Africa Must Use Its Intellectual Capacity for Its Interests

For the longest time throughout modern history, the whole world has advanced exceptionally at the expense of Africa. The continent still finds itself locked in a perpetual cycle of poverty, conflict and slow progress. As if that is not enough, most African leaders have failed to grasp what progression means, and as such Africa’s people are among the poorest in the world. 

Africa’s history is always incomplete when colonization is left out. It was a stage in the continent’s history in which the people suffered immensely for the simple reason of the color of their skin. Africa’s history is incomplete without mentioning the epoch of slavery and the slave trade, where millions of black people were not viewed as human beings but merely as tools of labor for the white capitalist system that was emerging out of the Industrial Revolution. Africa’s history is incomplete without taking note of the post-independence era where a myriad of problems still plague almost the whole of the continent. The ills and the genocides perpetrated against Africa at the hands of white capitalists and colonizers remain etched in the continent’s history and it is always of great importance to realize that taking these historical lessons objectively is the way to unlocking Africa’s potential. 

Everything that has been committed against Africa, from slavery to colonialism, there is one thing which is clear – that Europeans maximized their intellectual capacity ruthlessly and mercilessly for the advancement of their kin and kith. They did not care about all vague concepts of humanity that they champion with a feigned zest; all they cared about was for their race to be at the top, by simply maximizing their intellectual capacity. 

Africans are very much capable of doing exceedingly great things that benefit the world. For example, Cameroonian doctor Arthur Zang created the life-saving Cardiopad that enables patients in remote parts to have access to medical information and advice, as well as enabling patients to carry out some of the tests on their own. If one travels back in time, there is plenty of evidence showing how highly advanced the Egyptian civilization was, as they also came up with innovative technological advancements relevant in their time. In terms of intellectual capacity, there is no difference between black people and white people. The list of amazing accomplishments made by black people is, in all honesty, endless. 

The only difference that still puts Africa in the position where it is today is that Africa still fails to use its equally supreme intellectual capacity for its interests. White people, Chinese people, and a whole lot of other “foreign investors” continue to understand the unrivaled benefits of putting their interests first. It is as simple as that. The world is a jungle in which only the fittest survive. There is no use in playing the victim all the time. What makes other peoples seem in front of Africa is that they do not care, at all, about the vices they inflict on other people. And Africa should take note of that seriously. 

The United States of America is always speaking the message of democracy and human rights over a megaphone but are still the biggest hypocrites in the world – as proved by how they meddle in the internal affairs of any country that stands to benefit them in one way or another. They continue to foster wars, but ultimately it is they who benefit; the American companies that manufacture the guns benefit, and also they take the oil. It is about their interests first. 

Now, Africa should realize that it has the immense talent within it. There is always innovation bubbling under, there are always new and refreshing ideas coming out from Africa. The problem is that the leaders, who have now lost the trust of their people, never care too about Africa. Instead, they remain beholden to foreign institutions like the IMF that bombard them with endless economic pressure in the form of debt. The leaders remain attached to their former colonizers and fail to stand up for what benefits the rest of the populace – it is about those leaders’ interests only and not the rest of the continent. And they defend one another in those senseless actions. 

The time is now for our leaders, and everyone in the continent, to know that if Africa’s interests are not put first, the continent will remain where it is – Walking Still, not moving anywhere. The rest of the world is ruthless. Africa should cease being a playground for other foreign superpowers. 

The intellectual capacity in Africa is truly more than enough to lift the majority of the people out of poverty and a miserable fate, a degraded kind of existence. Our intellectual capacity should flourish in an environment that allows it to. As long as that conducive environment is not created, we remain a potential – wasted potential for the rest of eternity. There is abounding evidence to prove that Africa when it comes to intellectual superiority, is just like everyone else in the world. 

All that happened to Africa in the past serves as a reminder that we should always put our interests first. It teaches us that we should remain strong together and more importantly, make sure that we use our intellectual capacity for our interests or else we remain the object of ridicule to everyone else in the world.