Abdulai Mansaray: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 06 March 2021:
Sierra Leone has always enjoyed the paradoxical label of being one of the richest poor countries in Africa. Our country is regarded as rich and well known for its vast endowment in minerals – diamonds, rutile, bauxite, gold, iron ore, limonite, platinum, chromite, coltan, tantalite, columbite and zircon, as well as promising petroleum potential.
With our wonderful climate and large swathes of arable land, we used to boast about products like rice, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, and in the recent past, piassava. With such resources for a population averaging seven million at best of times, what is our excuse for being such a poor nation?