Mr.Rip Van Winkle Africa's untapped Human resource/Capital
Africa represents two extremes of paradox. The black continent depicts an epitome of wealth from the apex of the Northern Africa to the tail end of the South. It is inundated with natural resources and treasures that often supposedly elicit envy from the so-called superior continents.
South Africa and Ghana are two of the largest producers of Gold in the world today, with South Africa the 6th largest producer and Ghana the 10th. Africa remains the largest producer of diamond in the world.
Seven out of the top 10 largest producers of diamonds are African countries and 16 out of the 22 top producers are also Africa countries. Other abundant resources mined from African soil include copper, aluminum, platinum, coal, uranium, bauxite, oil, and gas, to mention a few. But these resources would be incomplete without making mention of the human resources.
Africa’s Population Analysis
Too often than not, most studies on the wealth of Africa have been focused on the mineral resources but very little attention is paid to the human resources. A study conducted by the United Nations in 2016 shows that Africa has the world’s youngest population.
Specifically, the study outlined that the 10 youngest populations in the world can be found in Africa; the major countries cited by the U.N report include Niger, Uganda, Chad, Angola, Mali, Somalia, Gambia, Zambia, DRC and Burkina Faso.
The population of Africa has grown steadily over the years despite adversity and extreme poverty in the continent. Generally, Africa has grown from 221 million in 1950 to over 1.2 billion in 2016. Interestingly, over 50% of this population is under 25.
The statistic is more promising in sub-Saharan Africa where about 60% of the population is under 25. One would think that this immense human resource would bring about a better prospect for Africa but Africa and its leaders have a history of resource wastage.
Mismanagement of Resources in Africa
It’s no longer news that African leaders have a penchant for resource mismanagement. An analysis of the abundant resources in Africa would leave one wondering why the continent is largely underdeveloped. The fact that a country like Nigeria, blessed with a large deposit of oil and gas, still experiences incessant power outage is unthinkable.
Concretely, over 600 million people, representing almost half of Africa’s population, are still in total darkness. Across 36 African countries, only 2 in 5 people have access to reliable power throughout the day.
However, electricity is not the only issue of concern in Africa. Virtually every resource is mismanaged from the horn of the Northern Africa to the tail of the South. Nigeria represents an epitome of resource mismanagement in Africa.
Several sagas of stolen billions of dollars gotten from sales of the nation’s crude oil make headline news. But Nigeria is not alone in this quagmire; several African countries such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, Gunea, Ghana, South Africa and so forth are notable for corruption.
“Although natural resource mismanagement is at its extreme in Africa, the greatest of all harms and misfortune Africa and Africans experience is human resource mismanagement.”
Human resources are largely untapped in Africa. The danger of this is that untapped human resources certainly end up constituting nuisances to the society. This explains the reason why violence and vices are at their peak in Africa.
Rather than spending their youth learning state-of-the-arts crafts and technologies or studying in good schools, most young Africans are rather exposed to occultism, recklessness, and idleness. The result is that the supposedly treasurable youths who should be engaging actively in improving the continent’s economy are rather looking for a fast track to wealth and exploiting all odd means to do so.
It is pitiable that Africans are largely undereducated. The emphasis in most studies has always been on the unemployment and underemployment in Africa but remarkably education is a serious issue especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Most schools in Africa are in a miserable state and therefore lack the capacity to train African youths.
It is not surprising that most graduates from African institutions are largely unemployable. Sadly, African universities churn up a bunch of inept folks incapable of manning the nation’s infrastructure and contributing positively to the society. But the educational institution is not alone in this misery.
Virtually every institution in Africa has failed in optimizing the huge human resources available in the continent. The worst of all institutions that have contributed immensely to the deplorable state of Africa and its youth is the government. African governments are a shamble where the emphasis is on embezzlement, corruption, tribalism, and nepotism.
Optimizing the Immense Human Resources in Africa
Amidst the thick darkness, there appears a beacon of hope. It is noteworthy that several Africans are making the continent proud. These are often cases where the human resource is optimized. Concretely, the best way out of the misery, poverty and undeniable challenge in Africa is human resource optimization.
This simply refers to consciously investing in the human resources in Africa with a goal to make the society knowledge-centric. According to World Bank, Africa could experience 11-15% GDP growth between 2011 and 2013 simply by investing in its youth.
Of course, such an investment could be viewed in several lights. A few programs for youth empowerment often make headline news in Africa. Such programs usually focus on empowering the youth with capital to start up their own businesses. Usually, such programs represent a swindler to pacify the aggrieved youths.
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