While the street and pedestrian information  may persuade many unsuspecting people, the continent is still mired in conditions that appear inextricable. So much publicity is given to remittance and nations in Africa fall for such thinking they are attracting resources – winding fall and notoriously ‘manna’ from heaven. How dangerous and damaging!

One ought to know the difference between consumer money and investment money. The former - money that comes in trickles like remittance -- hardly investible money -- does not help to stabilize the fluctuating nature of the local currency of the recipient nations. Money is very useful when pooled and leveraged, in addition to being designated for specific purposes for capital investment. Money wired to families  is like welfare, creating temporary euphoria and inducing dependence. There is nothing like EARNING money, which is as a result of productive activities as opposed to being GIVEN money which is welfare and charity. The latter has damaging effect.

Nigeria for example, may attract the highest remittance given the sheer number of Nigerians outside the country. But her local currency the Naira has not been able to stabilize even when her main foreign currency earner – oil and gas, traded in triple digits. Today, One Million Naira is mere $4,500 compared to the mid-1980s when One Million Naira was almost $2m. Calculate the rate of change, solving for ‘I’ since we know the time frame. The HP calculator will blink for minutes, ending up ‘EE’ extended error.

The west has found a way to keep the so called emerging and developing ‘nations’ hooked, but they have never EMERGED. If we all live in a global world, wouldn’t it make sense to  trade in One Currency? Well, if that happens, there is no way western economies will survive because the cheap labor afforded her based on migration will reduce drastically. Labor is the most critical factor in all factors of production and that is the advantage the west has over commodity based economies. One does not need a PhD in Economics to understand this. Maybe they do.

When Africa was largely colonized, her local currencies were at par with those of the colonizers. That kept the natives at home. But as independence gained  ground and the colonizers could not afford to return the deposits of nations held on their behalf [a third of each nation’s assets were required to be maintained at the colonizer’s financial institutions], they introduced devaluation first to checkmate the newly independent nations’ growth; keeping them hooked. Singapore, was one that vehemently denounced such wicked policy and opted out of the Commonwealth. Today, the proof of such destructive leadership is that Singapore has the highest Per Capita than any of the former colonies and even higher than that of UK, its former colonizer.

Singapore’s GDP per capita PPP 1990-2015 - The Gross Domestic Product per capita in Singapore was last recorded at 76236.79 US dollars in 2013, when adjusted by purchasing power parity (PPP). The GDP per Capita, in Singapore, when adjusted by Purchasing Power Parity is equivalent to 429 percent of the world's average. GDP per capita PPP in Singapore averaged 54572.88 USD from 1990 until 2013, reaching an all-time high of 76236.79 USD in 2013 and a record low of 34202.17 USD in 1990.

It is a knock on the ‘head’ of the former colonizer which is what is needed for anyone to EMERGE. Africans have not learned how to and will not even if they know how. Instead, they celebrate when the Queen awards them the ‘Sir’ knighthood . It does not take a lot to impress people of low expectation and confidence.

Second, in the 1980s, the west introduced export oriented economies to naïve former colonies [Africans that is], demanding them to produce and export so that they can earn foreign exchange which again, is placed in foreign reserve as a measure for current accounts for import [balance of payments] schedules, back to the producing nations. Unfortunately, naïve African nations fell for such, thinking they could dig more holes in search of minerals to sell.  This is never enough as the price of the commodities are not determined by the producing nations. To cushion their wild swings, they are issued IOUs, in other words, even when they do not produce enough, they are allowed to import goods, while debits are issued against any future earnings from whatever they produce. It is voo-doo machinations and manipulations, and the nations are HOOKED.

Until African nations reduce or eliminate their 54 odd and weak currencies to say three or four  currency unions and demand  for either semi or full processing of what they produce in-country before export, they will forever be where they are. New wine in an old bottle -- just the change of label.

I do not write to APPEASE or PLEASE but challenge thoughts. The money US and UK have; the Dollar and Pound, were not wired to them by God. They are all printed and made legal tenders, like in Economics – Preferred stocks and store of wealth. Well, if that is the case, how come when Africans print their own MONEY – currencies that is, it is worthless?

Well, All animals may have been created equal, but some are more equal than others both by design and default. My mom always reminded me, I should not blame anyone for stepping on and all over a doormat. When I asked why, she said why not – it is there. Go figure.
 
Ejike E. Okpa
Dallas, Texas.