THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA IS NO LONGER THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF COLONIALISM

Some decades after the independence of African countries, some scholars still point to the negative effects of colonialism as the cause of Africa’s underdevelopment. They argue that as a result of the exploitation of both human and material resources of Africa by major European powers, the continent has found it difficult to pursue positive economic and technological development. And scholars in this category still point out that the continent is still under indirect colonialism (neocolonialism). This article will try to highlight the points which are used to refute this assertion in the discourse below.

It is a known fact that colonialism is a contributory factor to the underdevelopment of Africa in the way that Africa’s resources were used to develop Europe by the Europeans who colonized Africa. But after some decades of independence of African countries, should we still hold on to colonialism as a problem and neglect the obvious? It is clear that the indirect colonialism that some scholars claim Africa is still suffering from is possible because our leaders are allowing it to be so. We as Africans should look beyond our colonial past to search for the causes of our backwardness and underdevelopment. We also need to ask ourselves some salient questions. What measures and strategies have our leaders taken and adopted towards achieving positive development? What is the actual level of development in most African countries decades after regaining independence? What measures have African leaders taken to check the intrusion by the major world powers into Africa” s internal affairs and foreign policy decision making? If the answers to these questions are justified, colonialism should be held responsible for Africa” s underdevelopment. But, if it is otherwise, colonialism should be left alone and let us solve the problems we still allowed to linger on after decades of independence. We should not forget that United States was one time colony of Great Britain. But today, United States is at the helm of world affairs.

After the independence of most African countries, our leaders were busy pursuing their personal interests and embezzling public funds instead of planning ways of developing the continent. Our leaders left the continent to be exploited by major world powers for their own gains and to the detriment of the masses. The level of corruption in most African countries continues to increase on a daily basis. The military on their part did not help matters as the corruption which they claimed they came in to fight against became a way of life after their exit.

If Africa must grow and develop, our way of thinking, our approach towards values and our attitude towards development must change.
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