Interesting read, RN. I agree that China's willingness to 'invest' in infrastructure in Africa, without seeking, as the West does, to interfere in who governs the continent, is a positive.
However, as a Nigerian who lives in Nigeria, and sees and hears about huge loans from China to my country, I must question whether China is so much better in its intervention in Africa than Western countries.
In the Northern gold-rich part of Nigeria for instance, Chinese nationals engage in illegal mining, thus fueling criminality. I have heard that there is a region in China where the worst quality of goods anyone can imagine, are made specifically, and bound for Nigeria, of course, in connivance with Nigerian businesspeople who believe that they can only make money by putting their fellow countrymen's lives at risk.
I would be shocked to learn that Chinese authorities are unaware of this aberration.
Moving to Africa, you are right that Africa has a much younger population than India. But I doubt that African 'leaders' have any interest in policies that ensure that their youth population gets a high-quality education and takes advantage of the vacuum that may exist in other parts of the world.
African leaders are either unaware or do not care (the latter is more correct in my opinion), to invest and groom its youth population to develop their continent to be the next big thing.
If you think India would be left behind, I doubt you have much to worry about. Not yet, at least.
Africa has a choice. It can shun China. And it can go back tonthr likes of De Beers who introduced the concept of blood diamonds, backed by a private army trained by Silitoe, formerly from the OAS.
Africa has a choice of climbing the value chain through better education.
No system is perfect. One has to choose between two flawed systems, or remain primitive.
Of course, no system is perfect. My earlier response was to highlight that China is not as altruistic as they appeared to be, but more importantly, African leaders are choosing their selfish interests over the greater good of the continent.
Interesting read, RN. I agree that China's willingness to 'invest' in infrastructure in Africa, without seeking, as the West does, to interfere in who governs the continent, is a positive.
However, as a Nigerian who lives in Nigeria, and sees and hears about huge loans from China to my country, I must question whether China is so much better in its intervention in Africa than Western countries.
In the Northern gold-rich part of Nigeria for instance, Chinese nationals engage in illegal mining, thus fueling criminality. I have heard that there is a region in China where the worst quality of goods anyone can imagine, are made specifically, and bound for Nigeria, of course, in connivance with Nigerian businesspeople who believe that they can only make money by putting their fellow countrymen's lives at risk.
I would be shocked to learn that Chinese authorities are unaware of this aberration.
Moving to Africa, you are right that Africa has a much younger population than India. But I doubt that African 'leaders' have any interest in policies that ensure that their youth population gets a high-quality education and takes advantage of the vacuum that may exist in other parts of the world.
African leaders are either unaware or do not care (the latter is more correct in my opinion), to invest and groom its youth population to develop their continent to be the next big thing.
If you think India would be left behind, I doubt you have much to worry about. Not yet, at least.
Africa has a choice. It can shun China. And it can go back tonthr likes of De Beers who introduced the concept of blood diamonds, backed by a private army trained by Silitoe, formerly from the OAS.
Africa has a choice of climbing the value chain through better education.
No system is perfect. One has to choose between two flawed systems, or remain primitive.
Of course, no system is perfect. My earlier response was to highlight that China is not as altruistic as they appeared to be, but more importantly, African leaders are choosing their selfish interests over the greater good of the continent.