. Between 1960 and 1975, Africa’s industry grew at an annual rate of
7.5%, albeit from a low base. This growth rate masks significant variation on the
continent. Over this initial period, five countries accounted for 53% of Africa’s
industrial output. In 27 other countries, the share of industry was less than 1%.
Performance over the 15-year period was also unsteady, with much of the growth
happening in the first decade of independence. In Nigeria’s case, the growth rate in
manufacturing value added increased from an average of 7.6% between 1963 and
1973 to 12% between 1973 and 1981. For all its weaknesses, in the first decade of
vii
viii Preface
independence, wage employment growth surpassed the population growth rate. Nor
was development to be understood only in terms of industrialization; ultimately it
was about reducing poverty and, in Arthur Lewis’s terms, extending the “range of
human choices.” The understanding of “catch-up” in its wider sense of addressing
human needs in the former colonies was aptly captured in the phrase “better life for
all” that was common among early nationalists.
The balance of payment crises that emerged from the mid-1970s (first among
oil importers) and fiscal squeeze at the end of the decade coincided with the rise
of the New Right in the West. Africans, at all levels, were themselves aware of the
development stumbling that the continent faced. Much of the response was driven
by the demand for a more radical nationalist commitment to development. At the
policymaking level, the consensus response was framed in the Lagos Plan of
Action (1980) that sought to place development within a regional framework,
transform the inherited colonial economic structures, and internalize the growth
engine of the African economies. This effort was overtaken by the regime of struc-
tural adjustment and the neoliberal ascendance. Rather than the promised “accel-
erated development,” what the wholesome deployment of market forces
(liberalization, privatization) and state retrenchment produced was two lost
decades, deindustrialization (of the limited industrial efforts of the first two
decades of independence), explosion in the absolute number of people living in
poverty, growing inequality, and widespread social dislocation. As soon as the
growth rate in Africa ticked up, those who disavowed responsibility for the socio-
economic collapse of the adjustment years claimed patrimony for it. While there
has been some recovery from the depth of the economic crisis, Africa’s economies
remain dependent on external demand for Africa’s resources, and the state of
industrialization is fundamentally not much different from the mid-1970s.
Manufacturing share of GDP is lower in 2011 than in 1974. Production of capital
good remains rare.
After more than two decades of disavowing the value of intentional planning, we
are back to the issue of the urgency of rapid economic development, with its atten-
dant objective of expanding human choices. At national levels, “planning” is back on
the agenda. At the continental level, we seem to have returned to mapping out long-
term strategic framework with the African Union’s Agenda 2063. What is required,
beyond recovery, is long-term structural transformation of Africa’s economies and
society, one that deepens democracy, enhances equality, and expands human choice.
Development, and development planning in particular, requires a measure of sover-
eignty and autonomy and focused commitment to the agenda; it requires the inten-
tionality that market is not capable of delivering; it requires state capacity not only
to plan and regulate but to constantly learn; it requires public leadership in mobiliz-
ing the social compact necessary for navigating the long road ahead and ensuring
that the proceeds of development are shared equitably in society. Knowledge is cen-
tral to the catch-up and latecomers can avoid the groping in the dark that marked the
Preface ix
efforts of pioneers. This requires significantly high investment in higher education
and skill. It vests Africa’s institutions of higher education with a crucial role in meet-
ing the challenge of Africa’s development—in innovation and production of critical
skills necessary for transforming Africa’s economy and society.
The current volume reflects the persistence of the concern with development
among Africans and I commend it to the reader.
London School of Economics Thandika Mkandawire
London, UK
Acknowledgments
We, the editors, together with the publisher would like to extend our sincere gratitude
to all those who contributed to this book. Without their contributions, commitment,
understanding, and willingness to contribute, it would have been impossible to pub-
lish this very useful and important book. Thank you for your knowledge and dedica-
tion. It takes great effort and sacrifice to contribute to a book of this status, yet all
contributors took time out of their often heavy and busy schedules to deliver their
chapters, working under pressure as they did so. In all cases, the contributors were
in addition required to revise and rework their chapters for resubmission after peer
and editorial reviews—still under tight deadlines within their other busy schedules.
We appreciate you all! We, the editors, are also especially grateful to Team Springer
for their commitment, expertise, and professionalism in handling the publication of
this book. They have been very helpful throughout the process, always following up
with us and providing support. Hence, we would like to acknowledge everyone who
has contributed in one way or another to the publication of this book. In many
instances, some of these contributions were behind the scenes yet the publication
would not have been possible without them. Thank you all very much.
Ibadan, Nigeria Olayinka Akanle
Tshwane, South Africa Jìmí Olálékan Adésìnà
xi
Contents
1 Introduction: The Development of Africa: Issues, Diagnoses
and Prognoses������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 1
Olayinka Akanle and Jìmí Olálékan Adésìnà
2 Conceptualizing and Framing Realities
of Africa’s Development�������������������������������������������������������������������������� 9
Abel Akintoye Akintunde and Ayokunle Olumuyiwa Omobowale
3 Africa and the Development Narratives: Occurrences, History
and Theories �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 29
Augustine Okechukwu Agugua
4 Theorizing Africa’s Development Problem������������������������������������������� 53
Natéwindé Sawadogo and Evéline M.F.W. Sawadogo Compaoré
5 Poverty in Africa�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 69
Kolawole Emmanuel Omomowo
6 Education in Africa���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 95
Chizoba Vivian Nwuzor
7 The Land Question, Agriculture, Industrialization
and the Economy in Zimbabwe: A Critical Reflection������������������������ 115
Busani Mpofu
8 Africa’s Governance Travails After More Than Two Decades
of Democratic Experiments�������������������������������������������������������������������� 133
Madalitso Zililo Phiri
9 The Limitations of Peace Negotiations and Identity
Constructs in Conflict-Prone Countries in Africa:
A Focus on the Central African Republic (CAR)��������������������������������� 155
Wendy Isaacs-Martin
xiii
xiv Contents
10 Africa and the Media ������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 173
Damilola Adegoke
11 Retooling Africa’s Development: Child and Youth Inclusion
in the Development Agenda�������������������������������������������������������������������� 189
Victor Ogbonnaya Okorie
12 Health and Diseases in Africa ���������������������������������������������������������������� 207
Benjamin Anaemene
13 Corruption and Africa���������������������������������������������������������������������������� 227
Richard A. Aborisade and Nurudeen B. Aliyyu
14 Africa and Climate Change Refugees’ Quandary:
Kenya Perspectives���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 255
Joseph M. Karanja and Zakaria Abdul-Razak
15 Gender in Africa�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 269
Olabisi Sherifat Yusuff
16 Non-state Actors as the Strategic Realm in Africa’s Development ���� 289
Olayinka Akanle
17 Globalization and Africa’s Development ���������������������������������������������� 307
Olanrewaju Emmanuel Ajiboye
18 Breaking the Incubus? The Tripartite Free Trade Agreements
and the Prospects of Developmental Integration in Africa������������������ 323
Samuel O. Oloruntoba
19 Peace and Security in Africa: United Nations Challenges ������������������ 337
Primus Fonkeng
20 African Development Initiatives ������������������������������������������������������������ 357
Peter Elias
21 Africa, Migration and Development: The Lagos Women
of Bamenda Grassfields, Cameroon ������������������������������������������������������ 375
Walter Gam Nkwi
22 Aid and Development in Africa�������������������������������������������������������������� 389
Simeon K. Koffi
Chapter 1
Introduction: The Development of Africa:
Issues, Diagnoses and Prognoses
Olayinka Akanle and Jìmí Olálékan Adésìnà
Background
Africa’s development is one of the most critical and important issues on the global
agenda. This point has been attested to by the global adoption of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), and the immediate adoption of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) on the expiry of the MDGs, to drive development in
Africa and other developing countries, while simultaneously not isolating the devel-
oped countries. This is because the underdevelopment of Africa is a problem that
does not affect Africa alone, but directly or indirectly affects the world at large.
Today, Africa remains largely mired in underdevelopment rather than showing the
needed signs of development. Generally, independence struggles in most African
countries were contingent on the belief that decolonization and independence would
lead to the requisite development on the continent. However, more than half a cen-
tury after the demise of colonialism, development is still elusive on the continent
despite repeated efforts.
In other words, over half a century after most African nations became indepen-
dent, large parts of the continent remain underdeveloped despite the fact that Africa
was originally projected to grow faster than Asia. Asia today has in the main has
shown more promise (and signs) of growth and development than Africa, especially
against the backdrop of the ascendancy of the Asian Tigers and the Asian transition
economies such as India and China. These Asian countries have in particular been
able to lift many of their populations out of poverty in contrast to Africa, where
O. Akanle (*)
Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
J.O. Adésìnà
SARChI Chair in Social Policy, University of South Africa (UNISA),
Tshwane, South Africa
e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
© Springer International Publishing AG 2018 1
O. Akanle, J.O. Adésìnà (eds.), The Development of Africa, Social Indicators
Research Series 71, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-66242-8_1
2 O. Akanle and J.O. Adésìnà
many remain in poverty. While Asia has shown resilience and focused development
attempts and wealth creation, many parts of Africa, especially Sub-Saharan Africa,
appear stuck at the level of negative development indicators.
What Africans and the world at large have come to realize is that Africa cannot
and should not continue on the path of fixated underdevelopment. Unfortunately,
the road to development is also not clear-cut or easy. While the issue of African
development has become a universal demand and the need for positive change has
become more urgent and profound, trajectories of development have also become
more complex and more dynamic as the stakes of development have been raised and
are constantly changing owing to the interface of local and global currents, under-
currents and political economy. While the manifestations of development are easy
to identify, the processes and pathways are not. Hence, while the debates about
African development exist and continue (OECD 2015; Africa Institute of South
Africa [AISA] 2002; Muriith 1997; Moss 1997), the objects, natures and times of
the debates are changing rapidly, as African development realities continue to
emerge and evolve and thus necessitate continuous examination and interrogation.
For about the last 30 years most African nations have demonstrated underdevel-
opment potentiality rather than development capability, as can be seen in objective
development indicators like the Corruption Index, poverty prevalence, unemploy-
ment rate, gender equality and literacy rate. According to the World Bank, even the
economic growth rate witnessed in some parts of Africa has not translated to an
improved standard of living for the people. Indeed, 48.5% of Sub-Saharan Africans
continue to struggle with poverty while even more struggle with absolute poverty.
Job creation has not kept pace with the booming population, which has reached the
1 billion mark – or 15% of the world’s total population – and is projected to increase
to 20% by 2030, in light of falling labor productivity figures and the fact that the
manufacturing sector has remained largely stagnant since the 1970s. In addition,
many African economies trail the rest of the world in competitiveness.
Unless specific, current, established and fresh comparative development prob-
lems confronting the continent are well examined, properly researched, well docu-
mented, and sufficiently understood, there cannot be positive development
achievement in Africa. It is against this background that this book engages the
development challenges confronting Africa with a view to presenting fresh and cur-
rent examination, narratives, interpretations and pathways to the continent’s estab-
lished, current and evolving development problems. This book will interrogate and
answer critical, current and pragmatic problems confronting Africa in definitive
ways and provide workable pathways for resolving development problems that will
have a positive impact on scholarship, policy and practice. The book adds depth to
and broadens the knowledge base on development in Africa. Students, academics,
scholars, practitioners, thinkers, policymakers, development partners and all those
interested in issues affecting Africa’s development should find this book very inter-
esting, relevant and useful.
This book seeks to contribute to research and policy by expanding scholarly and
practice knowledge on Africa’s development trajectories. It is an academic, prag-
matic and practical policy toolkit for Africa’s development problems, providing
new depth, and fresh theoretical, methodological and conceptual frameworks for
1 Introduction: The Development of Africa: Issues, Diagnoses and Prognoses 3
u nderstanding and resolving Africa’s development quagmires within broader global
sustainable development strategies. Generally, the book is relevant to people seek-
ing a comprehensive, relevant, workable understanding of Africa’s development
issues. Certainly, Africa’s development issues are complex, complicated, evolving,
and dynamic. Thus, this book adds new on-the-ground, multilevel and multidimen-
sional perspectives to the relevant issues hampering Africa’s development. This
book is practical and pragmatic yet methodical and scholarly; it is also highly com-
parative in ways that will account for problems, issues and solutions to Africa’s
development trajectories both multinational and transnational. It is current and con-
temporary and engages cutting-edge issues in great detail in ways that are very
useful for teaching, research, policy, practice and general knowledge on develop-
ment in Africa.
Structure and Orientation of the Book
Together with this introductory chapter, this book comprises 22 chapters. This chap-
ter, frames the orientation and contextualizes the issues in the book, Chap. 2 con-
ceptualizes and intellectually frames the development realities of Africa, while
Chap. 3 accounts historically and theoretically for the occurrences that have come
to shape and define development issues confronting Africa. Chapter 4 continues the
focus and argument of Chap. 3 given the importance of the issues of interest to the
two chapters. Chapter 4 further theorizes on Africa’s development problems.
Chapter 5, ‘Poverty in Africa’, confronts, both theoretically and practically, one
of the most definitive development issues of Africa. Poverty is one of the most sig-
nificant issues confronting Africa today. In fact, poverty is key signifier of Africa’s
underdevelopment and is an overarching problem facing the continent. This chapter
therefore examines the subject of poverty on the continent both empirically and
theoretically. Chapter 6 discusses education in Africa. Education is at the very heart
of human and material development for Africa, especially in view of the develop-
ment experiences of China, India and Malaysia, among others. Therefore if Africa
is to develop, education will have to play a central and important role. Against this
backdrop, this chapter examines the state of education in Africa, adopting empirical
data and descriptive/analytical approaches. The chapter is detailed, pragmatic and
contemporary while also being future-oriented. The chapter is also analytical and
problem-solving in a scholarly and a practical manner.
Chapter 7 covers agriculture, industrialization and the economy. Common narra-
tives and interpretations of Africa’s development and underdevelopment hinge on
the role played by agriculture and industrialization in the economy. This is impor-
tant as many accounts of development are centered on the state of the economy and,
generally, most African nations are still agrarian and rural. What then is the interface
between agriculture, industrialization and the economy in Africa? Can agriculture
sustainably drive development in Africa? Can agriculture lead the industrial paths of
Africa? What is the state of agriculture and industrialization in Africa? What is the
4 O. Akanle and J.O. Adésìnà
missing link in the economy and can agriculture and industrialization reconnect the
severed chain of Africa’s development? What is the state of Africa’s economy and
what role can agriculture and industrialization play in it? What are the policy issues
and what are the solutions? Are there country-specific issues that can drive home the
points and the contours of Africa’s development? At the end of the development
tunnel is there any hope for the alignment of agriculture, industrialization and the
economy in Africa? If yes, what is to be done? If not, what is to be done? Through
a relevant up-to-date case study, this chapter engages the background issues.
‘Politics, Democracy and Governance’ in Africa is the title of Chap. 8. This
chapter is very important because governance issues are central to Africa’s develop-
ment and underdevelopment. Nations’ governance systems, processes and struc-
tures will ultimately determine how resources are aggregated, shared and distributed.
They will also determine how resources are mobilized for development outcomes.
Central to governance, however, are politics and democracy. Thus, this chapter uses
a case study to examine the relationships among politics, democracy and gover-
nance in Africa as they affect the development realities on the continent. This chap-
ter is conceptual, theoretical and empirical, dealing with the relevant data and cases
in comparative terms. Chapter 9, ‘Violence and Terrorism’ boldly confronts unique
issues confronting Africa. These two issues remain intractable in Africa today (see
Akanle and Omobowale 2015). Unfortunately, most African countries appear to
lack understanding of these problems and also have poor capacity for solving them.
There is virtually no sub-region of Africa that is totally exempted from violence and
terrorism. From North Africa to Southern Africa, West Africa to Central Africa, the
Horn of Africa to East Africa, violence and terrorism exist and they certainly have
various impacts on development and underdevelopment. This chapter is conceptual,
theoretical and academic, yet practical and relevant to policy. Germane data are
used as is a case study to drive home the relationships between the twin issues.
Chapter 10, ‘Africa and the Media’, also examines a very relevant issue at the
center of Africa’s development – the interface of Africa and the media. The role of
the media in affecting and effecting change and development has been widely
acknowledged and appreciated. This is particularly so in Africa against the back-
ground of the Arab Spring and the emergence of transparent elections driven by new
media. The media1 has, however, become a double-edged sword in Africa, playing
both a positive and a negative role. In other words, while the media was instrumen-
tal in driving the change during the Arab Spring, it is also the engine of negative
representations of Africa, the propagation Africa’s negative image and the dissemi-
nation of propaganda, which has affected investments and development on the con-
tinent. Yet, the media is also sometimes positively implicated in directing
development values to the continent. It is therefore very important to engage the
manifestations, developments and ramifications of the media in Africa in search of
sustainable development.
In Chap. 11, issues relating to childhood, youthhood and social inclusion in
Africa are discussed. A major development issue in Africa is that of social inclusion.
1
CNN effects on the continent, state TV [media], private media, social/new media and so on.
1 Introduction: The Development of Africa: Issues, Diagnoses and Prognoses 5
While most African countries are underdeveloped, it is the children and the youth in
particular that suffer the consequences of underdevelopment of Africa. Children and
youths are often excluded outright from the development processes of Africa and
suffer more as a result of the underdevelopment outcomes of the continent. This is
why, according to Alcinda Honwana, there is a prolonged period of waithood and
youthhood in African countries as many youths are trapped, finding it difficult to
transit to adulthood due to their large-scale disproportional experience of Africa’s
underdevelopment. The case is similar and sometimes worse for children, who suf-
fer negative socio-cultural, economic and physical constructions on the continent;
even the laws have failed to successfully address negative constructions and experi-
ences of children in Africa (see Akanle 2012). Since childhood and youthhood are
development flipsides, it is important to examine their development, socioeconomic
and intergenerational interfaces in African countries. The background issues are
discussed in this chapter through the life experiences of different individuals and
groups across Africa.
‘Health and Diseases in Africa’ is the title of Chap. 12. Africa is one of the coun-
tries of the world with significant health and disease burdens. This is may be traced
to the living environments, health belief systems and health infrastructure on the
continent. These health and disease burdens have development implications espe-
cially seen against the backdrop of the axiom health is wealth. This chapter there-
fore examines the health and disease trajectories of Africa and demonstrates and
documents their development implications. The chapter is strong, conceptual,
empirical, engaging, polemic, theoretical and methodical with relevant data and
perspectives for scholarship, policy and practice across the countries of Africa.
Chapter 13 is entitled ‘Corruption and Africa’. Corruption, like poverty, is among
the most pervasive and dangerous problems confronting Africa today. In terms of
causality, no other problem retards development in Africa like corruption (see
Akanle and Adesina 2015). This chapter therefore critically examines corruption as
a development issue in Africa through a comparative analysis of African countries.
The chapter is empirical, theoretical, conceptual and comparative with specific case
studies and transnational examples. Issues discussed include: What is corruption?
How prevalent is corruption in Africa? Is corruption a way of life in Africa? How
has corruption manifested in Africa over time and what is the trend? What data are
available to demonstrate corruption in Africa? Are there differences among nations
and sub-regions of Africa relative to the processes and nature of corruption? How
has corruption affected development in African countries? Are there solutions to
corruption in Africa? Specific examples are also discussed.
‘Africa and the Climate Change Dilemma’ is the title of Chap. 14. Climate
change is a major issue confronting the world today and no continent or community
is immune to it. In fact, climate change is one of the few issues on which it was very
difficult to get global consensus until very recently. Implementing the consensus
however remains a challenge. Despite contributing little to climate change in the
world, Africans are among the most affected and yet capacity to understand and
ameliorate its effects on the continent remains weak. It is against this background
that this chapter investigates the trajectories and consequences of climate change on
