Factors Hindering the African Renaissance
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African Renaissance on the other hand, is the concept that African people and nations shall overcome the current challenges confronting the continent and achieve cultural, scientific and economic renewal. The African Renaissance concept was said to be first articulated by Cheikh Anta Diop in a series of Essays beginning in 1946 which are collected in his book –Towards the African Renaissance: Essays in culture and Development-1946-1960. This concept was further popularized by former South African President Thabo Mbeki during his term of office, heralding the beginning of the African Renaissance, and it continues to be a key part of the post-apartheid intellectual agenda.
Toussaint L’Ouverture meant so many things to different people, just as African Renaissance means so many things to different people. To some slaves in the plantations in the Americas and the Caribbean, Toussaint was a Hero to be admired, followed, emulated, even worshipped; but for the slavers and the plantation owners, he was a villain to be roundly condemned. To the philosophers, he was an out of the box thinker and to those interested in military history and strategy; he was a master and spectacular strategist and was known as the slave who defeated Napoleon Bonaparte.
To the government and businesses of South Africa today, African Renaissance is a brand name, that can be effectively deployed to promote capitalism and neo-imperialism, but to the numerous black miners and people of South Africa, African renaissance is a clarion call for Black emancipation.
For the leaders of the African Union and Heads of African governments, African renaissance is a perfect phrase for sloganeering but for the black people of Africa, including its Diaspora, it is the road to salvation from imperialism, want, poverty and disease.
Challenges of African Renaissance
I. The partitioning of Africa following the Berlin Conferences of 1883 to 1885. The Berlin conferences of 1883-1885 regulated European colonization and trade in Africa during the new Imperialism period and coincided with Germany’s sudden emergence as an imperial power, called for by Portugal and organized by Otto Von Bismarck, first Chancellor of Germany. Its outcome, the General Act of the Berlin Conference, can be seen as the formalization of the Scramble for Africa. The conference ushered in a period of heightened colonial activity by European powers, which eliminated or overrode most existing forms of African autonomy and self-governance. That conference brutally partitioned Africa without caring about the ties of tribes, clans or families and carved the continent in such an artificial manner that its outcome is at the root of most inter African conflicts up till date.
2.Colonial mentality. One of the most fundamental challenges confronting the African renaissance is that most African peoples and nations are no longer capable of generating or accepting original thoughts or home-grown solutions to problems. Indeed, there is truth in the saying by Leopold Senghor that the gravest form of imperialism is cultural imperialism, because it obscures awareness and renders the victims, the colonized incapable of independent thought. African renaissance has absolutely no chance of success except through channels of independent thought-that is through the extinguishing, dismantling and destruction of colonial mentality.
3. Inferiority complex. Inferiority complex, amongst Africans is the twin brother to colonial mentality. The average African today sees himself or herself as inferior to people from all other parts of the world, but especially to Europeans and North Americans. They do not know that their forebears were not only the original progenitors of mankind, but that they taught the world all the good and positive things that it knows.
4. Closed minds, closed societies and closed nations. A terrible cankerworm internally and mortally killing African societies, and inhibiting African renaissance and development is that while most African societies, ministries, departments, agencies, institutions and nations claim to high heavens that they are democracies and democratic, they run themselves as secret societies. Take Nigeria for instance, or any state of Nigeria if you like, like Enugu state, my home state, or even Lagos state. Try to get the phone numbers or even email address of any commissioner, minister, local government chairman-even councilors, Director, Senator, House of Representative member, who claim to be representing you and see if you ever get it! Now, what kind of democracy would that be?
While they make mockery of themselves, strutting about all over the globe pretending to be chasing after the so-called foreign investors [while stealing a hundred times the values of the investments they seek], a potential investor has no way of reaching them. Now, if you cannot even reach them, how can you do business with them?
5.Corruption. In most African nations everyone is tealing from everyone else. Governments steal from the governed; landlords steal tenants; tenants steal from all whom they come across in turn. They do not realize that they are all stealing from themselves-and that they are all collectively the losers. They fail to see that an-eye-for-an-eye-makes-the-world-blind. Those in authority steal with reckless abandon and blatant impunity, and jostling for power are mere battling for opportunities to loot. What a shame! What an impediment to African renaissance! Those who fought for their nation’s independence never suspected that they were fighting for a future generation of shameless thieves.
6. Lack of democracy. Although the phenomenon-Democracy was originally invented and first experimented in Black Africa, the painful irony of current realities is that most, if not all, democracies in the continent, are in fact, plain civilian dictatorships and cabalisms. Present day Africans mistake elections for democracies. Electocracy has taken the place of democracy, and there is no intercourse whatsoever between the masses and those who are thrown up through mostly fraudulent elections to superintend over and to govern them.
7.Tribalism and Nepotism. Tribal affiliations, which are natural affiliations which should ordinarily be sources of strength for African peoples and enzymes to fire and propel African renaissance have unfortunately assumed negative dimensions and constitute stumbling blocks to progress. Tribalism and nepotism-the practice, among those with power, authority and influence, of favoring their relatives and friends, especially by giving them jobs-have combined to strangulate growth and development in Africa.
8. Plagiarism-Intellectual theft. African nations including Nigeria, are quick to set up anti-corruption agencies whether genuinely or not. They have clear cut laws to deal with and punish offenders in financial theft cases, but strangely, they have lackadaisical attitudes to challenging or confronting or combating intellectual theft. They do not realize that intellectual theft is far more insidious than financial theft, for whereas financial theft affect or victimize the fruits of nation’s life, intellectual theft attack and victimizes the very roots of nation’s life.
All implements, instruments, machines, vehicles, technological inventions, medicine and what have you, ever made by man, including books, music, art and so on, are products of mental and intellectual efforts and achievements. Where creators and inventors are prevented by reason of theft of their inventions and creations from reaping the fruits of their labors, not only is the larger society shortchanged as the eventual products or services reaching it must be inferior to those originally envisioned by the inventors and/or creators, but the inventors/creators are prevented or at least discouraged from further inventions and creations.
An overwhelming majority of proposals made by laboring thinkers from all works of life end up plagiarized and hijacked by crooks and their collaborators in power and places of authority to the detriment of the original authors of the proposals.
9. Dry and abstract intellectualism. One of the subterranean problems militating against and obstructing the advancement of African renaissance is what can be termed Dry and Abstract Intellectualism. There abounds a profusion of intellectualism that has no bearing whatsoever to the pressing and even future needs of African peoples. Intellectuals who should evolve practical solutions to the many and multifarious and multifaceted problems not only confronting Africans, but almost practically overwhelming the continent and peoples, spend precious time in universities, and at the never ceasing conferences, seminars and symposiums, international, national, regional and global, churning out useless and verbose papers having no bearing on the needs of the times of their expecting peoples. Take a look at many of the things that pass as artworks! They have no meaning whatsoever, except to massage the egos of Eurocentrists and those who ape them.
10. Stultification of indigenous African technologies particularly and knowledge systems generally. Transatlantic and Tran Saharan Slave trade, coupled with colonization of African nations stultified indigenous knowledge systems generally, and African indigenous technological advancement particularly. The tragic result of the aforementioned is that the Black Africa that taught the world all the good and positive life-enhancing things that it knows, is today deficit in everything, to the extent that it has to solicit for external help before it can provide even table water for its peoples.
African nations look for outside help to do almost every and anything. We seek external help to fund education, to fund heathcare, housing and our armed forces. What are we even saying? The very headquarters of the African Union [AU], formerly, the Organization of African Unity [OAU], standing today in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, where those who call themselves the Heads of African States gathered together in January 2013, to celebrate what they call the Silver Jubilee of the AU/OAU-its 50 years anniversary, with the theme: Pan Africanism and African Renaissance, was built and funded by China. What a shame!
So, how can African renaissance blossom if the peoples of Africa continue to celebrate and wallow in ineptitude and dependency? Where they disregard and do not encourage self-effort? How? The development of nations, just like that of individuals must be from within-not imposed or imported from outside. If Africans want to develop, they must begin to do things by themselves. That is the demand of African renaissance. There is no easy way out.
11. Lack of African-centered education. Education is unquestionably the bedrock of human advancement. Right educational policies and systems put societies on proper footing. An overwhelming percentage of the nations doing well in the contemporary world can attribute a high degree of their success to the right systems and stuff of education they inculcate in their people.
The wrong system of education puts a people in the wrong direction for developmental purposes. It is like medication for a sick person-The right medication invariably improves the health condition of the patient, in the same way that the wrong medication worsens his condition.
The system of education pervading the entire African horizon was put in place ostensibly by the colonial powers to condition the African continent for perpetual economic exploitation and political emasculation. Strangely, when most of the erstwhile colonized African nations gained their political independence, they forgot or failed to dismantle the colonial educational systems. The educational systems so perpetuated have enslaved the minds of Africans and rendered them incapable of any meaningful articulations. This is one other grave factor militating against Africa’s renaissance.
12. Dearth of Indigenous African languages. Communication is vital in all societies, whether human or animal. However, in Africa, communication has become so artificial and unnatural that it has become a huge problem. Imagine what life would be for birds of the air if they lost their natural forms of communication and learnt to communicate in the language of goats. imagine what life would be like for lions, if they communicated in the language of fish. What would life be like for French people, if they all had to learn to communicate among themselves in say, the Igbo language.
The dearth of indigenous African languages is a big challenge confronting the African renaissance movement. It has forced a wedge between traditional knowledge systems and the younger generations. Any careful observation of nations making major advancement in today’s world reveals that those nations communicate in their indigenous languages. What is more?, Not only are most elite Africans incapable of communicating in their natives languages, they are incapable or even thinking, or even praying to their God in their native languages.
13. Erroneous belief that African renaissance is idol worship. There is an erroneous belief among many Africans that African renaissance is but an attempt at reenactment of idol worship. Africans have been widely and roundly brainwashed into believing that the African continent was a continent of idol worshippers, before the introduction in Africa of Christianity and Islam. Nothing can be further from the truth. This erroneous belief has led many Africans to want to distance themselves and their communities from crusades for African renaissance.
14. Lack of knowledge of Africa’s past and civilizations. Those who do not know where they are coming from cannot know where they are going. All realistic projections into the future must first take stock of situations of the past. Clearly therefore, African renaissance, like all renaissances must take stock of Africa’s past. Generally, there is a serious lack of knowledge of Africa’s past and civilization. How can there be a tomorrow, without a yesterday?
15. Civil wars and inter African wars. For a long time after independence, so many African nations were either at war with their neighbors or with themselves. Though such wars have drastically reduced, there are still skirmishes here and there with the result that there is yet no real tangible lasting peace in Africa. One steady source of conflict within individual nations currently is elections. These often pit tribes and clans against other tribes and clans, and tensions with the capacity for instant conflagration are always hanging over the atmosphere. Under such conditions, it is difficult for African renaissance to make real progress.
16. Unresponsive governance. Government machineries are apparently on parallel course with the yearnings and aspirations of those whom they are supposed to be serving. African governments are generally unresponsive. At independence, African freedom fighters and their followers and successors simply slipped their feet into the shoes left by the departed colonial masters. The colonial governments which were generally established for economic exploitation of the lead and in a way that alienated the natives were thus unfortunately and unpatriotically perpetuated and have lived on up till date.
Not only do those in authority see themselves as masters who are to do whatever catches their fancies, but that the governed also support this view and do not realize that sovereignty belongs to the people. Facilities built by African governments such as roads, schools, hospitals and so on are seen as acts of magnanimity by the governed. Such perceptions cannot be favorable to African renaissance.
17. Wrong people in authority. Flowing from unresponsive governance previously discussed is that the wrong people are by and large in the right places. People do not occupy positions of authority to serve, but to be served, and this is the situation from most of the local governments to the Heads of states at the apex of the pyramids of authority. A local government chairman is at liberty to reject the best of proposals that have tremendous capacity to benefit his council and there is absolutely no practical machinery of questioning or sanctioning his wrong action.
Traditional rulers have become traditional ruiners and are generally collaborators with elected officials and both conspire against the true interests of their vulnerable peoples. In 2012 for instance, when the Renaissance Multi-Links[Nig] Ltd tried to organize an International Conference on African Renaissance at the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria[ASCON],and had written to the government of Lagos state severally, more than a year after the letters and entreaties, not even an acknowledgement from the government had been received, not to mention cooperation. How can such attitudes encourage African renaissance?
18. Square pegs in round holes. African renaissance like all such renaissances must be knowledge based and knowledge driven. Where medical doctors do the work meant for engineers and engineers perform the functions of lawyers, such dispositions can only be harmful to the quest for African renaissance. It is common to find in Africa, people trained as scientists working as bank executives, because that was where they could find gainful employment after graduation.
19. Lack of Data. Data of all kinds are scarce commodity in Africa. African nations are generally so poorly organized that they lack adequate data of their manpower in the various subsectors and of other economic and societal indices that are most useful, if not essential for cohesive and meaningful planning and administrative purposes. African renaissance demands that we know who we are and what we have at any point in time and in every strata of society.
20. Terrorism. Many African nations are under the frightening grip of terrorism, a previously unknown phenomenon in the continent. So far, no African nation has been able to prevail over this increasing menace. The most unfortunate aspect of it all is that whereas the type of terrorism eating up most African nations are ideological spurned terrorism, the response of African nations to it had been puerile and awkward. Take the case of Boko Haram in Nigeria for instance. Boko Haram insurgents are ideological rebels and therefore, neither force of arms, nor offer of amnesty have any meaningful capacity to stem their tide. The only weapon left is therefore necessarily ideological.
There is the ideological option of meeting the sect half-way, by agreeing to some of their objectives, but differing as to the methods of achieving those objectives. It is possible to use information-Quaranic/Islamic instruction and information in various ways to bring about a fundamental and radical, if gradual change of mind/heart and methodology on the part of the members of the sect.
Some of the instruments that could be applied in this service include: Radio, Television, handbills, posters, GSM messaging, lectures, multimedia and multi-interactive websites and intelligence. Many other concerned thinkers have also come to the same conclusion. Abdulsalam Ajetunmobi, a senior lecturer in the Department of public and international law at Afe Babalola University, in Nigeria wrote:
In 2002, a Yemeni Judge, Hamoud Abdulhamid Al-Hitar, pioneered a religious-reeducation programme for Islamic militant groups and their supporters in Yemen using theological arguing as a tool for engaging and combating militant ideology. This program, which received the attention of London’s Scotland Yard, as well as French and German police, including US diplomats was later adopted by the Saudi government.
Presently, the prototype of the Quaranic Arbitration measure designed to combat the intellectual and ideological justification for violent extremism is in popularity with a number of countries, including Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia adopting similar counter-Radicalization programmers. Now clearly, African renaissance cannot thrive under an atmosphere of terrorism.
21. Brain Drain. It is the duty of the elites of every people to drive and lead their renaissances and that of Africans cannot be different. Unfortunately, over 25% of the highly skilled Africans live in and serve other countries and nations, while their own mother continent is in dire need of their services, skills and knowledge. This is a blow to the African renaissance and something must be done about it.
22. The African Union {AU] is not democratic. The African Union[AU] that is the body that should model African renaissance is composed of officials who are not elected by any Pan African plebiscite. This cannot help the African renaissance. Most of those who compose and direct the affairs of the body are those whose authority over their own primary nations are under controversy and whose leadership credentials are in question.
23. African elites assuming the personlities of imperialists. Many Africans who are occupying sensitive and privileged positions in African governments do not even see themselves as Africans and in their hearts owe allegiance to non-African nations and interests. Strange as it may appear, this is true.
I know of a very prominent son of Niger Delta in Nigeria whose great grandfather was one of the most dogged fighters against colonial incursion into Africa and who in fact paid the supreme price for his stand against colonial and imperial domination, but his great grandson sees himself as an American. What a tragedy! What an irony! Some nationals working in their own fatherland are even paid in foreign currencies and stupidly prefer to be seen as expatriates.
By Yahaya Ezeemoo Ndu,
Chair of African Revolutionary Movement [Arm].