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By
Sami Tunji
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said many African leaders lack the basic understanding of economics required to effectively govern their countries.
Obasanjo added that such ignorance contributes to the continent’s continued dependence on foreign aid and persistent underdevelopment.
He made this known on Thursday during a panel session at the Afreximbank Annual Meeting themed “African Renaissance in an Era of Turbulence: Are the Lions Still on the Move?”
The session was moderated by CNBC Africa’s Senior Anchor, Ms Fifi Peters.
Obasanjo asked, “How many of our leaders even understand basic economics to be able to run the affairs of their country?
“Look at how we go about borrowing money and wasting money. Waste and corruption—they are strange bedfellows of development. And that is what most of our leaders engage in.”
The former president said while some African countries have the population and resources to lead the continent’s development, they are not moving in the right direction.
He named Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Africa as the continent’s “lions,” alongside Kenya, Senegal, and Morocco, but lamented that “these countries that we have mentioned, except one or two, the others are not moving as they should move.”
“The lions are there. They are not moving as they should be moving. And they have to move as they should move before you get Africa really as a continent moving as we expect it to move,” he said.
Obasanjo added that economic stagnation in these countries is partly due to political instability and weak institutions.
“You cannot talk of economics without touching on politics because politics is the master of economics,” he said.
He also blamed Africa’s elite for copying Western political systems wholesale without adapting them to local realities
“Western liberal democracy, which we inherited from our colonial masters, needs to be internalised and interrogated. In most African languages, opposition is the enemy. Where do you talk of a loyal enemy?”
“Our democracy is a monocracy. Not democracy. Monitocracy. Which means you buy… You will buy for everybody. And you will be the treasurer. And then you will… and the money that comes in will, of course, go into your pocket.”
He said African societies traditionally relied on communal decision-making and consensus rather than adversarial politics.
“In the African system, we never talk of opposition. We sit down. We look at everything. We argue. And when we argue, we get consensus. Communalism. Not opposition and government.”
Obasanjo added, “Now, I believe the time has come for us to say, hey, it’s not working for us. Even for them, it’s not working.”
On Africa’s dependence on aid, Obasanjo said, “We have lived too long on aid. Is aid the way that Africa should be expecting? I don’t believe so. Now, if that is the case, what should we substitute for aid?”
He continued, “We run to Japan. We run to China. And all the African leaders run to China. For how much? China will give up $20bn. $20bn, which a country in Africa can produce more like that.”
Despite the criticisms, he cited Ethiopia’s post-war wheat exports as evidence that African countries can achieve meaningful development.
Obasanjo also praised Afreximbank’s initiative to promote intra-African trade using local currencies, urging central banks to support it.
“For what reason do I have to look for euro or dollar when I’m buying milk in Uganda? Uganda produces over 5 trillion litres of milk. Nigeria needs that milk. Now, for me to be able to buy milk from Uganda, from Nigeria, I will have to go and look for euros and dollars.”
“The milk producer in Uganda doesn’t want my euro, he doesn’t want euro and dollar. He wants Uganda and Chile. But why can’t we pay him in Uganda and Chile? I have my own Naira, and then I’m paying Naira.”
He concluded, “Let us learn from ourselves and among ourselves, and let us then get the lions to move. And when the lions move, the cubs will follow the lions, and they will move together.”
Sami Tunji
Punch Nigeria Limited
