This archive report was first published on 31 July 2019.
On July 31, 2019, Wale Akinyemi, the chief transformation officer at PowerTalks, wrote an article highlighting the root cause of poverty in Africa. He argued that the discovery of oil in many African countries has led to a shift from making the best of local resources to relying on government handouts.
According to Akinyemi, this shift has created a culture of corruption and stifled innovation. He noted that in Nigeria, where he grew up, the discovery of oil in 1956 was a game-changer. The country became independent four years later, and there was a shift from making the best of what they had – their land.
The concept of the national cake was born, which negatively affected the nation and continues to do so. No longer was prosperity tied to effort and skill, but to the government. The money kept flowing in, and the then-president said that Nigeria did not have a money problem but how to spend the money.
Akinyemi pointed out that the wealth produced a new breed of millionaires, many of whom had one thing in common – they were either in government or were close to government. This created a playing field that was not level, where it did not matter how skilled a person was; if they did not have the right connections with government, their skill would not change their lives.
He emphasized that this is one of the most common traits of poor nations. Their skilled people cannot benefit from their skill. Wherever you have this gap, people justifiably begin to look for how to change their lives, which becomes the breeding ground for corruption.
Akinyemi concluded that preaching against corruption will not provide a long-term solution, and locking people up will only have a short-term expression of fear. To rid the continent of corruption, we must ensure that we restore the link between skill and personal transformation.
