“Where Is My Africa?” – by Godspower Oshodin

And I woke up this morning and looked around my inspiring room, all I could see from the open shutter are breathtaking scenery of a beautiful city that was once a desert. I clapped my hands in due accordance to the fact that about 50 years ago, the United Arabs Emirates known as UAE was once a desert, and it people only travel with Camels through long journeys.

Development was far from being thought of, the people relied solely on things they don’t know. Fast forward to about half a century, the UAE which geographical houses 7 Emirates, namely: Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Al Ain, Furjerah, Rasakaima, Ajman, and Dubai has fast turned to one of the biggest economy globally, and possesses some of the smartest cities in the world.

Dubai Marina

The reason is not far fetched. In the early 60s they discovered oil in their land, and they took advantage of that front-end which has snowball their economy far beyond its present boundaries till date.
Let me use Dubai as my point of discussion, as it has been the major city they’ve used as their selling point to invite the world to them and redirects the world’s satellites towards them.
What a well crafted and planned city built by men. Sometimes, you’d have to nod and say “These people are really closer to God” owing to the display of creativity and perfection that the city holds. Every months, Dubai generates billions of dollars from Tourism alone.  Reason being that the leaders are sane and civil – they rule with vision, transparency, and liberty.

Now, let’s come back home. Africa is in possession of 30% of the Earth’s remaining Natural Resources. We have all the natural resources to make Africa the world’s leading Continent, we possess all it takes to run a modern economy. So I ask, where is my Africa?.

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Why do we still rely on the western world to run our Government and our economy?
Why do we still fall to that Ruse call ‘Aides’? Same aides that goes back to the donors who uses your resources against us. Why are our cities not developed?
I still say it once again, our Independence was negotiated to favour a few criminals – that’s why the country is a Geographical contraction built on Fraud. Some greedy men broker deals for independence to be granted, that’s why we still rely on the contrived economic mechanism from the West.
Africa is on the dining table and the dinners are always ready to eat us, because we have refused to help ourselves. We have a dynamic and restless young population who are not ready to wait for a sloppy scheme from the people they call leaders. You see millions of African youths trekking and crossing the Sahara in a bid to secure an unprecedented opportunity lustrous and wasted.

Nigeria for example has all the natural resources that mankind lust after – but if you look at the state of the country you’ll never see a reflection of these natural endowments; we look poor, we feel poor, and we obviously have huge infrastructural deficits.
I’d stop at this junction cos I’m certain I will find no solace to ease my outcry. But my question still remains valid…..
Where is my Africa?