- dutch disease

-volatility of revenue from natural resource

-weak property rights

-corruption

-instability (can blame colonization)

The debt is an important issue but also the conflict and corruption.

The only way to economic growth and development of the African continent is through industrialisation, which has an acknowledged ability to bring prosperity, new jobs and better incomes for all. There are no shortcuts. Yet, despite campaign promises of industrialisation on the continent and stronger calls for Africa to industrialise lately, the continent, as reported in the United Nations Africa Renewal magazine, is less industrialised today than it was some decades back.

Some argue that colonisation is responsible for the struggles of most African countries. But colonisation cannot be used as an excuse. If we are to be honest with ourselves as Africans, the only reason why the continent continues to struggle despite its rich natural resources is poor leadership, greed and selfish interests inclusive. We can no longer continue to blame the continent’s struggles on colonisation. After all, African countries are not the only ones that were colonised; other countries were also colonised as well. Yet, many of them have managed to develop. For e.g., countries like Liberia and Ethiopia gained independence way before a country like Singapore and the other so-called Asian tigers. Ghana also did gain its independence several years before most of these Asian tigers. But how do these countries compare now? Thanks to pragmatic leadership, Singapore and the other Asian tigers are now developed with far better economic conditions than Liberia, Ethiopia and Ghana. More so, most of the reasons that we might give for the continent’s struggles (see, for e.g., https://www.africanexponent.com/post/billions-lost-in-profits-by-foreign-companies-tax-evasion-1953) are attributable to poor leadership.

Others also talk of the disturbing issue of exploitation, e.g., tax evasion by foreign investors and corporations of industrialised nations. Indeed, this cannot be ignored in considering why African countries continue to struggle as I indicated in a similar discussion on this platform. However, such exploitation are only possible and facilitated through poor leadership, selfish interests and greed on the part of senior political figures and top government officials. I encourage you to visit the discussion thread at https://www.researchgate.net/post/Poor_countries_explain_their_inability_to_be_rich_through_dependency_theory_Your_thoughts as well as another similar thread at https://www.researchgate.net/post/Why_developing_countries_remain_poor for further insights on the issue.

Accordingly, whatever angle we might decide to look at the issue why most African countries are struggling to develop from, poor leadership is at the core. The continent lacks leaders with bold and creative economic policies to promote industrialisation. For e.g., analysts and experts envisaged that the boom that resulted from high commodity prices due to China’s craving for natural resources would have revived Africa’s waning manufacturing industry to fuel rapid economic growth on the continent. However, Africa failed to live up to expectations. Instead of taking advantage of the boom to stimulate industrialisation, many African countries wasted the money on non-productive expenditures. Ghana and Zambia, for e.g., used profits from the commodity bonanza to solve short-term domestic problems such as increasing salaries for civil servants (you can read more at https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/august-2016/why-has-africa-failed-industrialize).

Africa is not poor. It is rather poorly managed. This is a recurring theme in high-profile discussions on why African countries continue to struggle and has been echoed by political figures such as her excellency Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, former President of Liberia. This means that with good leadership and management, there is no way African countries cannot grow into industrialised nations. At least, the progress made by countries such as Ethiopia, Rwanda and to a lesser extent Tanzania is enough testament. All the continent needs is:

You can also visit https://www.quora.com/Why-are-African-countries-underdeveloped for some interesting perspectives.

@Lawrence.....Wow what a detailed answer ....well articulated thank you

You're most welcome, Passionate Ncube .

In as much as leadership issues are at the core of Africa's struggles and underdevelopment, it is worth noting here that religious teachings has blinded Africa to some simple facts of life. We have misinterpreted scriptural text to shift what we should be responsible for - our responsibilities - to God. This partly explains the lack of development and poverty in Africa, and the inability of the continent to get out of it.

Christianity, for instance, has played a big role to underdevelopment of Africa today. Most church leaders now focus their preaching on blessings and breakthroughs to spread messages of instant success and prosperity. Messages that promote good initiatives such as dedication, commitment, perseverance and responsibility, and add value to our lives, communities and countries are mostly ignored. The result is a generation of lazy people who thirst for instant results and effortless riches/profit. No wonder a lot of us (Africans) and our leaders are Christians yet corruption has taken root on the continent as well as selfishness, greed and quest for instant success.

True Christianity must and can only produce productive citizens. Wealth, and clean developed cities and countries do not come through miracles, magic or present-day religious superstitions such as the loud shouts of “I receive it”. They rather come through hardwork, selflessness, love, responsibility, etc. These make up the real word of God, which needs to be preached to promote attitudinal change so as to do away with, e.g. the selfishness, which is deeply buried within our subconscious so much so that we are comfortable in sabotaging our own progress and development to nurture good governance at all levels and at all times.

It is also worth noting that although education alone is not enough for prosperity and development, it plays a prominent role in building sustainable and resilient institutions, societies and countries. Education thus contributes to the attainment of all the other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Hence, for Africa to develop, become globally competitive and get out of poverty, it also needs to invest in reinventing its educational systems. Learning by rote cannot nurture creativity and innovation. We should ask ourselves what others have done with the same or equivalent degrees and qualifications that we (Africans) also hold. For Africa to develop, we need educational systems that are skills-based and technologically grounded as emphasised by Said Adejumobi, head of the Governance and Public Administration Division at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, while speaking to CNN; we do not need educational systems grounded in rote learning.