How Economically and Politically Independent are African Nations?
Engaging The Toyin Falola Reader
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems
'Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge'
"If nationalism succeeded in obtaining the transfer of power, it was unsuccessful in preventing the transition from colonial rule to neocolonial control, in which the former masters retained their dominant influence in politics and the economy. (732)
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...necolonialism became entrenched, and at the end of the century, many parts of Africa have actually declined to a pre-1961 level [ the colonial era] and are begging former imperialist masters to do whatever they like with them as long as they offer assistance.
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...scholars and radical politicians have pointed out that Africa gained no genuine freedom and has in fact never enjoyed any economic Independence. With its economy controlled by external financial institutions, and with domestic production geared towards export, many analysts have concluded that Africa is a neocolonial outpost. (733)
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The arguments against neocolonialism are often valid and can be supported with evidence. But it is not the totality of the story, as many suggest. Africans have to share in the blame for the gross mismanagement, bad leadership, disorganized opposition, corruption, institutional decadence, and exhibition of characteristics opposed to the very essence of nationalism.(734-5)
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...the intelligentsia [ had] organised their [ pro-independence] campaigns around anticolonial feelings. Not being able to fall on common language, history, and culture, anti-European consciousness was the sole source of their energy. Once Europeans left, new enemies could only be found within.Scholars oriented towards Marxism and dependency theory were able to retain the external focus, changing the enemy to neocolonialism. ... However, most of the intelligentsia and its constituents did not go beyond their borders, turning on one another instead, as if only parochialism could replace nationalism.
Toyin Falola. The Toyin Falola Reader on African Culture, Nationalism, Development and Epistemologies ( Austin: Pan African University Press, 2018).
What about the collective connivance of the African political elite to loot and politically subjugate nations? Is the coexistence of ethnic politics with collective connivance amongst elite of various ethnicities a realistic description of the current situation in Nigeria, for example? To what degree do these political elite fight for their ethnic constituencies and to what degree do they fighting for individual and inter-ethnic class interests ?
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