The challenge is simple, but not quite easy.
For one to understand Africa, one must have a comprehensive account of the value of African currency. It should be no understatement to suggest that with our contemporary global world, the integration of economies yields to questions of resource-based philosophies in a world that has
come to terms with the collapse of socialism.
Globalization in any era need not be considered a task without its difficulties. Nonetheless, studies of history may indeed suggest that the integration of economies is not without its effects on all societies involved. The expression of an economy is often coupled with the lexicon of governance, a language involving the regulation of an economic system; this merger, of course, not aside from minor but necessary exigencies such as security.
And yet, it is this language that finds itself, and in so many eras, at the heart of dialog between vast and varied societies.
As most, I am not privy to the most exquisite details of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs as I have not always been the most sublime interlocutor of the World Trade Organization. Even so, it is not hard to see that economic transactions create avenues for global dialog. But, yet, this dialog is necessary in the first instance. It is necessary, in varied forms, so that the framework for economic integration be mapped out efficiently.
The lessons of the Cold War permit us to witness just such a dialog; a clash, if you will, of civilizations at varying stages of their growth. The end of that battle is no secret. The Free Market and fair competition prevailed, and the world was the better for it. The world was the better for it.
The questions involving economic systems and their influence on government are nowhere more observable than, for instance, in the Middle East. Here, monarchies abide by coherent economic philosophies that have persevered over the ages, and seem to be attempting to fashion out a contemporary solution insofar as they must provide a contemporary version of this ancient system that utilizes nuances of systems learned elsewhere and in various eras. Even at this, at more
fundamental levels is a pure economic lexicon that brings up the question of our continent Azania. Demand and supply. Trade. Terms. These unmistakable denizens of the economic dictionary unite with government at the place known as history-in the beginning.
The current state of underdeveloped nations is often analyzed in the light of information about their independence, largely from a Europe unified, at least, at the most fundamental conception of economic theory. This independence was believed to be that agreement which would allow these nations choose what path they would follow, what philosophy they would produce, what heights they would attain.
For African independence to be a reality, the integration of the African economy into the global economy of the post-independence African era needed to be fashionable enough to Africans. In this way, African economies would speak their own language. This language, presumably, pronouncing the subtle cultural nuances that layer the currency that is the African mind operating in a new market; a mind protected by post-colonial handshaking and dialog.
The regular charge maintains that African leaders, massively corrupt, siphoned off the sum of about one trillion U.S. dollars into hidden accounts in Switzerland, protected by Europe's economic needs. Some stories have the sum up to one gazillion. It is hard to tell when it stops being important exactly how much is said to have been siphoned off.
"We will not be dictated to" is a phrase you might hear in a movie about Africa. In this scene, a dictator, surrounded by gun-totting miscreants, looks at the American envoy and suggests that he, too, understands the free market. His own regular refrain is that "these are our problems." Ancient but familiar problems that require insight into the African mind to solve.
In the middle lies a world where intelligent men and women say many things about many subjects and, in the final analysis, Ketu and Mushin remain no closer to better administration than they were in 1976. The leaders of developed economies, understanding that their economies not only need fridges, computers, machine components, motors, rotors, sensors, biotechnologies, industrial gadgets, speakers, microphones, farming utensils, consumer confidence, and edgy markets to survive and thrive, provide opportunities for their denizens to create fridges, computers, machine components, motors, rotors, sensors, biotechnologies, industrial gadgets, speakers,
microphones, farming utensils, consumer confidence and edgy markets.
In a meeting, then another, African leaders will ask to be treated with respect and dignity, and depending on the occasion and how they are perceived, may well get this respect. Then they say that debt is choking their countries and making it impossible for them to be productive. The debtors say that Africans are not transparent enough, that their ways of running government leave much to be desired. They say that if Africans audit four times a year, show transparency for "receipts" and make it harder for their relatives to be corrupt, then they can discuss debt relief or even forgiveness. They are, after all, good people and on the moral side of the way
things are (except for that nasty business that spawned from excessive demand for cheap or free labor).
Which of these would be so kind as to provide ammunition for those who see debtors as diamond wearing white devils with glasses and horns, drunk with the blood of Jesus from Vatican sermons, bellies full with Jesus' flesh? Nigeria shows off its twenty-billion dollar collective genius.
A new space program. A bold gesture. A very bold gesture. Immediately, investors are bringing lorry loads full of money because they believe that Nigeria has twenty-billion dollars worth of space knowledge. This catches the attention of the Local Government Area Administrator where Ketu is, and then where Mushin is, then in Yemetu and, finally, Aghalokpe. One satellite phone per LGA, just one, and data collection is a breeze. Then the African leaders can tell the
debtors that there is transparency, even at the Local Government level. That there is software written to show where the government can be more efficient. This software is written by five university students.
The African leaders are not interested in Ketu. Well, none but a few. Most have spent their time fighting for the defense of Israel, their detractors say, or the right to existence of Palestine.
Touchy, touchy. Touchy issues these. The African leaders will not be dictated to. So gazillions are siphoned off to show that these intelligent and sophisticated leaders have a plan with all that loot. It is their philosophy, their African language that conjures images of
the large market day in Onitsha where stockfish was the prevalent pastime of a rich man, Eze, who had so many children, they say that for centuries people believed they saw Eze's ghost when, in fact, it was just a genetically lucid version of the great Chief that they were seeing.
When the light of the mind overtook Europe, sowing the seeds for the British Empire, the earliest economic ideas were concerned with, to paraphrase an early economist from that era, "augmenting enjoyments." This, then, implied demand of goods and services. Much of the supply was from Europe until it was found in abundant quantity in Africa. With the light of the mind attempting to illuminate Africa, what is being demanded by Africans, and from where will the
supply come?
This is "the beginning." It is good.
Currently, much of Africa's demand is for foreign material. This is to say, more specifically, that the economic consciousness of African countries is connected to creativity through Europe and "The West." It seems that despite the promulgation of documents to the
contrary, Africa remains dependent on external forces for its existence. Otherwise, how shall one explain this anomaly?
The lack of creativity in African countries is often blamed on Makerere University in Uganda. Makerere, The Makerere, was to be the beacon of hope for a new and shining African intellectual class who would reign supreme over chaos, introducing the lexicon of African economic philosophies derived from a clear understanding of the African situation. This lexicon was supposed to have been convincing enough to assist debtor nations see, most efficiently, how to assist with the integration of the African economy into the global economy. The only words we have heard from Makerere, however, are "Steel" and "Macroeconomics" and "Small-Scale Industry."
These, nonetheless, are big words and must not go unnoticed. Even as yet, there is much to be desired from Makerere. It, some say, remains one of the authentic centers of learning undrowned by fierce global winds and powerful CEOs in Belgium.
Integrating the economy of African countries into the global economy, over the past forty years, has relied on an understanding of European economics; this provided by France and Great Britain. But the language of the African economy is shoddy, the ideas lack coherence, and the implementation is a revelation that despite the highest poets on our continent, content drives expression. Certainly, then, our continent Azania has refused to divulge the information needed for a lucid global economic integration. Why, but this should not be a problem. After all, the African economy begins in Onitsha and on the big market day on Wednesday.
This, friend, is the story of the African Market and the way it ought to be integrated into a global market. We will continue this discussion after I have had more palm wine.
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