Africa’s present situation can easily be likened to that of one of the world leading football club; FC Barcelona when they lost by 4 goals to nil against the giant football club in France; PSG in 2017. Going into the second leg, Barca had two options: It is either they allow that ‘show of shame’ to repeat itself just as the first leg was or they turn the game around. In the African scenario, the match is strategically between the continent and development. Before proffering a tactical formation on how Africa can win the second leg in the era of new normal ushered in by COVID-19 of which one can identify how the continent lost before.
The first goal Africa conceded was in the area of cooperation. According to a 2017 report by Brookings Institute, the lack of cooperation and the imposition of artificial borders among African countries is responsible for the continent’s poor economic state.
No doubt, African countries are blessed with immense natural resources but despite this why are they absent in the WhatsApp group of developed countries? The answer lies in industrialization. And this answer is the second goal the continent conceded. According to a 2016 Africa Renewal magazine published by the United Nations, due to the continent’s slow industrialization, it was responsible for less than 2 percent of the world’s global manufacturing output.
All these goals were conceded by Africa before COVID-19 struck in the early days of 2020, putting a pause to life as we all know it. Unfortunately, as we begin to put the pandemic behind us, we are not returning to life as we know it but to one with a lot of new normals. And with this new normal comes an avenue for Africa to recover its goal deficits against development and perhaps get a winning goal, like Barca did against PSG at the Camp Nou. To do this, the continent has to borrow some leaves from how it handled the pandemic -- and perhaps Barcelona.
One: The need for cooperation is quite straightforward. Barca won the second leg against PSG because of the impeccable teamwork between the individual talents of Messi and Neymar, and the aging feet of Gerrard Pique. So for Africa to experience true development in this new normal, we must combine the intellectual prowess of Nigerians and the practicality of Egyptians with the acuity of South Africans and the athletic vitality of Kenyans.
Two: In the peak of the pandemic, Senegal created a $1 COVID-19 testing kit; Ghana began to use Zipline drones to take samples to testing sites, and Rwanda transformed into a cashless economy. All these points towards the capacity of Africans to be innovative. All we need to do is to adapt this level of innovative-ness into industrialization and Africa would stop being the continent that has natural resources yet struggle to harness the potentials of its human resources.
Finally, like John Maxwell once said, everything rises and falls on leadership. So as Africa begins the journey to embrace true development in this new normal, we must ensure that only capable individuals who put Africa first are saddled with leadership responsibilities. With the right leadership, this new normal would be nothing but an avenue for Africa to move from being a dark continent to one that lights the path for development globally.