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Diaspora Diary: Creating The Spiderweb.

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It only takes one person to mobilize a community and inspire change. Even if you don’t feel like you have it in you, it’s in you. You have to believe in yourself. People will see your vision and passion and follow you. ~Teyonah Parris   Scene 1: We gathered for a BBQ at a friend’s stately new home at a quiet estate located in the northwest region of England. Seated in the garden on the day were 7 Nigerian men. Some had flown in from other European cities while others drove down from other parts of the UK. While we feasted on the barbecue and drinks the conversation shifted to the usual topic about happenings back home. Following the usual lamentations one of us stated that he may NEVER step into Nigeria again. He wasn’t alone in that line of cerebration. Another friend echoed his sentiments and added that he had instructed his uncle to sell off his village land and share the proceeds with his cousin. I was a little perplexed. Not because this was new to me but because I usually hear it from struggling diasporans and JJCs. My guys are none of these. They are worthy and successful professionals in their respective fields. Why would they say this? I always believed that prosperous Nigerians in the diaspora owe the country the duty of regular visits. Either to see relatives or to contribute to her development. This should be more so for those of us that lived there during our formative years. My friends would go on to explain the reasons behind their decision and of course, the rising insecurity topped the chart. One told of his harrowing experience in the hands of kidnappers along the notorious Benin axis on his last visit back in 2017. Another narrated how a police officer threatened him at gunpoint over vehicle particulars. Insecurity, insecurity, insecurity… Scene 2: A few days into the new year and my phone rang one early morning. My friend who lives about 90 minutes away wanted to visit later in the day. He has just returned after his late mum’s funeral in Nigeria. I ran off to the local African shop and bought pounded yam for the Nsala soup my wife had made the previous day. So when he arrived we got into you guessed right; the usual discussion! He decried the worsening situation since his last visit 5 years ago. I heard about how the funeral had to be fixed in a hurry and so soon after his mum’s demise because of the uncertainties that often mark our general elections. They had to mobilise personnel from the police, DSS and the navy to ensure adequate security for the duration of their stay in the village. There was frustration with the funeral organisers while some of the locals extorted the family not minding their bereavement. At the bank, a cashier wasted over 30 minutes on a transaction and added to his indignation by asking him to “search for a superior who may have gone outside”. By the time he was leaving later in the evening, my friend divulged that his itinerary in the coming weeks involved two house-hunting trips to southern France and the Andalucian region of Spain. A befitting retirement home will have to be somewhere warmer that the temperate British Isles where he had lived all these years. Scene 3: While writing the first two scenes I remembered another US-based friend who started a business back in 2016. Before then we had discussed investing in Nigeria to create employment with another stream of income that can be efficiently and remotely run. The business can then grow into branches nationwide. He actually started before me and opened the pharmaceutical store in the federal capital. However, he was forced to close down after what he termed as “too many stories from his staff”. Employees entrusted with running the business were lousy and repeatedly made little or no returns. My guy just closed shop and focused on his hustle abroad. In my own case, I believe that my extensive business experience in Nigeria and perhaps lady luck are factors that have kept my shop open since 2019. But of course not without the challenges. I had to temporarily close down twice in the first year while the search for a salesperson lasted and subsequently for the pandemic lockdown. There are countless examples like these when the good intention of our brethren abroad are met with frustration that discourage visits and the attendant investment. But we cannot give up on Mama Africa. We must continue to do what we can. Those who may not want to visit can still assist by utilising the power of the internet in providing the opportunity for young Africans to acquire marketable digital skills. By so doing we can create multiple talent pools that diasporans can avail of to invest back home. So you see, it is actually a win-win approach. In the past, I have written about how Africans in the diaspora can help to improve productivity in our homeland. And before then I already started a weekly essay competition to revive a waning literary culture and encourage budding writers. I also created a weekly #SundayPuzzle on Twitter for young people to exercise their brains. To date, we have published more than 1,000 essays from over 50 writers and paid out over N3 million in cash prizes as tokens of encouragement. We now have a growing audience of over 10,000 followers. All thanks to your magnanimous contributions. Beyond these, we have other e-tivities/training on digital skill acquisition and self-development. Some testimonials of our writers can be found here. We are still pushing and we solicit your support/collaboration to reach more youths with this noble initiative. You can become our Patreon or donate via Paypal.  Thanks for reading. Please if you like this story feel free to peruse and share our free content at https://cmonionline.com/ or follow us on Twitter and Facebook. You

On This Day

On This Day: The Berlin Conference Ended.

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It was on this day in history (1885), that the Berlin Conference ended. The conference took about three and a half months, from November 15, 1884, to February 26, 1885. The Berlin Conference marked the climax of the European scramble for Africa and the partitioning of territories in Africa.

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The Capitalist Nigger..

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Although the book proposes what Onyeani called the ‘Spider Web Doctrine’ — an economic theory for the negroid race to employ self-reliance and ruthlessness — it nevertheless was unsparring in its boisterous indictment of the Negroid race.

Blog, Essays

Leadership For The Africa We Want by Chukwuemeka Oluka.

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Such leadership also comes with investing in the people, which to a great extent will grow effective followership for the needed sustainable development across the continent to occur. When this happens, we can then be proud to say we have achieved the leadership for the Africa we want.

Blog, Essays

Can Kagame be ‘unAfrican’ in 2024?

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“Africa should not just wait to be exploited or influenced. No. We should be part of the conversation. We should raise ourselves to a level where there are certain terms we dictate in the conversation because we have a lot to offer” ~Paul Kagame Undoubtedly Rwanda has come to be a unique nation. The tiny East African country with a population of just over 11 million people is not unique because of the 1994 genocide but because it has somehow managed to rise from that horrific bloodletting to become one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies and a global model of economic development. All thanks to the purposeful and visionary leadership of one man; Paul Kagame. But as the world remembers the genocide we should not lose sight of the fact that the man who is at the helm has been in office for almost two decades. As a matter of fact, it is about a quarter of a century because while serving as the Vice President he was widely regarded as the de facto president by many during the six years that preceded his ascension to the throne. But that is not all, let us ponder some of the similarities between the Rwandan leader and other African leaders we would like to see their backs. A protege of Museveni, Kagame was a military leader before transforming into the civilian president of his country. And perhaps with the exception of Cameroon’s Paul Biya most of Africa’s ‘sit tight’ leaders like Idris Deby (Chad), Mbasogo (E.Guinea) and Nguesso(Congo) to name just a few equally have a military background. They are usually men of means who are no stranger to violence, mutinies and coups which are synonymous with power in Africa. He is tied to the apron of the western powers. For example, In 2017 he was given a big stage in Washington DC during the World Bank/IMF Annual Meeting where he sat cross-legged beside World Bank President Jim Yong Kim while he was showered with encomiums as the democratic leader who is transforming Rwanda from the ruins of genocide to a tourism paradise. Well, unfortunately, this is also the case with many long-ruling African leaders, they remain a darling of the west until they dare to untie themselves or their nations from those apron strings. The Rwandan President is intolerant. He has a record of suppressing any form of dissent. His administration has been characterised by a chronology of disappearances, politically motivated arrests, unlawful incarceration and murders, especially of perceived government opponents including journalists. The two female presidential aspirants who dared to form a movement with the semblance of opposition were severely dealt with. Victoire Ingabire was convicted for ‘inciting insurrection’ and served eight of a fifteen-year jail term before she was granted a presidential pardon just last year while 38-year-old accountant turned politician Diane Rwigara was detained and subsequently acquitted on similar trumped-up charges. Many see their ‘real’ crime as daring to contest for Kagame’s seat in 2010 and 2017 respectively. After winning a second term in office, Kagame who had earlier ruled out staying beyond the constitutional two-term limit was alleged to have surreptitiously engineered a referendum which necessitated a constitutional amendment and after some nimble political footwork in 2015, the nation’s parliament passed a law reducing the original two 7-year term limit to two 5-year terms. But here is the real sauce of the gist; Not only was Kagame allowed to contest for a third 7- year term, he was also granted a preposterous exception to seek two further 5-year terms if he so wishes thereby creating the possibility of him remaining in power till 2034! Again, this is also an age long strategy that was successfully deployed by dictators like Mugabe, Museveni and Nkurunziza. However, it must be said that while the aforementioned leaders subverted democracy at the cost of violence and protests in which lives were lost, there was not much contestation in Rwanda where the petition that devised the potentiality of Kagame becoming a ‘life president’ was reportedly opposed by only 10 people. Indeed Kagame is the most popular person in Rwanda. He always won elections by no less than 90% of the votes and in 2017 he won by 99%. One is therefore left to query the manner of people that queue behind one person. Is Kagame the wisest, smartest, brightest person in Rwanda? Isn’t there any other capable of leading Rwanda? How is it that the intelligentsia has largely remained mute while one man continues to ride roughshod over 11 million people? And if democracy thrives on vibrant opposition can Rwanda really be described as one? The trick is often to have a rubber stamp parliament, a largely owned state media and most importantly a privileged military that is willing to back the king so long as their bread remains buttered. Once these are achieved the task of whipping the masses in line through ‘fear or favour’ becomes a no brainer and legitimacy can easily be bought on the global stage by photo ops with western leaders who fete African tyrants for economic gains. Whereas it will take only a blind person to dispute the achievements of Paul Kagame for his people it will equally require same to ignore the concreteness of the allegations of abuses and impunity. His stewardship must be examined within its full context to arrive at a fair verdict. So as global tributes pour in for Kwibuka @ 25 the man who has as many enemies as he has friends, especially in a conflict-ridden region where he spent considerable time on the other side will also need some personal reflections. It will do the former rebel a lot of good to begin the search for a successor. Extending his reign beyond the current third term may be legal but it is still a gamble given that five years is a very long time in politics. And in a milieu where western influence is being whittled across Africa leaders like Mugabe,

Blog, Essays

Empowering women lies at the centre of controlling population growth in Africa

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I think about the future of my continent in terms of three questions: Are Africans healthy? Do they have access to a good education? And do they have opportunities to apply their skills? Millions more Africans have been able to answer yes to these questions in recent years. But there’s an elephant in the room. One of the keys to keeping this progress going is slowing down the rapid rates of population growth in parts of the continent. But population issues are so difficult to talk about that the development community has been ignoring them for years. Population growth is a controversial topic because, in the not-too-distant past, some countries tried to control population growth with abusive, coercive policies, including forced sterilization. Now, human rights are again at the centre of the discussion about family planning, where they belong. But as part of repairing the wounds created by this history, population was removed from the development vocabulary altogether. For the sake of Africa’s future, we should bring it back. Based on current trends, Africa as a whole is projected to double in size by 2050. Between 2050 and 2100, according to the United Nations, it could almost double again. In that case, the continent would have to quadruple its efforts just to maintain the current level of investment in health and education, which is too low already. But if the rate of population growth slows down there will be more resources to invest in each African’s health, education, and opportunity – in other words, in a good life. To be very clear: the goal of family planning programmes is not to hit population targets; on the contrary, it’s to empower women so that they can exercise their fundamental right to choose the number of children they will have, when, and with whom. Fortunately, empowering couples to make decisions about their lives also improves Africa’s future by changing the population growth scenario across the continent. Scenarios Some relatively simple future scenarios for sub-Saharan Africa have been modelled to consider how various family planning-related investments might affect population growth. These have been built using data from the Track20 Project. The project monitors global progress in extending access to modern contraceptives to additional 120 million women in the world’s 69 poorest countries by 2020. Let’s examine the data. How different investments in family planning may affect the African population. 2018 Goalkeepers data report Wanted fertility: the black line represents sub-Saharan Africa’s population to 2100 based on estimates by the United Nations Population Division. The blue line represents its population to 2100 if every woman had only the number of children she wanted. Currently, women in the region have an average of 0.7 more children than they want. If that number went down to zero over the next five years, the population in 2100 could change by 30%. Education: another link between empowerment and population growth is the transformative impact of secondary education for girls. Educated girls tend to work more, earn more, expand their horizons, marry and start having children later, have fewer children, and invest more in each child. Their children, in turn, tend to follow similar patterns, so the effect of graduating one girl sustains itself for generations. Though the impact of education is sweeping, our model looks at just one narrow aspect of it: a shift in the age at which women give birth to their first child. The pink line represents sub-Saharan Africa’s population if every woman’s first birth were delayed by an average of approximately two years. The average age at first birth for women in Africa is significantly lower than in any other region. Currently, it is 20 or younger in half of African countries. This scenario doesn’t have anything to do with women having fewer children. It just has to do with when they start having them. Consider this thought experiment. If every woman started having children at age 15, then in 60 years you’d have four generations (60/15=4). But if every woman started having children at age 20, then in 60 years you’d have three generations (60/20=3). Even if those women had the same number of children in each generation, the total population would be one-quarter smaller in the latter scenario. To be conservative, we assumed a less substantial delay in our model. Still, it changes the projected population by nearly 10%. All well-meaning Africans will support sending girls to school and giving them access to information about family planning and contraceptives when they ask for them. And I hope we will stop shying away from also pointing out that empowered women make millions of individual decisions that add up to a better demographic situation for themselves, for their children, and for Africa. Alex Ezeh, Dornsife Professor of Global Health, Drexel University This article is republished from The Conversation

Blog, Essays

Why Nigeria had good reasons to delay signing Africa’s free trade deal

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Much has been made of the embarrassing withdrawal by Nigeria from signing the African Continental Free Trade Agreement earlier this year having initially made the commitment to sign it. Its decision was criticised by many, including myself. These reactions were justifiable given the historical poor performance of Nigeria and other African states when it comes to their commitment to regional economic integration. But, Nigeria’s decision needs to be evaluated in the light of the reason it’s given for the delay. The government has subsequently explained that it’s decision wasn’t a rejection of the trade accord. Rather, it said, it wanted time to consult with key stakeholders in the country. This includes the Nigerian labour congress, the manufacturers association as well as other players in the private sector. Given the free trade area’s potential to reconfigure intra-African market and the continent’s relationship with global trading system, consulting Nigerians should play an important role in signing the agreement. The agreement is the first of its kind in Africa. It proposes creating a single market for goods and services, with free movement of people and investments across 55 countries. The agreement has a dispute settlement mechanism similar to the one set up by the World Trade Organisation. The deal promises to redefine trade relations among African states and beyond. It’s also expected to aid the coordination of trade liberalisation and improve interactions within existing regional economic communities. If implemented, it will draw together the largest number of countries within a free trade area in the world. Initially 44 countries signed the pact in March. The number has since risen to 49. In my view, the Nigerian government made a wise decision. Holding off on signing the agreement shows how seriously it’s taking the agreement. The consultative process The government is taking the consultations seriously. This bodes well for the future implementation of the agreement. For example, in May, six consultation meetings were held in the six geopolitical zones – North-West, North-East, North-Central, South-East, South-South, South-West – of Nigeria. The government has also consulted with think tanks as well as trade expert groups and institutions such as the Nigeria Institute for Advanced Legal Studies. It’s also set up sessions with civil society. The process has also involved engaging with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, poultry groups, the Nigerian Labour Congress, Rice Processors Group, Aviation Association Group, Fertilisers Producers Association of Nigeria, the Nigerian Association of Small and medium Enterprises and the National Chamber of Commerce, industry, mines and agriculture. Nigeria’s Chief Trade Negotiator & Director General, Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations, Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe, recently stated that Nigeria is finally getting ready to sign While buy-in from everyone might not be achieved, the engagements are nevertheless important. More to gain than lose Nigeria’s governmenthas made it clear that it sees great merit in the free trade agreement. It has applauded the agreement’s potential to expand market access for Nigeria’s good and services. And that it will boost economic growth and job creation. The agreement will also improve competitiveness and the ease of doing business in Nigeria while it simultaneously provides a platform for the country’s continued leadership role in Africa. For Nigeria, the agreement’s dispute settlement mechanism would also be a major advance, providing protection against hostile and discriminatory trade practices. But it does have concerns. These include unfair trade practices, such as dumping – when a country lowers the sales of its exports below the cost of production to gain unfair market share. A rules based trade governance structure would give Nigeria greater access to invoking remedies for this kind of behaviour. The Nigerian government has expressly declared its confidence in the potential of the agreement’s dispute settlement mechanism. This contrasts with its scepticism of WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism which developing countries have generally viewed as expensive and unfair towards them. Perhaps, one way to explain the embrace of the dispute settlement mechanism under the agreement then is its uniquely African roots and the potential for “equal” access among its members. For Africa: More Free Trade and less protectionism is the way It’s only fair that the government is allowed time to examine issues like this closely. But, it’s also important that Nigeria doesn’t allow the consultation to cripple, jeopardise or undermine the process. Not signing the free trade agreement is not an option for Nigeria, particularly given the rise in protectionism, nationalism and backlash against free trade in the global multilateral trading system. Past experiences with economic integration on the continent aren’t that encouraging. Nevertheless, the free trade pact offers African states the opportunity to build a formidable market in these unsettling global economic times. Olabisi D. Akinkugbe, Assistant Professor, Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada., Dalhousie University published this article initially on theConversation.

Blog, Essays

Africa’s business schools need to be locally relevant and globally wise

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If 99.6% of businesses in a country like Nigeria employ fewer than 10 workers, does it make sense to teach Nigerian business students how to manage Fortune 500 companies in the US using Harvard Business School case studies? This question, raised by the African Management Initiative in a recent report, sums up the complex nature of the challenge facing African business schools when picking a path between global recognition and local relevance. There is no doubt that business schools need to demonstrate international relevance, whether through the programmes they offer, or the content they teach. This allows them to attract international students and faculty. And, perhaps more importantly, it offers students a chance to experience international contexts. International mobility in today’s global business world is a key requirement. At the same time, schools need to cater to the day-to-day realities in their own context. African business schools operate in environments characterised by high degrees of inequality and uncertainty, a lack of skills and high rates of unemployment. Ideally, they need to do both these things if they want to deliver the best possible training for the continent’s requirements. An assessment of quality One important way that business schools seek to demonstrate international relevance is through rankings and accreditations. These offer an important marketing and reputational window to the world. And they are widely used by global schools as stamps of quality. They are also one of the major tools employed by students in choosing where to study. But only a handful of schools in Africa are recognised and ranked globally. The University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, University of Stellenbosch Business School and the American University in Cairo are the only African business schools out of 86 globally that are triple-crown accredited. This means they have recognition from the top three global accreditation bodies, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the Association of MBAs, and the European Foundation for Management Development’s Quality Improvement System. When it comes to rankings, only the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, University of Stellenbosch Business School and the Gordon Institute of Business Science University of Pretoria are recognised in the various Financial Times rankings for their offerings. Useful benchmark or distraction from purpose? The process of business school accreditation is rigorous and time consuming. Schools must articulate their vision and mission and relevance and impact. Schools have to submit a lot of information and an accreditation panel will spend time at a school to inspect and ensure that it is delivering what it claims to be delivering. This process can be useful because it helps schools identify and improve on weaknesses identified. Accreditation bodies offer a rounded assessment of schools. The three main global assessment bodies assess performance in a holistic way. Their assessment goes beyond just individual increases in salary. They take into account graduates’ contribution to society, value creation and entrepreneurship. There is a new kid on the block worth watching: the Association of African Business Schools which hopes to delve deeper into what African business schools are doing to develop the continent. Undergoing accreditation can therefore be a highly developmental process. It can be useful as a consultancy exercise as much as – if not more than – an audit of quality standards. But the reality is that many African business schools operate with minimal resources making it challenging for them to achieve accreditation. Rankings, by comparison, are easier to participate in but have received a lot of criticism including charges that they come with flawed methodologies, misleading information and a lack of transparency. They are also accused of detracting from the social obligations of schools. That’s because they tend to place little emphasis on students’ learning or societal benefits and focus almost exclusively on the short-term economic returns of their education for graduates. The rankings however, are a criterion used by potential international students when choosing which schools to apply to. They cannot be discounted. Together, accreditation’s and rankings offer African business schools a valuable way to benchmark themselves against their global peers. As Professor Jonathan Jansen, former vice-chancellor at the University of the Free State, wrote in a recent article, they can reveal areas in which a university can grow and improve on its scholarly work: You never really know how good you are until you are ranked against the best. Rankings and accreditation may be onerous and expensive, but if used wisely they can strengthen global credentials. At the same time they can also help business schools to hone their offerings to develop the right calibre of leadership and management to drive the development that is needed on the continent.   This article was originally published in The Conversation by Kutlwano Ramaboa, Senior Lecturer in Research Methodology, Director of International Relations, University of Cape Town

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South Africa needs to box clever in its David versus Goliath duel with Trump

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  Recent actions by US President Donald Trump’s administration are severely straining relations with South Africa’s new government led by President Cyril Ramaphosa. And relations between the two governments are likely to worsen. The first blow was last month’s threat by Trump’s UN Ambassador Nikki Haley that countries unwilling to tow the US line would be punished. According to a list of the 2017 General Assembly vote counts released in March, South Africa was one of the 10 least supportive countries. It voted with the US only 18% of the time. More recently, Ramaphosa’s expressed disappointment at Trump’s withdrawal from Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran is likely to raise the US president’s ire, especially as South Africa presses ahead with plans to expand trade with Iran. And relations between the two countries could sour further following South Africa’s decision to recall its ambassador to Israel in protest against the killing by the Israeli army of over 50 Palestinians protesting against the relocation of the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. The relocation came after Trump recognised the disputed holy city Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. South Africa has a lot to lose. As the only liberal democracy on the State Department’s list of ten UN members most critical of US policies, it is also the only one that benefits substantially from extensive trade and assistance agreements with the US. Trump’s announcement that South Africa wouldn’t be given exemption from his recent unilateral hikes in tariffs on US imports of steel and aluminium has not yet been linked to its UN voting record. But commentators have raised this possibility. Losing out on the exemption could cost South Africa 7,500 jobs. The impact on the country’s economy could be far worse if Trump moves against South African manufactured products that currently enjoy special access to US markets under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). In my view this threat may be exaggerated. And Trump’s targeting of South Africa would be rightly criticised as an attempt to undermine Ramaphosa’s efforts to reform and revitalise his nation’s troubled democracy and economy. Given the size of the US economy relative to South Africa’s, many will view this as another case of David versus Goliath, with most rooting for David. South Africa’s challenge will be to exploit those conditions and facts that might disarm its more powerful adversary. Several are already evident. Disarming Trump First, the timing of the Trump administration’s actions are happening just as Ramaphosa’s commitment to redress corruption and misrule under his predecessor Jacob Zuma is receiving international recognition and praise. In addition, Ramaphosa is embellishing South Africa’s image in a year-long domestic and international campaign celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the iconic Nelson Mandela. He is pledging fresh and determined efforts to uphold the Mandela legacy. In this spirit, Ramaphosa lobbied and received unanimous African support for South Africa’s bid for another two-year term on the UN Security Council. This is almost certain to be affirmed next month by the UN General Assembly in a vote that’s bound to raise South Africa’s standing internationally. The following month former US president Barack Obama comes to Johannesburg to deliver the annual Mandela lecture. The world will once again be reminded of Mandela’s values and ideals, as well as the contrasts between Trump’s character and that of his predecessor. US President Donald Trump. EPA-EFE/Michael Reynolds Second, it’s worth revisiting the State Department’s UN voting scorecard. The votes show that the mood of the General Assembly has become much more hostile since Trump became president. On the 92 issues that required UN General Assembly votes last year, the US was backed in only 31% of its resolutions – the lowest level of support since 2008. This reflects the fact that Trump’s immediate predecessors tended to be pragmatic. Although for decades majorities in the General Assembly disagreed with the US on issues such as Palestinian rights, and the merits of US military adventures, there was nevertheless cooperation in other areas. But Trump has long been dismissive of the UN and multi-lateralism in general as of little value or importance to the US. Had South Africa voted with the US a few more times it would have joined the league of African states such as Kenya (20%), Ethiopia (21%) and Nigeria (22%). China (22%), Brazil (23%), and India (25%) aren’t much higher. Third, the US claim that it was refusing to exempt South African from the steel and aluminium tariff hikes for “national security” reasons was laughable and might not survive World Trade Organisation scrutiny. South Africa supplies less than 2% of these commodities to the US. Yet the US saw fit to exempt nearly 60% of steel exports from the US’s European and other allies. Fears that Trump may try to abrogate other South Africa preferences that allow imports of manufactured products, notably BMW Series 3 and Mercedes C Class automobiles, with a lot more jobs at stake, are understandable. South Africa should lobby a receptive US Congress to prevent this. Bi-partisan majorities recently renewed duty-free access until 2025, after protracted and successful negotiations with South Africa. South Africa can also draw on Congressional goodwill that so far has resisted Trump’s attempts to cut development assistance to Africa, including SA. And finally, the business community has responded positively to Ramaphosa’s emissaries seeking support for his global campaign to raise USD$100 billion of investments for the country. Standing up to a bully There are many entrenched networks of cooperation between South Africa and the US among sister cities, provinces and states, civic organisations, educational and scientific exchanges, and various cultural and historical ties. They can all help to shield South Africa from Trump’s bullying. Other countries, uncertain about how to respond to Trump, may not have the same means that South Africa has to connect directly and extensively with the American people. But, if Pretoria is willing to stand up to Trump, it might encourage African and other smaller countries to

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Fela’s music can decolonise international law in African universities

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International law in African universities is still taught within a rigid Eurocentric context. Changing this is important, but also incredibly difficult given how entrenched the current approach is. Surprisingly Nigerian musician Fela Ransome-Kuti (1938 – 1997) might have something to offer in helping crack the problem. The Afrobeat pioneer has a lot to offer any teacher wanting to decolonise the teaching and understanding of international law. The curriculum of international law in many African universities, like those in Latin America and Asia, still links seminal moments in the development of international law to European history, and refer to European thinkers as “fathers” of the subject. There is little or no reference to how non-European civilisations have contributed to the development of international law or the role international law played in entrenching colonialism. As such, the curriculum excludes the discussion of diplomatic interactions between and among pre-colonial African Empires, and with European and Asians, especially as it relates to trade, conflict resolution and recognition of statehood. In addition, there is little consideration of critical works that have exposed the bias underlining the practise of international law. These exclusions have raised the importance of decolonising the teaching and understanding of international law. This process requires the consideration of wide-ranging, innovative and multifaceted approaches. One is the inclusion of voices and narratives beyond academia, especially artistes at the forefront of exposing global imbalances and Eurocentric dominance. Fela is an important source because he was a revolutionary as well as an intellectual who was steeped in the struggle against social injustice in Africa. His music speaks to issues that are raised by critical scholars on the need to reform the teaching and practise of international law . These include issues such as illicit financial flows from the global South, the marginalisation of Africa on the world stage and the masking of Eurocentric values and opinions as “universal” standards. Fela was able to use his radicalism and eloquence to expose this unjust order of things. Fela’s background Fela came from a university-educated, politically active family. His mom, Funmilayo, was a teacher, women’s rights’ activist and feminist. She was associated with some of the most important anti-colonial educational movements in West Africa. She was the first Nigerian woman to drive a motor car and a member of the team which negotiated Nigerian independence from Britain. Fela’s father Oludotun was a pioneering headmaster, the founding president of Africa’s largest professional group, the Nigeria Union of Teachers, and an Anglican priest. Both Fela’s brothers were medical doctors and human rights campaigners. Fela was strongly influenced by his family – including his cousin, the writer and political activist, Wole Soyinka. Of course Fela was his own person. He was also supposed to study medicine, but switched to music. The way in which he used his music as a weapon makes him particularly useful in the classroom. Fela Kuti used music as a weapon. Bringing Fela to the classroom Fela used his music to tackle the marginalisation of the downtrodden and global injustice. He also preached the need to put pan-Africanism at the centre of sociopolitical and economic processes. His non-conformist, radical stance on these issues ensured numerous arrests, harassment and torture in the hands of successive military regimes in Nigeria. The documentary ‘Finding Fela’. Fela’s infectious beats and critically engaging lyrics, mainly sang in Pidgin English, and his intense and methodical delivery, provide an important window to exposing students to critical understanding of the global system. Two of his songs are relevant to the critical teaching of international law. These are “International Thief Thief” and “Beast of No Nation”. Both reflect issues raised by critical movements, such as the Third World Approaches to International Law, a network of scholars who explore the inherent contradictions and inequality of the global system. Fela Kuti’s ‘ITT’. In “International Thief Thief” he addressed illicit financial flow from Africa: Many foreign companies dey Africa carry all our money go (Many foreign companies operating in Africa illegally take our money out) Dem go write big English for newspaper, dabaru we Africans (Then they will write complicated English in newspapers to confuse us Africans) Dem go cause confusion, cause corruption, cause oppression, cause inflation (As a result of this] they cause confusion, corruption, oppression, inflation). Fela Kuti’s ‘Beast of no nation’. In “Beast of No Nation”, he sang about the unequal structure of the United Nations: One veto vote is equal to 92… or more What kind sense be dat? (Where’s the sense in that?) Na animal sense (It is animal sense). In teaching global institutions under international law, Fela’s “Beast of Nations” could be used to show students the problematic structure of the United Nations where only five countries wield veto powers (http://www.un.org/en/sc/meetings/voting.shtml). It could also show how dominant interests determine intervention measures by the UN, and the exclusion of nationals of countries in the global South from becoming the heads of IMF and World Bank. “International Thief Thief” is a good material for exposing the role of multinational corporations in illicit financial flows from Africa and their complicity in environmental pollution and corrupt practises. Disrupt underpinnings African law schools have to be more open to interventions that can help disrupt the Eurocentric underpinnings of the teaching of international law. Music, poetry, literature and films can help do this. Their inclusion in the curriculum hold immense benefits for students and lecturers alike. It would also help reinforce the understanding that law does not – and cannot – exist in isolation. It should flow from the social reality and context of a society, and in turn seek to genuinely address real problems. Fela has left us with critical material. The question is whether we are bold enough to channel them into changing the status quo. This is part of my ongoing research in this field.   About the Writer Babatunde Fagbayibo, Associate Professor of International Law, University of South Africa wrote this article which was originally published on The Conversation.

Blog, Essays

Parachuting in courses from the West does African entrepreneurs no good

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  Growing youth unemployment remains a socio-economic challenge in Africa. Several initiatives, including foreign development aid programmes, are being deployed to address this. Many come with noble intentions. But they are undermined by the flawed approach of parachuting solutions made in the West. A study focusing on a seven year old multi-million dollar programme from the US illustrates this point. The programme was established under former US President Barack Obama’s administration in 2010. It was first called the Young African Leaders Initiative. In 2014 it was renamed the Mandela Washington Fellowship. It’s coordinated by the United States Agency for International Development. The programme’s main objective is to support Africa’s next generation of leaders. It’s just one of many development aid initiatives undertaken from the US and the broader western world. These programmes have good intentions. But many suffer from a number of weaknesses. These include the fact that they are parachuted in. Our research suggests that the Mandela Washington Fellowship isn’t realising its potential because of two major problems. The participation of key stakeholders, such as governments and the private sector, is limited. And the courses are based on a weak understanding of the local context in which entrepreneurs have to function. Our survey suggests that it remains unclear whether the programme has considered key elements that are crucial to the successful implementation of its goals. Challenges The Mandela Washington Fellowship consists of three main tracks of leadership development. They are business and entrepreneurship, civil leadership, and public management. Every year since 2010, 100 fellows with strong leadership potential are selected from various African countries. They participate in a six to eight week period of mentoring, networking and entrepreneurial training in different US institutions. The Agency for International Development has channelled $10 million into this programme. In addition to the training in US institutions, four regional leadership centres have been established in Africa. These are designed to be public private partnerships. Together with developing leadership capacity, the initiative helps in developing a stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem by fostering regional networks. It can help local small businesses become sustainable. The initiative can also create private sector driven economies and encourage innovative startups across various sectors. These include agriculture, health, science and technology. Interviews with several stakeholders from academic and government institutions, the private sector, and programme fellows provide insight into the significance of the programme in Africa. Most thought the initiative could contribute to building strong and competitive African economies. But several flaws were also identified. The first was that key stakeholders, such as government departments and ministries, research institutions and the private sector, are visibly absent from the programme across many African countries. Secondly, a number of those interviewed suggested that the programme’s objectives didn’t reflect African governments’ policy agendas. For example, one government official wanted to know how the programme helped to address a competitive agri-business sector. He asked about this connection because the sector is central to his government’s agricultural policy. He also wanted to know what research and development is being conducted in local universities. These concerns potentially undermine the prorgramme’s credibility. Local context is key The huge differences between business entrepreneurship in America and Africa generated heated discussion, particularly among academic experts. Some questioned the limited understanding of local context of American instructors and training providers. A few fellows suggested that some professors focused too much on issues that are irrelevant to Africa. There was also a strong view that the programme has developed packages that neglected decades of experience and research in Africa. Some argued that it must be integrated with other local initiatives. One expert explained that being an entrepreneur in New York has little in common with the experiences of one in Lagos or Johannesburg. Unique underlying conditions require the entrepreneur to function quite differently than she would in the American context. This is compounded by weak institutional capacity and lack of access to various forms of finance that prevails in many African countries. Bad leadership, corruption and weak infrastructure also remain significant hindrances to entrepreneurial development in Africa. Stakeholders argued that basic training could be given to some bright young entrepreneurs. But without the right governance, economic support and infrastructure required to run the businesses, they are bound to fail regardless of any training. Because these problems are endemic, the programme’s relatively short duration also becomes a concern. Moving forward African governments must pay attention to entrepreneurship development before foreign assistance can yield good results. Their entrepreneurship policies should encourage three key points. Firstly, entrepreneurship development must be integrated across all levels of education and training programmes and economic development initiatives. Secondly, entrepreneurship policy must promote innovation and recognise human development and its cultural value. Thirdly, entrepreneurship development should encourage investment in infrastructure, research and development. It will be difficult for foreign aid programmes to make a difference unless this kind of policy is put in place. For their part, foreign aid initiatives must identify with national government programmes within Africa – especially those that target local entrepreneurship activities. They must run on productive partnerships with research institutions as well as local, private and public sectors. These are important. They can help monitor progress and evaluate against targets. They can also be useful in scaling up the programme. The partnership should prioritise the involvement of more African trainers. Local experts with deep knowledge of local conditions should be engaged in teaching and running the programme in partnership with American counterparts. This can overcome the critical challenge of providing training that’s relevant to Africa. Ademola Adenle, Fellow at the School of Global Environmental Sustainability, Colorado State University This article was originally published on The Conversation. 

Blog, Essays, Monishots

For Jacob Zuma, it is a long overdue farewell.

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Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war ~ Donald Trump Any informed political observer should know that it was never going to end well for the most colourful and controversial South African President since the end of apartheid in 1994.  Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma can rightly be described as the proverbial cat with nine lives. Born into poverty in the KwaZulu-Natal region of the country, his father was a policeman while his mother was a domestic worker, the boy who had little formal education was to rise to the glorious pinnacle of South Africa’s intricate politics after several struggles. But of course like they say, every story that has a beginning will surely have an end. Trouble had been brewing for quite a long time with the once exiled leader waltzing through most of the obstacles like he would do in his favourite pastime of dancing. Having been dogged by several controversies including trials for rape and bribery all through his political life, Jacob Zuma must have thought all the strife had ended when he was sworn in as South Africa’s President in May 2009. Indeed so it seemed, he was allowed to settle in and had little problems in the early years of his administration. However, an indication of where his presidency was headed turned up in March 2012 when the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that the Democratic Alliance (an opposition party) could challenge a previous court ruling that let him off some corruption charges. Another corruption scandal erupted in March 2014 when the Ombudsman stated that part of the $15 million refurbishments at Zuma’s luxurious residence was unlawful and ordered him to repay same. Buoyed by the likelihood of an electoral victory in the upcoming presidential polls, a stubborn Zuma was to ignore this order which ultimately proved to be his Achilles heel. If anyone thought that Zuma’s travails would cease when the ANC won a majority of votes in the May 2014 polls to ensure he will have another five-year tenure as South Africa’s Numero Uno the person had another think coming. That notion once again proved to be illusory two years later as the country’s highest court ruled that Zuma had trampled on the constitution by refusing to reimburse part of the tax-payers funds used to renovate his private home. He was subsequently ordered him to refund some of the money. The recalcitrant leader apologised in a national broadcast over the issue which he admitted had “caused a lot of frustration and confusion” and promised to abide by the ruling but still denied any wrongdoing. That public address appeared to trigger a roller coaster of woes for Zuma because less than a month on, another court ruled that prosecutors acted “irrationally” by dropping 18 charges of over 700 fraudulent payments brought against him in 2009. The decision was to be reviewed thus opening an avenue for the charges to be reinstated. That chapter was supposed to be the last straw that broke the camel’s back. But Zuma clung on. As his party lost further ground when the opposition took key cities in the municipal elections of 2016, some cabinet ministers called for his resignation in a rowdy meeting that was reportedly close to fisticuffs. Zuma then pulled the same old wool over their eyes by blaming the west for his travails. How often have we seen African leaders pull off that obsolete stunt? In the end attempts to remove him as president failed. The onslaught continued as the opposition parties mainly the Democratic Alliance and the fierce Julius Malema who leads the Economic Freedom Fighters continued to call on Zuma to step down. Indeed Zuma faced about three no-confidence votes in 2016 but still came through all. And in a calmer 2017 he narrowly escaped once more when another no-confidence vote was defeated by 198 to 177 votes in a secret vote that held in parliament. However, calls for his resignation from his party continued unabated and by October 2017 the country’s apex court upheld an April 2016 High Court ruling to reinstate corruption charges against Zuma. It was coming thick and fast, and in the run-up to December 2017 date to elect a new party president Ivor Chipkin, an Associate Professor at the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI) and a leading public affairs analyst penned an op-ed for the New York Times in which he detailed the president’s corrupt romance with the notorious Gupta family and described his 9 year era as “a decade of leadership that has seen Africa’s oldest liberation movement become a caricature of corruption and factionalism”. It now appears that the election was the beginning of the end for Zuma as an equally radiant Cyril Ramaphosa defeated Dlamini-Zuma, the president’s ex-wife and preferred candidate, to become the ANC leader. Constitutionally, Zuma’s tenure should run till 2019, but given the crisis within the ruling party and of course Ramaphosa’s overt political ambition there was little hope of dousing the increasing tension. An unsavoury twilight loomed for the man who had become known as the “Teflon President”. Now the die is cast after the parliament postponed the state of the nation address, the ANC held a marathon meeting for about 13 hours and unanimously agreed that President Jacob Zuma should throw in the towel. A letter to this effect was personally delivered to him on February 13, 2017, by the party’s secretary general Ace Magashule who also held a press conference to announce same. Going by the tradition of African leaders as recently exemplified by the ‘Mugabe palace coup’ many expect that Zuma will cling on to his office given that his fifth wife had previously said that “it’s about to get ugly”, an indication that her husband is going nowhere. However, the shining examples of Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan and Ghana’s John Mahama must be nurtured to endure. A leader should accept defeat in good faith, be it external or internal. It, therefore, behooves prominent

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