Post-Colonial Bondage: Who is really in Charge of Africa’s Oil and Mineral Rich Resources?

Photo Credit: Public Domain (Pre- and Post- colonial Africa Map)

It is no news that the African continent is endowed in a lot of natural resources. It is the only continent that can boast of having almost all mineral resources you can find in the world. It is ironic when Africa is the continent that relatively does the least manufacturing (IMF 2009). The continent was under colonization for over a century and the principal aim of the European colonial powers was to exploit the continent’s natural resources at a low cost. Post-colonial times haven’t seen a change towards the aim of European powers; African resources are still being exploited at a very low price.

Take the cocoa sector for example; Switzerland and France are power houses in the manufacturing of cocoa products. They amount to significant amounts of respective countries exports and not a single cocoa plant grows in these countries. Cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast, Ghana, and other parts of Africa do not get up to 0.5% of the total value of cocoa products and some even have to use children in order to lower labor cost and profit. The standard for cocoa pricing isn’t set by the farmers who would know the true value of their labor and output, but by European countries.

Oil is the most exported product in the world and Africa contributes significantly to the global oil export with Nigeria at the helm. It is worthy to note that Nigeria which is in the top 10 of largest oil producing countries has to import finished oil products from other countries like France and England. The reason behind this cycle of exporting to import is mind-bugging and the excuses for not having a fully functional refinery are all hokum to a sane person. It only raises flags and questions of who really owns it. This is the trend in all oil exporting African countries.

The fangs of colonization are still deep in the African Economy; this is especially true about former French colonies. The economic policy of Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Senegal are the same irrespective of different demographics. Their currencies are pegged to the French currency, meaning market forces do not affect their exchange rate towards to Euro (French currency). This will have huge negative long-term effects on their economies as they will not be able to benefit from better exchange rates if their economies grow or France’s dips. To crown it all, the business laws in these countries were written by French business men and it is called OHADA (Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa), all former French colonies are signatory to this treaty. It applies the same way in all of them and its main purpose is to ease France’s economic interaction with its former colonies.

As if the injury caused by colonization was not enough African countries still find themselves tied to the Apron string of its former colonial masters. Colonization set the trend by injuring African pride, the sense of self worth and self belief. This causes some African countries to constantly feel they cannot survive without foreign help and makes them accommodate foreign participation in their domestic affairs with ease. Of utmost importance, the enormity of the greed and selfishness of the so-called leaders of African nations and the lack of checks and balances within their poorly developed and run systems have made the post-colonial bondage even stronger.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Africa

https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2002/wp0261.pdf

http://www.icco.org/about-cocoa/chocolate-industry.html

http://www.worldstopexports.com/worlds-top-oil-exports-country/

https://www.kpmg.com/Africa/en/IssuesAndInsights/Articles-Publications/Documents/Oil%20and%20Gas%20in%20Africa.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_chocolate

http://ivoriancocoafarmer.blogspot.com/

http://www.ohada.com/

http://www.actualitesdroitohada.com/?gclid=CK-osIitmM4CFScz0wod9gcPjg

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Ernie J. Burgher is a bi-lingual freelance journalist and author, and speaks English and French. Ernie writes for SitiTalkBlog.

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