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State, Society, and Strategy of Economic Development: Analysis of African Development Theories | UNO College of Arts and Sciences | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: State, Society, and Strategy of Economic Development: Analysis of African Development Theories
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This content is a transcript from a webinar celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Department of Black Studies at the University of Nebraska Omaha. It features Dr. Joseph Ocpan discussing the historical context of Black Studies' founding, the complexities of development theory, and the challenges and potential pathways for African development, emphasizing the critical role of elite cohesiveness and value-adding strategies.
hello my name is deborah hurd and it is
with great pleasure to welcome you to
today's webinar
this virtual event is a part of a
year-long celebration in honor of the
department of black studies 50th
anniversary of which i am project
coordinator here at the university of
nebraska omaha
this department has its roots in the
political and social activism of the
1960s and 70s
it was established in 1971
three years after the establishment of
the country's first department of black
studies at san francisco state
university in 1968.
like at san francisco state and other
campuses across the country
the founding of black studies at uno was
the result of a long process of requests
formal demands
protests and sit-ins
the pivotal moment came on november 10 1969
1969
when 54 black uno students were arrested
for staging a sit-in in the president's office
office
the arrest of the omaha 54 as they
became known
galvanized the students in omaha's black community
community
as black civic and social organizations
and churches mobilized to bail out the 54
54
and to stand behind them in their
negotiations with the university's administration
administration
one of their demands was the creation of
a department of black studies
two years later in 1971
this department came into being
and 50 years later we are here honoring
the twin pillars upon which the
discipline of black studies and this
department was founded
academic inquiry
and cultural relevance
we exist because of the courage of the
omaha 54
and the continued support and backing of
the black community in omaha
we salute you both and we thank you
as a discipline that studies analyzes
and critiques the continuing effects of
historical enslavement colonization
land dispossession and corporate
imperialism we must acknowledge that
this university
and the very city itself
sits on the sacred tribal lands of the
native american people for whom this
city is named the omaha
and that of other first nation people
who regarded this land as their communal homeland
homeland
we stand in solidarity with you
and we stand in support of those who
seek justice
we stand with judge kataji brown jackson
in her quest for confirmation to the
united states supreme court
her historic nomination as the first
african-american woman nominated to the
supreme court
and her poise under intense partisan
questioning is an inspiration for all
people who wish to be seen
have their voices heard
and have their experiences considered at
all levels of the governmental
political economic and social structures
under which we live
and define our very everyday lives
we send strength to you judge brown jackson
jackson
we support you
and we pray for your success
now i would like to introduce to you
today's speaker dr joseph ocpan
dr ocpan is an instructor in the
department of black studies and
political science here at the university
of nebraska at omaha
he holds a ba degree in political
science and international relations
an ma in political science and a phd in
political science with a specialization
in international political economy
all from the university of nebraska at lincoln
lincoln
he has taught graduate mba courses in
international business such as foreign
direct investment
theory and practice of international trade
trade
and regional economic
integration as well as undergraduate
courses in african politics
african history and culture
political science and black studies
at institutions including the university
of nebraska at lincoln
offered air force base and bellevue university
university
in terms of service dr ocpan was
appointed and served between 2009 and 2011
2011
as a resident scholar and consultant for
the think tank the national institute
for policy and strategic studies kuru in nigeria
nigeria
he collaborates with the university of
nebraska-lincoln's college of
agriculture and food processing center
to improve nigeria's food production
processing and packaging industry
in the business sector dr akpan has
worked as a consultant for p1 imports at
their corporate headquarters in fort
worth texas
to facilitate the trade importation of
large amounts of african arts and crafts
from zimbabwe and nigeria for sale in
the u.s and in canada
in 2005
he successfully coordinated a major
ongoing international investment project
that brought foreign investors in to
improve nigeria's telecommunications sector
sector
and finally on a personal note dr ocpon
would like the audience to know that he
loves soccer and he plays tennis
welcome dr ockland
thank you
so before i turn the presentation over
to you
i would like to ask you just a few
general questions to get us started
so coming from nigeria what got you
interested in studying politics
well um i believe my dad
my father was the one that he was a politician
politician
and anytime he came back home after meetings
meetings
he will help me read
some of the minutes that were discussed
in the meeting
i don't know whether he was consciously
unconsciously doing that
but i became interested so
so
when i finish high school
this is insane
he advised me to walk at least for one year
year
before going
for further studies so i worked in a
british bank for you know about eight months
months
and then
i resigned and joined his business
he had a business of oil palm i'm oil business
business
so i became i used to go negotiate contract
contract
for him
with government agents and so we used to
get a lot of
requisitions a lot of
supply of palm oil from them
so i became interested in you know i
became very interested in the business world
world
and so that's how i came to study
politics but not only politics but
um also to study a political economy
because political economy is an
intersection dissection a junction
between political science and economics
so i thought that
you cannot really fully understand
one without the other
because of the interplay of political
and economic forces so i became more
interested in that because it was some
kind of a hands-on
um approach to understanding economic
all right so uh my next question is
in the history of african politics and
and let's think about
uh the
independence movement from from then on
so the move to decolonize
what people stand out for you as
inspirations or people that you admire
i would um i would first of all start
with mandela
uh nelson mandela was somebody that i
really respected an african statesman
and there was
you know
a period that
in the united states when i was here i
i
spearheaded i initiated a campaign for
the university of nebraska to divest from
from
investors in south africa because they
invested a lot of money
and any chambers
in the early 80s i think 1984
was one of the people who was an instrumental
instrumental
figure in getting the state of nebraska
to divest from investment but the
university did not
so when i found that out i you know i
started a campaign that was supported by
some community groups church groups and
the senate
the senate
professor in university senate you know
also so we had a coalition
of people that
that came together with us and
organizations that came with us
and then we tried to ask them to diverse
initially they did not
eventually we brought people like donald
woods he was the the author of christ freedom
freedom
that was the book that
denzel washington um featured you know
in terms of
acting steve bico so
so eventually
eventually the
the the
the
they divested a little bit but
the promise that they would use their
mission to assist
african students from south africa to
study here
at that time i just thought apartheid
was nearing an end anywhere
and so maybe that would be a good way to to
to
so i left
i left but that was very eye-opening to me
all right and my final question
uh what exactly is development theory
and what motivated you to focus on
development theories in your research
and from this i'm going to
turn it over to you
well i development theory when i got to um
um
working at the university of nebraska
political science
and i was lucky enough because at that
time there were not many universities
that that had
international political economy
i happened to work with an instructor
who specialized in that
i was interested so i started taking
classes and focus on the development
and what other areas of development
or geographic area would be of interest
to me than africa so i focus on africa
the entire continent both southern
africa west africa everything so
i became very very interested because i
still been
fascinated or maybe
curious why african states
have not developed
some level of viable
viable
industrialization and developing other
sectors so that become my
but
as far as the development is concerned
the concept of development is concerned
i am going to define that as we go along
it's it's all on you now professor arklan
arklan okay
okay
now um let's start with the what is development
development
you know um in
in
trying to develop a general theory of
international political economy
whether you are focusing on
on systemic level that's the
international level
or you are focusing
focusing on
on
you know a national level
it requires a holistic approach
that would try to see the how
political social and economic forces
interact in a given political
environment or in a given society so
so
that the concept of development is sometimes
sometimes
very very vague it may be very broad and non-specific
non-specific
so when loosely used it may refer to one
or more of the following concepts
political development is one of them
economic development is one of them modernization
modernization
or development of social
institutions it may also refer to the
transit transition of society from one
historical period to another
for example
from pre-industrial to industrial
periods since the world war since the
the word development will come up
repeatedly in this study or in this
presentation it is necessary to define
what is meaning
it can as it will be used in this
present context
define a defined development as
increasing the capacity of societies to
influence their future clinically
clinically
socially or economically
according to brian white
development encompasses four factors
first it means increasing [Music]
[Music]
society's economic and political
capacity and expanding its ability
to effectuate second
second
it means
equitable distribution of income
and resources
and even this
uneven distribution tends to divide
people and undermine their capacity to maximize
maximize
available resources third
third
it refers to empowerment in the sense
that only people with power and
influence can put pressure on political leaders
leaders
to make change
for changes
politics is defined as resolution of
complex conflicts
over value allocation thus
thus
only groups
with influence can affect distributional changes
changes
and fourth
development means efficient exploitation
of society's finite resources
the main thrust of
this definition of development is increasing
increasing
the capacity
for people to affect change politically socially
socially and
and
economic economically
the choice is made by a particular
regime between economic growth and
equity is socio-political
socio-political not an economic choice
specific trade-offs emerge through the interplay
interplay
of unique societal and historical
circumstances which department
the power structure and wealth
well not only the power structure but
wealth distribution of each country
they relate less to long-term
sustainable economic development and
more to the contingencies of policy choices
choices
constraints within a socio-economic environment
environment
long-term economic development in a
sustainable sense requires both growth
and equity in other words not only development
development
of the economy but also equity because
if you have growth without equity
your your your distance
your strategy is not very good
and so
these policy choices and constraints
within social economic environments
involves long-term economic development
in a sustainable sense
and requires both growth and equity
as broad and covenant
long-term growth is in productivity
requires effective demand
and also
there is an increase in the purchasing
power of the masses
because if
there's growth that without equity it
would benefit only a few people
because to consume the goods and
services produced
people would have to have the purchasing power
power
the masses may provide the immediate
consumer market
but export you know
export markets are also essential to growth
growth
but export growth alone may not provide
the necessary conditions for internal growth
growth foresight
foresight
my former advisor
advisor
makes a distinction between economic
growth and national development
economic growth is associated with
economic development
while national development refers to
economic growth accompanied by
internationally recognized human rights so
so
national development therefore is
defined as growth with equity
civil liberties and clinical participation
participation
foresight also notes that
modernization is a process of economic
and technological transformation
donnelly views industrial transformation
as an evolutionary process through the
use of graduation
as the economy moved from agricultural
first through industrial deepening or from
from
developing to a developed economy
so the definition of development so far examined
examined
converge on the following concepts one
one
economic growth equity
equity
political rights
and participation because
because
economic growth itself refers
refers
at the minimum to increase production
measured in terms of gdp per capita
participation refers to the right to
participate in government decisions
equity however is an ambiguous concept
equity may be viewed as equality of
rights but what right
this right may involve equitable
distribution of income
or equality in political participation
participation
so i don't want to go very very deep into
into
the various
dimensions of development
but suffice it to say that for the
purpose of this presentation development
means economic development
development with equity sustainable development
development
and that requires strategy so
so
when i did
what i want to do today is to look at
some of the
some of the um international
international
political economy
concepts of
you know
what what determines
what makes a country grow um
um
after the second world war
and developed countries were very
concerned about
structuring the post-war
international environment to
at least foster growth but
but
they didn't know what to do with dead
world countries
how to carry them along so that they
would not be left behind
three kinds of theories emerged
one was called modernization theory
and modernization actually this was a
theory that was
i would say initiated mostly from the
west united states and western european countries
countries
what modernization theory came up with
was that
african countries it was not just for
african countries it was all
all
you know third-world countries
developing countries in south latin
america south america and developing
countries in asia
a lot of them also almost all of it
the african continent
so what they were saying is
as the term implies modernize
modernize
move from an agricultural
society to an industrial society
just leave let's move transition from
agrarian to industrial
what they did was government should hand
over government should not be a part of
promoting or
you know taking part in economic
development directly
but government can
provide institutions
enforce contract laws and
and
also provide the enabling environment for
for
multinational companies to come and operate
operate
they had the capital in their own view
they had the technology they had the management
management
so they were telling third world
countries there is no need to reinvent
the wheel
let the multinational corporations come in
in
and help
industrialize but provide the
infrastructure necessary infrastructure
for them to come and operate
this was in the 1950s
and right after the second world war but
but
the fault of modernization theory was that
that
most developed countries have always
started with
agricultural development processing
processing
provide food for your people
and that would be some
some
the stage that some
some
um economic actors within the country
will start to accumulate capital and
then slowly move into industrial industrialization
industrialization
did not happen in africa
and in many
other dead world countries because
because
what modernization means what meant was
multinational corporations would bring in
in
factors of production
assemble the goods
in the countries host countries and
and
employ very very few uh you know local
scale so it did not lead to the economic
growth that people
the modernization theory predicted or suggested
suggested
what had happened was that agriculture
was left neglected it was not advocating
a balanced approach between industry and agriculture
agriculture
so that that remnant is still what is being
being
suffered by
african countries because
i want to focus personally mostly on
african countries so
so
in the 70s
there came a group of
dependency theories from south america
latin america in particular and then
they said no
no
modernization theory is wrong african
countries or other third world countries
would not be able to develop
under the international
capitalist system because
because
through um through
through colonialism
multinational cooperation the colonial
masters came and determined what crops
to be grown
what crops to be you know expanded and
they were mostly interested in cash crop
they were interested in cash crops like cocoa
cocoa rubber
rubber
palm oil
cotton and others those were those were
cash crops that were meant to fit
the industries in europe
cash crop tended to take a lot of land
from the indigenous people
but only very few returns in terms of income
income
so he left for the neglect elected for
him he left he made these african
countries neglect
their own food production
but what um
um what
what
interest the colonial master said was
get the cash crop
get the raw materials cheap from africa
go back to europe
process the material
material
and then re-export it
to africa
so it was like a triangular trip
everywhere they were they went to
they went to uh
many many countries
monopolized the land that could have
been used in production of food crops
and used that to produce cash crop
so even after independence
the dependency had deepened so much that
that
they could not break away from that
cycle of dependency
so dependency theories they were very
correct in understanding the structure
i wish african countries were dependent
on the former colonial masters and they
are still dependent to them
so the growth the main intention was not
to really
industrialize africa it was to siphon
raw materials from south from africa
to to the west and then the finished
product also that in africa was a source of
of
raw materials
but also a source of the finished
products up till today when you go to africa
africa
any country
that can produce and process their own
raw materials
i'm talking about something like you
know coco
we produce in africa
rubber we produce in africa
we produce cotton we produce other raw materials
materials
but none of them none of those goods
you know is being processed inside you
know in africa
because the process of processing those
schools are what add value
research and in my own
formulation of a theory
value adding is central to it
if you produce goods and you sell
the raw materials
then you don't add value because the
process of adding value is what creates job
job
if you don't add value to it
and you just
transfer those things off as raw materials
materials
and then when they come back as
when they come back as finished goods
you buy them whether they're chocolate
coffee or all those
rubber and all that those things
you buy them at a higher rate because
they go and improve the economy
at the west
at the expense
of africa because africa was not adding
value to their own products that they produced
produced
when you go and see
the pattern of dependency the pattern of
underdevelopment it follows
this trajectory because
because
we have the goods
but we don't process it
we don't add value so we don't create a
lot of employment so that is this that
is the best structure but
but
dependency theory
also predicted that
as long as african countries or third
world countries were participating
in the global
capitalist economy they would not
develop because the development of the west
west
is at the expense of these countries
where i was proven a little bit uh um
was proven wrong by some of these so-called
so-called
newly industrializing countries like
taiwan you know and
south korea singapore
singapore
because these people um
um
they managed to
produce they managed to export their
goods and manage to add value to their
good to their goods interestingly
interestingly
in the
50s the gnp per capita of south korea
was about the same as that of nigeria um
um
that of
taiwan about the same
but today
you know
the gmp per capita of south korea is not
comparable to they are very very far off
away from nigeria
much more developed than
nigeria ghana
sierra leone
other african countries
you know in those days
um they used to say that
when a country has raw materials
produces a lot of you know community
goods or raw materials
that country had comparative advantage
competitive advantage was it was a
theory in international relate i mean
international economics
that says a country should export what
it has comparative advantage in sporting well
well
from studying international economics
that has been modified
and the japanese and the taiwanese japan
does not have as much oil as some of the
countries in middle east or in africa
but they were able to develop why
then the theory of international trade was
was reformulated
reformulated still
still
based on competitive advantage what is
comparative advantage
it means
a country
should intensively intensively process
process
that is those are the key words
intensively process the goods with which
that country is most abundantly endowed so
so
if you are in doubt with the raw
materials oil cocoa
gas and then you don't process them
you cannot unlock your competitive
advantage that is where
africa and
especially countries in africa
are so i will come to that a little bit so
so
dependency theory was very correct in
completely unraveling completely explaining
explaining the
the
structure of dependency that was created
not dependency only on goods and
services but also on finance
they still
will rely on europeans to come and
provide them capital when africa has
all the means to raise their own capital
through their own products
so that was the missing link in
dependency theory but
but
in explaining the history of dependency
and why africa is where we are now
that in itself you know um
has eluded dependency theory
so taking the model
of um other
other
developing countries or the news the so-called
so-called
newly industrializing country taking
that further then
there came a third set of um
set of
theory the third one was
no you cannot allow the market to do its things
things
asian countries have demonstrated that
the state needs to take an active role
in developing the economy there has to
be a good marriage between the private
sector and the public sector so that is taking
taking
what people call
engineered development
let the state be
be
a pilot let them be the ones
that you know um
engineer the development in other words
let this step focus on sectors that need
to be developed so that it would act as
a springboard for other sectors to be
developed and that can selectively you know
know
pick up the sectors
whether it is iron and steel
instead can provide a lot of money
and ensure that when banks loan this
money to private sector
the private sector can perform and if
the default the state would guarantee that
that
so it was a marriage of the private sector
sector business
business
in finance and government sector
that helped
these countries and at the time
they were not emphasizing
what they call
import economy because africa has been
importing everything that they consume
up due to that
even things that africa can
improve or can export themselves even
things that they could produce themselves
themselves
africans are not producing
in nigeria nigeria is dependent on
almost every
item for consumption consumer items on
imported goods
so then
that was the third one then what what
what people were saying okay uh the
asian countries the so-called newly
industrializing countries
were embarking on export-oriented development
development
but what was missing in that description
was the fact that
it's not enough to export suppose we had
been exporting africans have been
exporting raw materials for a long time
but what was missing was
value addition value added that is the
process that creates your
value adding
you know uh
processes while you're adding goods
so it is not enough
to produce oil
if you don't refine that oil and use
some of the raw materials to produce
some things like fertilizers
or you know plastics and all that you
are missing out
on some of the
backward forward linkages that that oil
should provide to the economy
so my emphasis is
is
value addition that is where my
my
my thesis comes in
that i had that i developed as a
as my dissertation
i went to nigeria
i had
a field study
got a lot of data from
nigeria's central bank
other economic ministries
because i wanted to understand what is
going on in nigeria in particular
because if i understand that i would
understand what is going on in other
african countries so
so
what i what i came to find out was that
people people say oh africans are not united
united
africans are
um they're not they're not they don't
like each other
well i mean i'm not
i'm not buying that
i do know
that africans in general they like each other
other
they interact with each other but what
is missing is the elites
elites are the ones that make things
happen they are the ones that can
organize society they are the ones just
like asian countries are doing they are
the ones that could um you know bring
the vision and bring people together
so my focus then was that
import substitution is not the best because
because
when multinational corporations bring
technologies to the country or to the continent
continent
they bring it at their own terms they're
not going to give you the technology
um but they can they can come
produce the assembled goods there
imagine importing uh importing a cars automobile
automobile
instead of uh i know the government will
give the
multinational corporations like the gm
the monopoly to come and produce these cars
cars
in a country but
but
the car they produce are
are
the all-imported parts from europe from
america so they come and assemble there
in their factory there
and so when they assemble there
they don't even use um
local raw materials they bring all the
the factors all the different parts together
together
so it does not really employ a lot of
people because
the steps that would have that would
have created some of those parts have
been bypassed instead we are buying
those parts
and then assembling them there when you
go and look at the number of people that
they produce that they that they employ
at home
very small
very small
because it's not
that it's not dynamic enough to create
its own momentum to create its own
demand they said okay if we are looking for
for
this let's produce this let's get the
factors from home but he said everything
is important
so by the time they assemble and i
looked at many of those assembly plants
not only in cars but in other you know sectors
sectors
i saw that the goods when they are being
produced in those countries but for
example in nigeria those goods have been
even more expensive than the imported ones
ones
they would have even been better off if
they imported the ones that imported
from outside
instead of
assembling the parts there
it's a very very negative you know cycle
of production and job creation
so my emphasis is that
my theory is that states
states countries
countries
that intensively pursue my general
hypothesis of course
cohesive states
emphasis cohesive
cohesive states
you might say what i mean cohesive state
i mean nation state or governments
value adding strategy they tend to
promote or maximize development objectives
objectives again
again
my general hypothesis is cohesive states
cohesive countries whatever you want to
put called it
which promote value-adding strategy of
economic development
tend to maximize
development goals
so what do i mean by cohesive steps
what is what is cohesive
i'm talking particularly about political
elites who are the ones that
are in government and they are the one
that are responsible for
for
you know bringing
having a vision to develop their own
economy and having a strategy to develop
their economy so
so again
again
my own
emphasis is that
cohesive governments
that promote
value-adding strategy of economic development
development
in stable societies
tend to really go very far or to
maximize development outcomes
so what do i mean by cohesive states
because i'm talking about political elite
elite
two things two variables determine
cohesive states
one of them is elite cohesive elite cohesiveness
cohesiveness
is the most important factor
if elites are not cohesive if they don't
work towards a common purpose if they
don't have a common vision to develop
the economy there's nothing the masses
do not do it is the politicians
the police play this they work with
economic elites to have a vision and how
to develop their own societies so
so
the first factor is elite cohesiveness
what what determines
elite cohesiveness there are two things
what are determinate first and foremost
elite unity
how do you achieve elite unity
there are some people that have some writers
writers
have uh identified
identified four
four
different kinds of elite
elite
unity first and foremost developmental
unified elites they are described as
people that are
unified because of development goals
that they have for their country you'll
see a lot of that um
because when i did
when i did the
the first story i looked at elites their behavior
behavior
in south korea nigeria
nigeria
and in brazil for comparative purposes
to see
how they differ so
so
developmentally unified elites are those
that are unified
for the purpose of developing their own
economy and they have a vision on where
to start
and then you have the consensual consensual
consensual
uh unified elite
they have
unity in the concept that they have
consensus in what institutions they want
in their country institutions that are positive
positive
you know contributions to the economy
they have their unified by common
purpose that
may disagree on politics
but they are
very unified in the kinds of
institutions that would promote economic growth
growth
we don't have that in africa
you have that in the united states you
have done in japan many other developed countries
countries but
but
the only thing that
africa can start now is to think development
development
and then agree what kinds of development
they want so i look at those as developmental
developmental
developmentally unified elite
consensually invited
as i said it's mostly in developed
countries we've now gone through even
though the elites in america or europe
may differ and you know in the methods
of doing things they are
very unified about accepting
the you know market market economy as
the pillar of the economic development
the third type of
unity is ideologically unified elites
elites may be ideologically unified
but you know they might have
a few problems but at least they're
unified in the ideologies of what should
be done
in the country
and then
the last one is [Music]
[Music]
the last facet of elite unity
is the imperfectly unified elite
you know in other words
at least are not you know they're not
unified in the long term they are
imperfectly unified and we saw this when
african countries wanted to attend independence
independence
and they were trying to you know
pressure the colonial masters
to leave their countries
elites from all parts of society came together
together
because they had a common goal
a common goal was to get independence
from british or france or belgium or
whoever portugal whoever was a colonial
master at the time
but the moment they got independence then
then
they were not glued together they did
not unify
long-term purposes
all of them started fighting each other
because they wanted to get to government
they want to control the government and
once they got um wanted to go control
the government then
then
they did not have a consensus among the
entire society so they tended to appeal
their tribe to their tribal uh best
if you have an evil you don't go to igbo
and then you go to um
um
you go to europa euroba you know so the
country become fragmented
on ethnic lines
and so people starting to fight so
i don't mean to even minimize the
the
the importance or the significance of ethnicity
ethnicity
but ethnicity is not the problem facing
africa today is lack of elite cohesiveness
cohesiveness
because every country including this
bread in this country they have ethnic
ethnic ethnic
ethnic
powers ethnic uh
basis and all that
but it didn't stop them it doesn't stop
them from progressing
instead ethnicity is used
as a means of gaining and maintaining
power at the expense of other ethnic
groups that is why there are so many
problems not because people are
fundamentally different between one
ethnic group to another
but because
leaders use ethnicity
ethnicity as
as
a means
a stage of getting power and when they
get power they try other people kick
against it because they play what they
call what i would call exclusionary politics
politics
exclusionary politics is something that
is very divisive
um there's nothing
in ethnicity and anybody who wants to
read about that in the whole of africa
can just
go to uh what is called cultural pluralism
pluralism
there was a book very good book written by
by
crawford young for you know um
university of uh madison madison
university of wisconsin madison
he has really explored this ethnic
ethnic
ethnicity or
cultural pluralism which is in every kenya
kenya
um uganda nigeria
nigeria
almost every you know did a great job to
show that
ethnicity is not the fault the factor
that divides nigeria or ghana
or ethiopia
ethnicity actually is used as a means of attaining
attaining
and and consolidating power
but of course when you when you attend
power and consolidate
in a multi-ethnic society
society
is going to engender
um ethnicity you're going to engage in
gender conflict conflict will come you
know will come because other groups also
want to attain the same power
that is what is the cause of some of the fractionalization
fractionalization
and fragmentation of politics in africa so
so
i want when people think about
talk about ethnicity
it's not an independent variable
it is
an intervening variable
used by what i call ethnic entrepreneurs
ethnic entrepreneurs you know use
ethnicity to white fight for power
if they attain it it does not even go to
benefit the ethnic group that they come
from that they use
as a tool for obtaining power
and so then after the unity electricity
the second factor that that determines
elite cohesiveness is elite coalition
what kind of coalition do elites you
know promote in a country
one type of coalition is called
distributional coalition
at least come together for a moment
purpose of
gaining whatever product the society
produces and distributing it among
themselves it's a very small narrow
exclusionary political you know base or coalition
coalition
elite coalitions tend not to produce wealth
wealth
i mean a distributional coalition i'm sorry
sorry
they don't produce wealth because by the
very nature
when the wealth
you know when they see the wealth or
they have the wealth they're distributed
among themselves
it doesn't really develop other sectors
it doesn't develop everybody in the society
society
it's a very very very distributional
it's a very exclusionary you know go and
look at you know the country in nigeria
go and look at people who are having oil
wells in nigeria is a very select group
of elites across the country
they have oil wells and some of them are
making like millions on a daily basis
and so these are distributional
coalitions that doesn't help that they
also promote
exclusionary politics and divisive politics
politics
the second type of coalition was encompa encompassing
encompassing
that encompassing coalition
this concept of distributional coalition
and encompassing coalition
they were all developed by michael olson
he's a very big you know on coalition of
you know politics
politics
encompassing coalitions seem to be you
know inclusionary they tend to
you know promote tend to promote
distribution just to bring people
together and maximize society's resources
resources
and wealth
so by its very nature it encompasses
most of the major elements of society
but in this
in this
this project that i did
i identified that elites need not be
even if they are not encompassing they
need not be distributional or exclusionary
exclusionary
there can also be an expansive coalition
expansive coalition has the potential to
slowly grow
to become encompassing
expansive means it has the
potential to grow to bring people so
that they can come all of them can have
a common goal
of of developing
so how does this
um cohesiveness
at the state level because when we're
talking about state we're not talking
about an abstract entity we are talking
about elites who control the state those
are the ones i'm looking at i'm looking
at the behavior of politicians at that level
level
and so and what what about society
society can influence um
um
if you come from a society that is destructive
destructive
um divisive and all those things
what do you expect the elites unless
there's a political mindset
mindset
a purposeful political
political
engineering that
you know majority of elites or keep you
know part
portions of elite in the society agree upon
upon
then there is
just you know there are just
they are just elites are rational everywhere
everywhere
so they play
with the with the hands that they see
that deal
deals them
and so or they're dealt with
so it's you know if you see if you have an
an
ethnically divided society
you can see the elites
who are ethnically divided
if you see places that
people are fighting
at least would also try to fight in that
to get whatever
resources that they need um
um
so uh
when one once that is done
class so let me see the indicators of
cohesiveness in society
would be class religion you talk about
you know
these people muslims killing christians
it is not the muslims the
average muslim
as i say follower
or it's not the average muslim that is
going to kill
they are responding to the politics that
their own emirs their religious orgasm
orgasm
there are some people today
in many parts of africa that if
if a religious emea goes and tell them
go and commit mayhem go and demonstrate
go and kill yourself
they are ready to go and kill themselves
because of that
so religion becomes a tool a political
tool to gain
access to wealth to gain access to resources
resources
so all these things class religion
ethnicity external actors
including colonial actors they are still
in that mix
there is a toner once said that most of
the crews that nigeria
used to experience
were masterminded by
multinational oil interests
in the niger delta
what does that mean it means that
multinational corporations they are also
part of when they operate in a country
they are also a part of society
and so some of them would even they used
to sponsor um
um
like politicians they used to even
sponsor when
cools and counter codes could attack
was raining in africa where most of the
rulers were military dictators
dictators
some of these people were sponsored by
multinational oil companies so that they
knew that if they came to power their interest
interest
would be about race their interests
would be supported
so the sectoral interest the regionalism
and so if you go to places like um
other countries that divide the you know
the countries into geopolitical zones in
nigeria they have about six euro
political zones
and every day
every year
every election cycle
every zone wants power to be you know
cedar to them because they believe that
when you have political power it
translates into economic power filling
all these divisive and violent
encounter between different groups so
so
those are the
those are those are the those are the interests
interests
that operate
at the sec of the society level that's
what i call class religion ethnicity colonial
colonial
leo colonialists neocolonialists are
people that are still advancing the
interests of the previous colonial masters
masters
sectoral interests
and also regional interests so
so
what are the strategies of economic
development that i'm talking about
economic development means
the strategy of development i'm talking
about is first import substitution
in other words if you want to produce
certain things in your country
instead of importing them
all wholesale
bring the multinational corporations to
come and produce there in your own
country when they're produced in your
country as i said earlier they don't add
value a lot because they are coming
there to take advantage of the market
and in fact
exclude other competitors from abroad
from coming to invest in that area so
that they could maximize their own
economic gain
that is important substitution and then
there was also the demand led institute
you know
i i reformulated the mind that demand
demand oriented
oriented
strategy because it's not everything that
that
people export
has value added if you're in sport as i
said earlier if you export [Music]
[Music]
agricultural produce she has bought
things raw materials that you
don't process
you could export them it could be could
be demanded it could be
demanded by many other countries and all that
that
that if you don't add value to it
you do not create economic
that multiplier effect in your own economy
economy
so it's not
the only strategy that i emphasize what
african countries is
is
value added strategy i don't know how
many of you know
know that
that caution
caution
coltrane is a is produced widely mined
in democratic republic of congo
congo
but you don't know the
the impact coal trend from coal train
tantalum is extracted from there it is
also used tantalum is used
in cell phones computers
computers
cameras and all that this is a huge huge
you know um
um [Music]
[Music] mirror
mirror
but how many minerals how many cell
phones are producing uh in a democratic
republic people are dying children are dying
dying
trying to gain access to go and mine
these kinds of products coltrane it's a
raw material
the same for all others you look at
new year republic they have
they have uh this the uranium
you have you go to south africa go to southern africa go to the copper go to
southern africa go to the copper go to gold and all that
gold and all that nigeria is importing a lot of raw
nigeria is importing a lot of raw materials i mean a lot of
materials i mean a lot of um
um fertilizers to be used
fertilizers to be used the country does not even
the country does not even use fertilizer intensively because it's
use fertilizer intensively because it's expensive to import them but do you know
expensive to import them but do you know if you go to edo state in nigeria you go
if you go to edo state in nigeria you go to gun state in nigeria especially you
to gun state in nigeria especially you know you are seeing a lot of phosphate
know you are seeing a lot of phosphate phosphate is a you know an important
phosphate is a you know an important this thing
this thing that is used to produce um
that is used to produce um fertilizer
fertilizer but we are not adding value
but we are not adding value so
so my emphasis is
my emphasis is what is development indicators gmp per
what is development indicators gmp per capita
capita emp bisector growth rate
emp bisector growth rate demand consumption all that those are
demand consumption all that those are indicators of industrialization those
indicators of industrialization those are indicators of uh development
are indicators of uh development so
so i'm i hope i've not
i'm i hope i've not i might run over
i might run over okay
okay so
so so those are the um what are development
so those are the um what are development indicators that i was trying to
indicators that i was trying to ramp up here
ramp up here um
gmp i mean when you see electricity education when you see the development
education when you see the development of the sector when you see
of the sector when you see industrial when you see economic
industrial when you see economic development you will find it you would
development you will find it you would notice it you recognize it
notice it you recognize it in africa
in africa most
most leaders when they get sick even if it is
leaders when they get sick even if it is headache
headache they go to europe why because they
they go to europe why because they rather go and put their money in swiss
rather go and put their money in swiss bank
bank european banks
european banks they rather go and put their money so
they rather go and put their money so that whenever
that whenever there is
there is a little sickness in the family they run
a little sickness in the family they run there
there what about all the money that they stole
what about all the money that they stole if they had just put some of it in their
if they had just put some of it in their own country and build a good
own country and build a good hospital
hospital some of this medical tourism would not
some of this medical tourism would not be necessary and the only people that
be necessary and the only people that could afford medical tourism
could afford medical tourism are the people that
are the people that have money that stole government money
have money that stole government money to begin with so there's a lot of
to begin with so there's a lot of problem so i don't want anybody to make
problem so i don't want anybody to make any excuses for africa it's just
any excuses for africa it's just a long time ago i used to say when i was
a long time ago i used to say when i was growing up in primary school there was
growing up in primary school there was so the impact of colonialism became part
so the impact of colonialism became part of colonialism yes i know there's a
of colonialism yes i know there's a great impact because
great impact because if you are
if you are a person a whole person when you were
a person a whole person when you were growing up and your hand was corrupt or
growing up and your hand was corrupt or your leg was cut off
your leg was cut off your circumstances in life will change
your circumstances in life will change you will not be the same person you are
you will not be the same person you are today if you're
today if you're scared of
scared of but
but some countries
some countries singapore a lot of these people they
singapore a lot of these people they overcame that some of them were also
overcame that some of them were also products of colonialism but maybe they
products of colonialism but maybe they have they had a strong culture to bind
have they had a strong culture to bind them together so and overcome the
them together so and overcome the adversity and did what was necessary to
adversity and did what was necessary to develop for your own country and so we
develop for your own country and so we don't do that
don't do that africans are very you know because we
africans are very you know because we don't have that glue
don't have that glue we don't have that glue and that was
we don't have that glue and that was what
what chino achebe was alluding to when he
chino achebe was alluding to when he talked about
talked about you know things fall apart and the
you know things fall apart and the center cannot hold and that center was
center cannot hold and that center was the belief system that was taken away
the belief system that was taken away because belief system like religion is
because belief system like religion is the glue that holds society
the glue that holds society together
together and if you don't have it
and if you don't have it uh it doesn't matter whether you bring
uh it doesn't matter whether you bring um
um what you see catholic church
what you see catholic church presbyterian church whatever you bring
presbyterian church whatever you bring if you don't have that
if you don't have that belief system i would think that the
belief system i would think that the belief system is cultural we don't have
belief system is cultural we don't have an african culture
an african culture we have centers of different cultures
we have centers of different cultures but we didn't have one that united us
but we didn't have one that united us together so i think it's probably
together so i think it's probably about time to and i think if we have
about time to and i think if we have that kind of center
that kind of center we would be able to have
we would be able to have this kind of uh a glue this cohesiveness
this kind of uh a glue this cohesiveness i'm talking about a little cohesiveness
i'm talking about a little cohesiveness that will provide the impetus for at
that will provide the impetus for at least to be cohesive they will have a
least to be cohesive they will have a general area of agreement with wish to
general area of agreement with wish to work with one another
work with one another and
and should i continue
should i continue uh we're we're almost that time and i
uh we're we're almost that time and i wanted to leave uh a question uh leave
wanted to leave uh a question uh leave time for a little bit of discussion okay
time for a little bit of discussion okay all right i wanted to see if anybody had
all right i wanted to see if anybody had any questions anybody in the audience
any questions anybody in the audience but one of the things that i wanted to
but one of the things that i wanted to to follow up with you on
to follow up with you on and and i'm glad you brought that up
and and i'm glad you brought that up about
about religion and culture because it seems as
religion and culture because it seems as if
if that's really the starting point isn't
that's really the starting point isn't it for people to come together to decide
it for people to come together to decide we're going to develop
we're going to develop but this development is going to be
but this development is going to be equitable
equitable yep going to develop for everybody
yep going to develop for everybody so that mindset
so that mindset that um
that um that's what's missing so that what you
that's what's missing so that what you were talking about with the elite
were talking about with the elite coalition
coalition um
um the mindset that i don't operate
the mindset that i don't operate just for myself my family to enrich
just for myself my family to enrich myself
myself we need to enrich the country we we need
we need to enrich the country we we need to enrich everybody
to enrich everybody and i think that that's part of what's
and i think that that's part of what's missing so
missing so when i was listening
when i was listening uh to to the early when you're going
uh to to the early when you're going through the development strategies
through the development strategies there's it seems that
there's it seems that what was being pushed
what was being pushed from the west
from the west is development
is development in terms of capitalism like we want you
in terms of capitalism like we want you to become a part of the market capital
to become a part of the market capital global capitalist system
global capitalist system and and we know that that's inequitable
and and we know that that's inequitable it's there's no fairness in capitalism
it's there's no fairness in capitalism no that's why it failed right so that so
no that's why it failed right so that so at that point already
at that point already it's failing
it's failing you know africa can't succeed
you know africa can't succeed because
because these these big
these these big companies these corporations are only
companies these corporations are only come they were already coming in
come they were already coming in before
before the move for independence so they were
the move for independence so they were already coming in and extracting
already coming in and extracting and so now that that extraction is oh we
and so now that that extraction is oh we have
have uh renegotiated our contracts so instead
uh renegotiated our contracts so instead of
of this conglomerate omen the diamond mine
this conglomerate omen the diamond mine oh we'll own it in cooperation with the
oh we'll own it in cooperation with the state with the government
state with the government you know but we still know that
you know but we still know that who's in control of those diamond mines
who's in control of those diamond mines and it's not it's not the states where
and it's not it's not the states where those diamonds are coming from is this
those diamonds are coming from is this operation over in europe that still is
operation over in europe that still is growing and making making millions of
growing and making making millions of dollars a year that's true so um
dollars a year that's true so um but in order for us to to really deal
but in order for us to to really deal with
with you know pushing back against that
you know pushing back against that everybody has been on the same page we
everybody has been on the same page we don't all have to agree
don't all have to agree how to do it but we have to agree
how to do it but we have to agree we need to push back for our benefit for
we need to push back for our benefit for the nation's benefit yeah not for
the nation's benefit yeah not for individuals not for certain elites so
individuals not for certain elites so that they can get wealthy
that they can get wealthy and uh so i was thinking
i'm not hearing you okay where are you from for a second
okay where are you from for a second yeah oh walter rodney you know he wrote
yeah oh walter rodney you know he wrote how europe underdeveloped under
how europe underdeveloped under developed africa he said
developed africa he said you know yes yeah you have uh uh kwame
you know yes yeah you have uh uh kwame nkrumah new colonialism the last stage
nkrumah new colonialism the last stage of imperialism that's right so all of
of imperialism that's right so all of these so even back in the 60s and 70s
these so even back in the 60s and 70s they recognized
they recognized that these wealthy nations which is
that these wealthy nations which is still not going to give up power
still not going to give up power and now it's not just the nations it's
and now it's not just the nations it's these multinational corporations that
these multinational corporations that are exactly oh he's like
uh i would say perpetrators of neo-colonialism yeah which means new
neo-colonialism yeah which means new colonialism i think you know one of the
colonialism i think you know one of the things that
things that that really
that really uh
w.w.e.b dubois said in ghana
said in ghana that he said
that he said it baffles him why african things that
it baffles him why african things that white people are benefactors they're the
white people are benefactors they're the people that really
people that really are you know india a baffle i mean when
are you know india a baffle i mean when you come from
you come from a mindset to see how black people fought
a mindset to see how black people fought for their own
for their own lives here to even stay human today
lives here to even stay human today sometimes when i look at some of the
sometimes when i look at some of the facts from the events that they've went
facts from the events that they've went through
through i'm just even
i'm just even surprised that
surprised that there were up to even a hundred thousand
there were up to even a hundred thousand of them left
of them left in this world in this in this united
in this world in this in this united states
states and
and when some ambassador from um they came
when some ambassador from um they came to give a speech i think last semester
to give a speech i think last semester at uno
at uno and i went there one of the and i was
and i went there one of the and i was asking
asking why is it that maybe these governments
why is it that maybe these governments that are
that are controlling the mining and distribution
controlling the mining and distribution of revenues from vital commanding
of revenues from vital commanding sectors of the economy
sectors of the economy why should they be that if these
why should they be that if these governments are the ones controlling it
governments are the ones controlling it there's going to be corruption systemic
there's going to be corruption systemic corruption because the government even
corruption because the government even when they are playing
when they are playing admitting foreigners to come and exploit
admitting foreigners to come and exploit they are gatekeepers
they are gatekeepers you go and bribe them oh yeah you don't
you go and bribe them oh yeah you don't go there and just devastate the economy
go there and just devastate the economy as you want to they don't really care
as you want to they don't really care and the woman the woman ambassador
and the woman the woman ambassador told me no don't say that
told me no don't say that because there are some people like
because there are some people like botswana government
botswana government president that
president that distributes uses the um uses the
distributes uses the um uses the uh the the proceeds from
uh the the proceeds from from diamond
from diamond to help their own people
to help their own people and i wanted to tell her but i didn't
and i wanted to tell her but i didn't want to i didn't want to i wanted to
want to i didn't want to i wanted to tell her mom
tell her mom that diamond 50 percent of the equity is
that diamond 50 percent of the equity is controlled by the bs right african
controlled by the bs right african company
company now how many of you are
now how many of you are how many of the diamonds are being cut
how many of the diamonds are being cut in botswana who is adding value to that
in botswana who is adding value to that diamond they are exporting all of it out
diamond they are exporting all of it out and then because the the president is a
and then because the the president is a what is it benevolent dictator
what is it benevolent dictator you can just give them a few you know
you can just give them a few you know and they say oh he's a good man is
and they say oh he's a good man is distributing but you don't know the
distributing but you don't know the destruction of the economy he's the same
destruction of the economy he's the same thing
thing and the thing is
and the thing is those countries don't care
those countries don't care i know because as long as they continue
i know because as long as they continue to have these these people in power
to have these these people in power that they can you know bribe
that they can you know bribe then
then exactly they continue the extraction
exactly they continue the extraction exactly exactly and that's what that's
exactly exactly and that's what that's what they want the multinational
what they want the multinational corporations have played that game so
corporations have played that game so far that if you go to some of these
far that if you go to some of these sectors in like you know in africa
sectors in like you know in africa when you go as a black person as a
when you go as a black person as a nigerian you want to open your mouth
nigerian you want to open your mouth they can just dispose of you like that
they can just dispose of you like that because all they need is to turn their
because all they need is to turn their comprador with a dependency theory is
comprador with a dependency theory is called a compromise elite you know those
called a compromise elite you know those are the ones that
are the ones that they will use to finish off and if you
they will use to finish off and if you want to be um very vocal they can
want to be um very vocal they can disappear i've seen so many students
disappear i've seen so many students here who came here and they said when
here who came here and they said when they leave they said oh when i go to
they leave they said oh when i go to nigeria white people are going to suffer
nigeria white people are going to suffer they go there they run they run them out
they go there they run they run them out in no time because of
in no time because of those
those buffoons that they don't have any vision
buffoons that they don't have any vision they don't think about the future of the
they don't think about the future of the people if you go to when i left nigeria
people if you go to when i left nigeria as many years ago
as many years ago if you go to the that place
if you go to the that place things still remain the same
things still remain the same because
because they may make money but it does not
they may make money but it does not you know change hands
you know change hands it does not change hands
it does not change hands so
so so let me ask you this and i'm thinking
so let me ask you this and i'm thinking and this kind of is a transition to
and this kind of is a transition to talking about our upcoming webinar
talking about our upcoming webinar thursday
thursday uh
uh i'm thinking about
i'm thinking about burkina faso
burkina faso until my son cara
until my son cara and
and his philosophy was that
his philosophy was that for burkina faso that they needed to
for burkina faso that they needed to concentrate on their country first
concentrate on their country first and in order to do that they needed to
and in order to do that they needed to be self-sufficient so
be self-sufficient so he was like why why are we asking
he was like why why are we asking western nations to do the these things
western nations to do the these things for us why can't we do them ourselves
for us why can't we do them ourselves so
so something as basic as
something as basic as uh being in a village well let's
uh being in a village well let's how about everybody in the village come
how about everybody in the village come out
out and we all are going to dig a canal
and we all are going to dig a canal that we can use to irrigate crops and we
that we can use to irrigate crops and we can create our own little
can create our own little you can have your own little garden here
you can have your own little garden here so starting off small
so starting off small but trying to be self-sufficient
but trying to be self-sufficient is that is that
is that is that uh one thing that we could that could be
uh one thing that we could that could be tried on the ground is
tried on the ground is creating these little small
creating these little small you know taking small steps but
you know taking small steps but independently
independently building out from there
building out from there or
or do you see
do you see that
that if that was successful
if that was successful they would do like they did with
they would do like they did with tomasankara and
eliminate yes you know um
yes you know um thomas sankara was
thomas sankara was he was worshiped by
he was worshiped by the african press
the african press he was they loved him
he was they loved him because it was was a breath of fresh air
because it was was a breath of fresh air and so
and so and
and that is why people like that when you
that is why people like that when you want to come and change the mindset of
want to come and change the mindset of your people and lead them the direct
your people and lead them the direct direction it becomes a danger to
direction it becomes a danger to multinational forces that are everywhere
multinational forces that are everywhere so they'll plot to their plot to to
so they'll plot to their plot to to eliminate you only that is why
eliminate you only that is why that's why cohesiveness is very because
that's why cohesiveness is very because if you are cohesive in what you are
if you are cohesive in what you are doing
doing they will not be able to eliminate all
they will not be able to eliminate all the class you know all those people and
the class you know all those people and so i'm i always
so i'm i always thought that
thought that there's a book called a small is
there's a book called a small is beautiful by by schumacher and then he
beautiful by by schumacher and then he was talking about
was talking about small intermediate cottage industry it
small intermediate cottage industry it was talking about you know um
what you were talking about i was i also asked myself
asked myself i said why is it that
i said why is it that we have
we have ministry of uh works i mean and also we
ministry of uh works i mean and also we also have um the army has you know a
also have um the army has you know a call of engineers
call of engineers why do we need to go and bring
why do we need to go and bring some of these german companies to come
some of these german companies to come and build road for us and they charge
and build road for us and they charge you
you one million dollars
one million dollars a mile
a mile per mile
per mile why why don't you go to the village we
why why don't you go to the village we used to
used to grade the road you know keep it clean
grade the road you know keep it clean you don't need to tie it but create a
you don't need to tie it but create a passage from one place to another
passage from one place to another because you have to link you have to
because you have to link you have to link communities for any development to
link communities for any development to take part
take part why can't you go and give it to young
why can't you go and give it to young men who don't even have jobs there clear
men who don't even have jobs there clear this bush though if you build from it we
this bush though if you build from it we pay you the money so you keep the money
pay you the money so you keep the money there why can't you do that why can't
there why can't you do that why can't even even after they pave the road or
even even after they pave the road or they play it up why can't you bring the
they play it up why can't you bring the amico of engineers to go and put bridges
amico of engineers to go and put bridges well that is what they are for in case
well that is what they are for in case you fight a war you go to
you fight a war you go to where you cannot cross from one part to
where you cannot cross from one part to another they build roads they build the
another they build roads they build the bridges why can't they do that
bridges why can't they do that you can go to you can go to a particular
you can go to you can go to a particular community and put about four solar
community and put about four solar panels
panels at night and then you create a learning
at night and then you create a learning center there you create a small shop
center there you create a small shop people come out you create
people come out you create these
these activities that can take part there and
activities that can take part there and expand why can't they do that
expand why can't they do that so
so to me i always think that development is
to me i always think that development is a mindset
a mindset it's a mindset and people who are able
it's a mindset and people who are able to who can at least create this vision
to who can at least create this vision they're not allowed to surface so at
they're not allowed to surface so at some point that's why
some point that's why i
i you were asking me about two people one
you were asking me about two people one of them was thomas ankara that you know
of them was thomas ankara that you know i talked more on mandela
i talked more on mandela and then another one was uh
and then another one was uh was uh
was uh gary rawlings of ghana
gary rawlings of ghana gary rawlings killed
gary rawlings killed so many corrupt people and then this at
so many corrupt people and then this at least this country is is on the right
least this country is is on the right path
path the country is on the right path
the country is on the right path so there is uh this there are a lot of
so there is uh this there are a lot of you don't need to be very very big
you don't need to be very very big it doesn't i mean just look at uh look
it doesn't i mean just look at uh look at
at what china did
what china did you know in 1958 he greatly forward
you know in 1958 he greatly forward he china determined that
he china determined that human beings not
human beings not capital human beings are the back road
capital human beings are the back road of industry of development
of industry of development start with what you have the best
start with what you have the best capital intensive project
capital intensive project so you can engage the people you know so
so you can engage the people you know so you come you know he created communes
you come you know he created communes and all that stuff
and all that stuff so
so why do you want to go and bring
why do you want to go and bring you know like
you know like uh capital intensive
uh capital intensive technology that average people cannot
technology that average people cannot absorb immediately start with what they
absorb immediately start with what they can do and then slowly
can do and then slowly who used to think about china today that
who used to think about china today that china today would surpass united states
china today would surpass united states in economic development
in economic development nobody that because but they started in
nobody that because but they started in the 50s and then people were you know
the 50s and then people were you know they were telling you know mao zedong
they were telling you know mao zedong did not know what he was doing or was
did not know what he was doing or was talking about and all this and today
talking about and all this and today where is china today
where is china today people in africa are still waiting for
people in africa are still waiting for the big ship to arrive
the big ship to arrive seem to be all right they didn't think
seem to be all right they didn't think the ship to come and carry off all those
the ship to come and carry off all those fat cats and all those corrupt leaders
fat cats and all those corrupt leaders you know most of them don't even have
you know most of them don't even have elementary education especially some of
elementary education especially some of those that rule us during the military
those that rule us during the military it's a mindset especially given the fact
it's a mindset especially given the fact that we have the resources that we can
that we have the resources that we can take
take and you know we can detect the prices of
and you know we can detect the prices of what people want to pay if you don't you
what people want to pay if you don't you know nowadays uh you know so i
know nowadays uh you know so i sometimes i get so frustrated that in a
sometimes i get so frustrated that in a way this is not rocket science i have
way this is not rocket science i have seen how other countries have done it
seen how other countries have done it and they're still doing it and africa is
and they're still doing it and africa is still left behind
still left behind well you know i i think about some of
well you know i i think about some of the um
the um in black psychology
in black psychology you know within within the field of
you know within within the field of black studies the the black
black studies the the black psychologists
psychologists uh you know some of them were talking
uh you know some of them were talking about psychological slavery
about psychological slavery and i think that we suffer from
and i think that we suffer from psychological slavery and psychological
psychological slavery and psychological colonialism so even though africa is no
colonialism so even though africa is no longer colonized the mind is still there
longer colonized the mind is still there you still have to break that
you still have to break that colonization of the mind in order to
colonization of the mind in order to decolonize the plan
decolonize the plan that's true that's true
that's true that's true and you know
and you know there has to be some cultural revival
there has to be some cultural revival yeah there has to be some way to start
yeah there has to be some way to start having
having a sense of you know the the colombian
a sense of you know the the colombian masters were
masters were very you know when they demanded for
very you know when they demanded for independence you know just give it to us
independence you know just give it to us but instead pick the people that would
but instead pick the people that would that would rule so that they could keep
that would rule so that they could keep their own interests alive for many many
their own interests alive for many many how many most of the countries in africa
how many most of the countries in africa got independence in 1960
got independence in 1960 but
but how many of them you know
how many of them you know are viable now they have you know
are viable now they have you know because they give them
because they give them in a platter of gold they didn't fight
in a platter of gold they didn't fight for it so it didn't bring a sense of
for it so it didn't bring a sense of nationalism or a sentence of nation
nationalism or a sentence of nation among them
among them so
so i'm always thinking that there is no way
i'm always thinking that there is no way that africa is going to probably will
that africa is going to probably will take forever
take forever for them to if they want there has to be
for them to if they want there has to be some kind of
some kind of spark some kind of engineering element
spark some kind of engineering element whether it is violent or not so many
whether it is violent or not so many come in this country didn't they get
come in this country didn't they get independence at you know the price of uh
independence at you know the price of uh spilling blood with british you know
spilling blood with british you know sometimes their people have to to
sometimes their people have to to sacrifice especially those
sacrifice especially those that don't even have a clue
that don't even have a clue of half the interest of the african
of half the interest of the african continent or their own country at heart
continent or their own country at heart it's uh it's it's a
it's uh it's it's a sometimes i just it's so sad um he's so
sometimes i just it's so sad um he's so sad it's like
sad it's like you feel defeated but you know what to
you feel defeated but you know what to do but you feel defeated that is the
do but you feel defeated that is the that is the part that really organizes
that is the part that really organizes me right right
me right right well uh dr ocpan we we we've gone over a
well uh dr ocpan we we we've gone over a little bit but i just really appreciate
little bit but i just really appreciate you doing this with us and you know
you doing this with us and you know bringing us all this information it
bringing us all this information it gives us a lot to think about because uh
gives us a lot to think about because uh the the continent
the the continent can't continue this way you know for
can't continue this way you know for another another century you know
another another century you know now now there's colonialism coming in
now now there's colonialism coming in from the east
from the east and as uh exactly as dr john henry clark
and as uh exactly as dr john henry clark said africans have no friends africa has
said africans have no friends africa has no friends you have to have to go in
no friends you have to have to go in with that mindset africa has no friends
with that mindset africa has no friends that's true even though they claim that
that's true even though they claim that they're helping to develop
they're helping to develop that
that development comes at a cost so you have
development comes at a cost so you have to be cautious about it why would why
to be cautious about it why would why would it be in the interest of any an
would it be in the interest of any an outsider to come and develop your own
outsider to come and develop your own continent right why would it be the
continent right why would it be the internet look at all the look at all the
internet look at all the look at all the sectors they've cornered when they want
sectors they've cornered when they want to come and play an infrastructure a
to come and play an infrastructure a port or railroad
port or railroad they bring their own people to come and
they bring their own people to come and work on it you know and then the money
work on it you know and then the money so if you don't pay them in 20 years
so if you don't pay them in 20 years they take over
they take over and then people are thinking that oh
and then people are thinking that oh china is too far away
china is too far away and what can they do if they talk about
and what can they do if they talk about these people have been building the
these people have been building the south china sea
south china sea they have been building
they have been building their their
their their navy their army and all that what do you
navy their army and all that what do you think they are ready for they are ready
think they are ready for they are ready to take over uh regiment you know and
to take over uh regiment you know and they will get money from united states
they will get money from united states and these countries that they're
and these countries that they're investing in
investing in will be able to sustain their excess
will be able to sustain their excess population because you just lifted the
population because you just lifted the restrictions on how many children you
restrictions on how many children you could have and they've already started
could have and they've already started allowing
allowing uh
uh you know paying some of their chinese
you know paying some of their chinese people to go in and establish countries
people to go in and establish countries establish businesses in these african
establish businesses in these african countries so yes it's the influence of
countries so yes it's the influence of china in fact even small things like
china in fact even small things like serving t-shirts that should be done by
serving t-shirts that should be done by local people the chinese have got some
local people the chinese have got some of them are going without even visa they
of them are going without even visa they are illegally going there and when you
are illegally going there and when you go and look at details of
go and look at details of of uh businesses that workers what
of uh businesses that workers what chinese
chinese chinese
chinese they're gonna be the worst
they're gonna be the worst they're gonna be the worst they didn't
they're gonna be the worst they didn't come there they'll come and develop you
come there they'll come and develop you they come there because they are they
they come there because they are they know that they have vast
know that they have vast deposits of resources minerals whatever
deposits of resources minerals whatever that they want that's why they're coming
that they want that's why they're coming all right
all right all right so let me let you all know
all right so let me let you all know about our upcoming lecture
about our upcoming lecture our next lecture will be on thursday
our next lecture will be on thursday we're having two this week
we're having two this week uh on thursday at 6 00 pm we'll be
uh on thursday at 6 00 pm we'll be uh having a lecture by dr mariam clonate
uh having a lecture by dr mariam clonate about how african heroic ethics teach us
about how african heroic ethics teach us about history and culture
about history and culture a case study of sundiata and sarunya so
a case study of sundiata and sarunya so we look forward to seeing you on
we look forward to seeing you on thursday
thursday we appreciate your presence today thank
we appreciate your presence today thank you dr akpan thank you all for coming
you dr akpan thank you all for coming thank you all right thank you we'll see
thank you all right thank you we'll see you
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