AFRICAN NATIONS DO NOT NEED HANDOUTS – PROF. GLENN MUSCHERT
By Abayomi Oyelami, Trek Africa Newspaper
The penchant of African nations to seek aids, grants, and loans especially from multilateral organizations and foreign governments has come under severe criticisms over time. Yet, the desire seems to be insatiable. During the week, some African leaders attended a one-day meeting in Cote d’Ivoire to request a US$100bn economic recovery fund from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA20).
Speaking against such moves, Professor of Sociology at Khalifa University, UAE, Prof. Glenn Muschert noted: ‘The no. 1 resource of developing countries is its people and especially the youth. They are literally the future. What can be done to assist the youth of the Gambia and other African nations is to build capacity and earn a prosperous future for themselves.
No handouts to beggars, but dignified opportunities for people to prosper and flourish.’
Professor of Sociology, Khalifa University, UAE, Prof. Glenn Muschert
Instead of begging, he advised African leaders, ‘A dual process is needed. Teach youth self-empowerment and correct thinking, while at the same time work to develop small business and economic capacity. Keep it in the country and prevent foreign companies from siphoning it off. Build, reinvest, build more, reinvest & so on.’
Muschert further advised African governments to apply the Booker T. Washington model. ‘Are you familiar with the Black American leader Booker T. Washington. For post-slavery era African-Americans, he advocated vocational education and jobs for 90%. University education he proposed to be reserved for 10% who would lead. He called them the Talented Tenth’ as he shared his thoughts during a live virtual chat, Reminisense the TweetChat series, which held Tuesday 13th July on popular microblogging platform, Twitter.
The expert in the field of Digital Divide urged young Africans, ‘Don’t wait for others to take action. It can’t wait for government to take action or for foreign aid. The people in this conversation are the leaders the world needs. Start in your own community. Don’t look to anyone else. If the boat is sinking, 90% of people need to start bailing. The other 10% starts plugging the leaks. Meet in the middle.’
‘You are the best & brightest. I offer you my assistance freely. I don’t know what I can do, but I will help if possible,’ the Abu Dhabi-based American professor concluded.
