Op-ed By Abu Bakarr Jalloh – CEO, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The African Dream
They say Africa is poor. They say Africa is in debt. But here’s the truth.
They call Africa poor, underdeveloped, dependent. But behind the oil fields in Angola and Nigeria, in the gold mines in Ghana and South Africa, in the cobalt pits of Congo, lies a darker and unspoken truth. Africa is not poor, and neither is it being funded by the world. Africa is funding it.
Africa has been feeding and driving world economies since Shaka Zulu was the King of the Zulus. Africa has been engineering technological innovations since the Berlin Conference was not conceived. Our cobalt keeps Elon Musk’s Tesla alive. Our cobalt keeps Apple and Google in business. Our tantalum powers their electric gadgets. Our lithium powers their electric vehicles. Our diamonds are on the heads and necks of their royal families.
It is ironic, yet insulting, that this continent that keeps them alive is the same continent they call “dark” and “poor.” The continent rich in minerals, land, and youth is bled dry by a system that extracts, exploits, and then dares to preach aid and charity. This is not a theory. This is a financial crime scene.
They are milking Africa dry and then turn around and call us derogatory names. $88 billion leaves Africa illegally every year; that’s more than we receive in aid, loans, and foreign investment combined.
Multinational corporations like American Mineral Fields, Banro, First Quantum, Harambee Mining, International Panorama Resources, Kinross Gold, Melkior Resources, Barrick Gold, Newmont and Tenke, Google, Apple, and Tesla shift profits out of Africa through tax havens. They under-invoice exports, over-invoice imports, and manipulate the books while our governments look the other way, or worse, take a cut.
So, Africa is not poor. It is being robbed in broad daylight.
Africa exports its minerals, oil, and agricultural produce in raw form and then imports them back as expensive finished products. Take cocoa, for example: Africa produces over 70% of the world’s cocoa but earns less than 5% of the $100 billion global chocolate industry.
The same cocoa that leaves Africa at cents per kilo returns as chocolate bars sold at ten times the price on shelves in America and Europe. This is not trade. It’s economic sabotage. It’s imperialism and neocolonialism.
We are paying loan interests more than the loans borrowed. In 2023, over 50% of Ghana’s revenue went toward debt servicing. Africa is not borrowing for development. It’s paying ransom to a system built on its suppression.
Congolese children are mining cobalt for smartphones produced by Apple, Samsung, and Google, yet we receive almost nothing in return.
Our lands are being grabbed in our own backyard. Millions of hectares of fertile African land have been sold, grabbed by, or leased to foreign governments and corporations. China, Saudi Arabia, the U.S., and European states all own chunks of African farmland. Yet the African pays more to buy the food that grows on his own land.
They take our best doctors, engineers, technicians, and academics, and then ship them off to the West, where they fill talent gaps for foreign economies. Over 30% of Africa’s highly skilled professionals live abroad. Meanwhile, African hospitals suffer shortages.
They sold us the “climate change” and “global warming” hoax, making us pay for what we didn’t cause and depriving us from achieving the industrial stage. We contribute less than 4% of global greenhouse emissions, yet suffer the worst effects: floods, droughts, and food insecurity. They caused the fire. Now they sell Africa the water at interest.
Foreign aid is often painted as generosity with a story of humanity. But much of it is aimed at controlling our resources and influencing our political interests. Their donations, funding, and aid are tools to discipline African governments and impose neoliberal policies that benefit them in turn. It’s not about helping Africa rise. It’s about keeping Africa in line.
The next time someone says Africa needs saving, remember this: Africa powers their economy. Its minerals power their phones, electric vehicles, and computers.
