By Jones N. Williams
Port-au-Prince, Haiti- January 4, 2021 — Several countries in Africa, by and large, have people, belief-systems, subcultures, traditions, and sectors that are homogenous. The continent is also endowed with untapped natural resources, favorable climatic conditions, environments, and a vast pool of talents that many of its countries could greatly benefit from. Also, the cost of living in Africa, compared to the rest of the world, is cheaper. Because of these factors and other reasons, governing African nations, I vehemently believe, should not be difficult if Africans in politics on the continent do the right thing.
Despite what has facilitated this conclusion, the fact remains that Africa and more countries in Africa stand and remain at a crossroads. The continent has the worse ratio and most damming count of abject poverty. According to a World Bank’s report, Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa, although “the share of Africans living in extreme poverty has fallen substantially—from 54% in 1990 to 41% in 2015—but due to high population growth during the same period, the number of poor people in Africa has increased from 278 million in 1990 to 413 million in 2015.” The World Bank further maintained that “If [the] circumstances remain the same, the poverty rate [in Africa] is expected to decline to 23% only, by 2030 and global poverty will become increasingly African, rising from 55% in 2015 to 90% in 2030.”