“I see the
obliteration of Africa as near to now as 500 years except something is done
urgently by Africans to turn the tide, only Africans can save Africa from
extinction.”
Africa is world’s second largest and second most populous
continent. It boasts of over 1.1 billion
people as of 2013 estimate and this account for about 15% of human
population. Africa is estimated to cover
6% of the Earth’s total surface area with 30.2 million km2 including adjacent
Islands. Africa currently has 54 fully
recognized countries, 9 territories and two de facto independent countries with
limited or no recognition.
Africa population is estimated to be the youngest among all
continents with 50% of its people known to be 19 years old or younger. The continent is accepted as the place of
origin of humans. Civilization is on record to have emanated from Africa.
History has it that almost all African countries experienced
colonization by European countries at one time or the other in their history
from the 19th century. The
current African countries emerged from decolonization in the 20th
Century. This accounts for its diverse
cultures, languages and ethnicities.
Africa has vast human and natural resources, diverse culture
and population with huge financial capabilities; however the continent has
continued to live in abject poverty and self-pity despite her huge human and
natural resources. The greatest undoing
is that Africans themselves are the main cause of their numerous problems. Africans have proved to be unable to make
the continent work and have wilfully chosen to ignore the right path to its
emancipation for several decades.
Africans cannot boast of building anything worthy of note
and almost every infrastructure in Africa is either imported or borrowed from
abroad. Africa keeps losing its sense of identity on a daily basis,
consequently moving closer to its extinction. Sadly Africa is moving closer to re-colonisation
with every passing day by ignoring everything Africa and with large proportion
of its youth looking to reach Europe at all cost, even some paying with their
lives. The youth who are the future of Africa do not have even a mustard-seed
faith in Africa, I see an obliterated Africa if the current trend is left to continue.
Everywhere you go in Africa paints the same image of
agony. The name Africa is mentioned in
developed countries when poverty needs to be defined. Televisions stations are inundated with
heart-breaking pictures of African Children looking gaunt, sick and dying. A child dies every second to preventable
diseases in Africa. WHO
has it that 16,000 children die every day in Africa. This year alone (2015); 5.9 million children
under the age of 5 have already died and some regions of Africa records up to
100 deaths per 1000 lives of children under 5 years old? Africa does not appear to have any plan in
place to curtail this pandemic situation.
Nothing could be more pathetic than those figures.
Africans have become professional killers and assassins;
they have become specialists in making wars and killing themselves, with no
caution over matters such as land, cattle and religion. Life of an average African is worthless, with
people being killed every day at an alarming rate from gangs, rebels, religious
fanatics, kidnappers, robbers and many more. The policing system in most
African countries is laughable and the Justice system is nothing short of
ridiculous.
One of the greatest problems of Africa is its high level of
superstitious beliefs. Everything that
happens in Africa is considered an act from the gods; either good or bad. “If
someone dies or fails to die, it’s an act of the gods, if a plane crashes or a
car is involved in an accident, it’s an act from the gods. Men do not have the power to prevent anything
and every occurrence has godly undertone and this no one can query.” What a way
to think in this age and time!
Africa needs to wake up from her many dogmatic thinking and
understand that if it must progress it must teach itself modern intelligence to
make decisions that are progressive and not wait for the gods to make it for
them through its majorly greedy money-grabbing priests whose interest is only
in their pockets. More on these religious scams currently ravaging Africa at
alarming rate would be discussed in later series.
An average African has been brainwashed to believe that a
person who steals money or kills another person is able to do so because the
gods has given him the power to and should not be queried. Likewise the ones being deprived of their
rights should accept it as their lots from the gods; this is because they must
have offended the gods and is the reason they are in their current
situation. “Everyone must accept their
lots in life as nothing can be done to change it.” What a way to think in this age and time.
African leaders would steal money that belongs to their
state with nobody to query them. The
leaders are stupendously rich in the midst of their population’s immense abject
poverty. They buy luxuries everywhere and show off their wealth to their poor followers, who
most times still worship the rogue leaders, since they believe the leaders are gods’
messengers and nothing can be done. The
leaders will often stay in power for decades because they are at the exalted
position given to them by their gods. Surprisingly many Africans would die for
this leaders to remain in power, this has happened times without number. Africans never learn from their history and
the few to questions these long-stays are often slaughtered by soldiers or rebel in support of the incumbent. How insane.
The poor people of Africa have to accept their situation as
an act from the gods and should never query or make their leaders
accountable. Those who are strong enough
to flaunt this divine order are killed mysteriously either by assassins or
man-made murders. The stealing leaders have led several onslaughts against
their people, sometimes ordering an outright war or massacre against the clan
not in its support or several ash-laws to victimise and deprive them of their
basic rights, creating so much fear in the minds of any possible opposition.
Africa is about the only continent with no sense of
direction. Africa does not investigate or carry out research for future
developments; it must wait for China or South Korea to do it for her or consult
their gods to make the decisions for them.
However well-educated an average African is, even with their PhD, they
still hold same philosophy; “let the gods decide”. This is because every decision taken without
the gods is bound to fail they say’ How absurd.
If this is the case, then Africa with all its gods should be the best
place and continent to live. Why are the able-youths dying in the deserts and
seas to reach Europe? Africa can be nothing to me, but insane.
To be continued...
Abiola Olaifa
