Steven Livingston. Violent crime represents the most immediate threat to the personal security of most Africans. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 36 percent of all homicides globally occur in Africa. With 17 deaths per 100,000, the homicide rate in Africa is double the global average. Rates of robberies and rape in Africa also exceed global norms. The problem is worse in urban areas, with many of Africa’s urban-dwellers “often” worrying about crime. The risk of violent crime has implications for Africa’s development, governance, and stability. Crime ranks as one of the major inhibitors to investment…
Author: CASADE
Economic growth across the continent is projected to fall to 1.6% this year, the lowest level in over two decades. Despite this decline, economic growth is showing signs of resilience, particularly in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal, suggesting that Sub-Saharan Africa is growing at diverging speeds. Increasing agricultural productivity is central to transforming Sub-Saharan African economies and promoting sustained and inclusive growth. The countries of Sub-Saharan Africa present a diversified landscape of economic growth, according to the new Africa’s Pulse, a bi-annual analysis of the state of African economies conducted by the World Bank. While economic growth across…
Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentleman. As is always the case, I am in my elements when discussing the means and ways we may move the African continent from one that is primary-resource and commerce-based to that propelled by industrial productivity, and advanced information technology. As we speak, many African states have solved two of the four major problems all nations must face in their quest for sustained economic growth; by these I mean efficient financial services, telecommunication, road infrastructure, and energy. Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa have done remarkably well in areas of financial services and telecommunication; what bedevils their…
Professor William Easterly, in his new book “The Tyranny of Experts,” makes compelling arguments on why economic development in poor countries is best achieved when individual liberty and free choice are protected and advanced. In contradistinction, he demonstrates why authoritarianism, ‘benevolent’ dictatorships, and development strategies propagated by presumed experts should be discouraged and discounted as self-serving, and seldom lead to sustained economic development. While there is ample room to disagree with the thrust of his thesis, Easterly leaves no doubt of his mastery of his subject. An excerpt of the book provides sufficient reason to read it. On the…
Professor David Shinn. There is agreement among those who follow China-Africa relations that state-owned and private Chinese companies have become major investors in Africa over the past 10 years. Even Chinese individuals are investing small amounts in enterprises ranging from restaurants to acupuncture clinics. It is possible that in the past several years, China was the single largest bilateral source of annual foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa’s 54 countries. There is, however, considerable confusion as to what constitutes Chinese investment in Africa. Many analyses, especially journalistic accounts, conflate investment with multi-billion dollar loans from China to African governments that…
The problems in Nigeria’s electricity industry stem from a variety of sources, not least is the absence of a national will to sustain the industry and insist on a twenty-four hour supply of power. But such national disposition would depend on the model used to supply electricity to the end user; the fact that Nigeria, since the inception of its electricity sector, has relied on out-dated, and highly inefficient centralized model of generating, transmitting, and distributing electricity does not help. The 2005 Act to privatize only the generation and distribution links of the energy supply chain is a step in…
Development experts at the World Bank, and The Economist debate Professor Eric Maskin’s theory on the effects of globalization on developing economies. While their analysis are both informative and insightful, they invariable serve as critiques of Maskin’s theory on why globalization may not be so helpful to developing economies, at least at this stage of the process. The Economist: DEFENDERS of globalisation often say that, whatever distress it may cause for rich-world workers, it has been good for poor countries. Between 1988 and 2008, global inequality, as measured by the distribution of income between rich and poor countries, has narrowed,…
Anup Shah. Corruption is both a major cause and a result of poverty around the world. It occurs at all levels of society, from local and national governments, civil society, judiciary functions, large and small businesses, military and other services and so on. Corruption affects the poorest the most, in rich or poor nations, though all elements of society are affected in some way as corruption undermines political development, democracy, economic development, the environment, people’s health and more. The issue of corruption is very much inter-related with other issues. At a global level, the “international” (Washington Consensus-influenced) economic system that…
By John R. Fenchi. This book is a must read for investors and corporations intent on leaving little or no carbon footprint in generating power. The need for clean energy is urgent, not only in the developed world but also in countries on the verge of industrialization, and sustained growth in the manufacturing sector; this book provides a useful guide. Energy may be the most important factor that will influence the shape of society in the 21st century. The cost and availability of energy significantly impacts our quality of life, the health of national economies, the relationships between nations, and…
(Courtesy of Council on Foreign Relation. Africa in Transition, where this writing first appeared). John Campbell. Nigeria’s former President Goodluck Jonathan and wife Patience Jonathan arrives at the polling ward for accreditation in Otuoke, Bayelsa State March 28, 2015. (Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde) The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has frozen U.S. dollar bank accounts that former Nigerian First Lady Patience Jonathan claims are hers. The total value of the accounts is worth $31.5 million. She has applied to the Federal High Court in Lagos to unfreeze the accounts. Many Nigerians, including the Nigeria Labour Congress, are asking how she accumulated…