Ginny, This was meant for the general readership.

Malanding

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Re: Nigerians? Africans?
Date:   Fri, 29 Jul 2005 12:38:25 -0400
From:   Malanding Jaiteh <[log in to unmask]>
To:     Ginny Quick <[log in to unmask]>
References:     <[log in to unmask]>
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Hello Ginny and others,
First a disclaimer that I am not an economicst or expert in development
politics. However after living and working in 7 countries on three
contintents I have come to see Africa's problem to be one of inadequate
human resources. Central to that is overall a very large pool of largely
uneducated populace. It is from this, we have heads of family, village
chiefs, school teachers, area councillors, National Assembly members,
directors,  military and civilian leaders. As the saying goes a
leadership is a reflection of the population it leads.
While much has been invested in developing human resources since
independence, a number of internal and external factors did not help.
1) Central problem most Africa countries face is population growth. In
Gambia's case, despite construction of tens of new schools, introduction
of morning and evening shifts schools are  more congested today than
1960 /70s. Same goes to availability of other facilities and services.
In places where population growth is at a whopping 14% annual (urban
centers) you need to double the amount of resources every 5 yrs just to
maintain standards.
2) the brain-drain. Today I can stick my neck out and say we have more
Gambians with higher digrees MS and PhDs in the diaspora than in the
Gambia. This may have less to do with governments of the day than the
fact that higher education comes with broaden horizon, increased
mobility and choices.  In order to mitigate its impacts, African
societies must educate their population faster than the rate of
brain-drain or natural death. With globalization Africa must do more
than double up this process.
3). Another problem is Time. It takes atleast 25 to 35 years for
investment in education to pay off.  Not only does it take time to go
through the process of school, you need atleast 10 to 15 yrs in whatever
you are doing to  be among the knowledgeable or most
influential.Overall, this time lengthens as population gets better
educated. In short it would take miracle to get this glass full in light
of the leakage and the trickle.

Of course the situation is not helped by the mind set of our leaders.
Perhaps a measure of their worldview, many of them spend time comparing
present performances to past ones. Is Obasanjo doing wellcompared to
Babangida or Sani Abacha is not what Nigeria wants to know. What Nigeria
should be interested in is, how does Obasanjo compare to Brazil's Lula
Da Silva or Indonesia Bambang Yudhoyono. These countries also suffered
from colonialism, exploitation, unfair trading practices, military
dictatorships, con artists you name it.

Malanding


[log in to unmask] wrote:

>Hello, Fye, I think colonialism and slavery can explain a lot, as far
>as why Africa got to the point where it has gotten to
>
>     However, at some point, people need to take responsibility for
>their own deeds and actions, especially when they are the ones in
>power.
>
>     In the case of Africa, it seems the abused have become the
>abuser, and of their own people, no less.
>
>     On one hand, I think that the exploitation of Africa and its
>people contributed to why Africa is in the state its in, however, at
>what point do you go from blaming what happened int he past, and
>looking to what's happening right now, in the present, as to why
>things are so bad in Africa?  Or, is it the combination of the two,
>meaning, past wrongs, combined with current problems, such as
>corruption, incompetence, etc.?
>
>     I think the past contributed to what's going on now, ut at the
>same time, African leaders need to take responsibility for their
>actions, and not blame other people and past events for their current
>problems.  They also need to put the best interests of their people at
>heart.  Maybe then, Africa would get out of the mess its in.
>
>I feel like I'm talking in circles, so I'll go now.
>
>Ginny
>
>
>

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