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Of Change, Famished Roads, and African Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Remi Sonaiya
Remi Sonaiya*
Affiliation:
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
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Extract

The fact of the underdevelopment of Africa is a direct challenge to the enlightened minds on the continent. Indeed, it is a burden that is borne with a certain amount of shame by those who are more sensitive and capable of deep reflection. They have often asked fundamental questions in frustration and anger, wondering what was wrong with Africa and with the African, seeking to know why Africans seemed incapable of rising above their reputation of being the ‘les damnés de la terre’ (‘the wretched of the earth’). Among the questions about Africa that have troubled such minds are the following:

  1. - Why did Africa succumb to slavery like it did?

  2. - Why was the enslavement of African peoples on African soil possible?

  3. - Why has education failed to produce the kinds of societal changes that should normally have followed?

  4. - Why does good governance continue to elude so many African countries, after over 40 years of independence?

  5. - Might certain aspects of the African culture be standing in the way of the continent's development?

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , May 2004 , pp. 83 - 92
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2004

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