Germany has reasserted its footprint on Africa’s developmental arena by announcing a “Marshall Plan” for Africa. The plan will elevate Africa to an equal partner with Germany as far as negotiations are concerned and espouse fair trade, investment, increased aid for educational projects and curbing migratory flows from Africa to Europe. Germany joins India, China, Brazil, Japan, Russia and the US, among others, on hailing Africa as continent of opportunities and the next frontier for development.

While the continent welcomes partnerships that will lead to economic prosperity and meaningful productivity, it will need creativity and setting of strategic priority areas of engagement to navigate the many visions being rolled on the continent. In addition, crowded with individual country development plans, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, African Union Agenda 2063, regional economic community plans and a host of many others, the continent should beware of spreading itself too thin to a level that it will lose focus and fail to achieve desired developmental goals.