So Why Are African States Not Eager (able) to Industrialize?

Perhaps nine reasons will suffice.

The first reason to account for this is the continued extraction, repatriation, harvesting and stripping of so much valuable but limited resources from Africa for so many years in form of timber, minerals, people and animals without judicious use, regeneration, reinvestment, replanting or use of better conservation methods.

The second is atrophy in that the Europeans and the West deployed all forms of materiel to denigrate Africa thus making her submissive in all spheres and her capacity to compete rendered next to impossible.

The third is low diffusion of development consciousness which is a barrier to development. Not many Africans are so eager to embrace industrialization or development projects because: their buy-in is not sought; destruction of nature (including ancestral grounds, rivers, forests, wildlife and other forms of vegetation); it is still difficult to deal with waste and refuse from processing raw materials. With Africa's low investment in recycling and refuse disposal industries, industrialization may need other added expenses in areas normally not thought of as part of industry building.

The fourth is the lack of cash capital to invest in establishing built infrastructure, research and development which are a requisite for modernization.

The fifth is the conditions that lock out, keep Africa in the peripherals, distinctively as a raw material producer, while the West has all opportunities to become the economic giant with the hands on all forms of intellectual property law book.

The sixth is the state of growth in Africa, for not many African countries have the wherewithal to foster strategic development outcomes on their own. There is still low capacity  to generate short and long term plans to secure funding to be used to improve humans in form of production, housing, water services, education, job creation, market-driven contexts, industrialization and sustainability of these targets. 

The seventh is because many of the products used in African countries are products made in other countries. It may be harder to negotiate and keep stable prices. These countries may have different tariff mechanisms with African countries. The Brexit and EU; and changes in the China-USA trade negotiations have changed the way countries trade with Europe.

The eighth reason could be the conditions lenders give before providing the loans. A case in example is how China has turned out to dictate very hard terms to African countries seeking loans from there. 


The ninth reason is about which priorities to choose from. Most Africans countries are still going through nascent phases of growth and are required to address immediate social needs of people before investing in sophisticated infrastructure.

The above stated reasons do not mean Africa cannot industrialize. On the contrary, Africa has to take on the call of development stoically. In this, Africa will have to sit at tables with those very countries whose earlier motive was to make African countries dominions. This time around, Africa has to have really good negotiators who will be able to attract investors with the disposition for development even while they watch out for a profit to be made. Looking up the performance of all the 8 countries shows there is potential for modernization and development even if high industrialization may not be top of the agenda.
Source: Google
                     
The Ksh 24 billion dam expected to boost water in Kiambu and Nairobi counties. Kenya.co.ke

Nazi Kibwana Speaking and Offering Aid at a past public function for school girls. Kenya.co.ke

                         
President Uhuru during the ground breaking ceremony of Ksh 20 billion Thiba dam, Kirinyaga TWITTER


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