{"id":13886,"date":"2022-03-25T16:12:21","date_gmt":"2022-03-25T16:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/not-enough-wheat-oil-gas-all-for-africa-its-a-crying-shame"},"modified":"2022-03-25T17:12:59","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T17:12:59","slug":"not-enough-wheat-oil-gas-all-for-africa-its-a-crying-shame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/not-enough-wheat-oil-gas-all-for-africa-its-a-crying-shame","title":{"rendered":"Not enough wheat, oil, gas, all, for Africa? It\u2019s a crying shame!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>What the heck is this? Faraway north-eastern countries catch a warring-cold and we in our resource-cure-rich south sneeze our brains out? And here we are, whining, totally lost for a soothing balm? It\u2019s a crying shame!<\/p>\n

Africa, full to the brim with natural resources should not be yearning for morsels from near-to-all-year frozen northern lands for sustenance. Why should we be weeping ayo kwarika (shedding bucketful-s of tears) because prices of oil, gas, wheat and all that accompany them are going through the roof, all due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with NATO stocking the embers?<\/p>\n

We should not be drawn in by the vagaries of northern countries\u2019 quarrels when we are actually more resourced and should be feeding them on everything. After all, we know that the countries to the west of those warring ones would probably today be impoverished, if it weren\u2019t for the resources of Africa.<\/p>\n

Of course, we in Africa crave cooperation with all. Our conviction is that our aim on this earth as humans should be to help one another up the prosperity ladder. Not like us, Apartheid-hoarding northern myopic, egocentric Shylocks, like we saw with the Covid-19 vaccines discovery.<\/p>\n

We are born generous, being sociable beings, but shouldn\u2019t depend on other continents for what we\u2019ve got in abundance. Our soils have enough resources to feed us, nay, to feed the world. And, come to think of it, it isn\u2019t as if our soils haven\u2019t tried, even supplying them with human \u2018goods\u2019.<\/p>\n

Be that as it may, though, it\u2019s a shame that we should open our beaks like chicks \u2013 much as, unlike chicks, we have to cough up some dough in exchange \u2013 because we cannot eat bread, cook food or get oil to move our coughing jalopies till the north sells us some. Especially having seen, as we have oftentimes without drawing lessons from it, which they have always remembered to throw crumbs to us after having had their fill.<\/p>\n

We can name a few countries that can grow enough wheat to feed the continent and, in fact, spare some for other continents. Ethiopia, South Africa, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia. There are many others with vast lands, but haven\u2019t \u2018bothered\u2019 to exploit it.<\/p>\n

As for oil, it\u2019s being discovered by the month by a variety of countries (hoping they\u2019ll get some other use for it when green energy sends it back to the cave-wells!) Even then, we have it in abundance, already being drilled in a number of countries like Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Angola.<\/p>\n

As for natural gas, to this day more is being discovered. So, what is the missing link that these African countries should fail to share these resources that they have in abundance? Interestingly, what is missing is exactly that \u201clink\u201d. The \u201clink\u201d African countries, to their credit, have woken up to putting into effect, much as they continue to drag their lumbering feet.<\/p>\n

The link is simply the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It\u2019ll be the world\u2019s largest free trade area and will connect over a 1.3billion people across 55 countries. The combined gross domestic product is estimated to be upwards of US $3.4 trillion. Beat that for wealth! Problem is, from 2018, why isn\u2019t AfCFTA up and running?<\/p>\n

The fear of za baringa, phantom fears, that\u2019s why! Countries\u2019 individual fears of revenue losses; uneven distribution of costs and losses; diversified export markets; greater competition due to removal of tariffs and a flooding of cheap goods; degradation of natural resources; loss of traditional livelihoods; local employment issues.<\/p>\n

All bunk! How did other integrated regions find ways of being functional and make it (forgetting about one imperialist-\u2018hangovered\u2019 Brexit!)? Za baringa are many. Wasn\u2019t it one time thought that the African Union Commission (AUC) as it existed could not be reformed and function better? When one of our presidents was given the task, he put bright heads together and within no time they\u2019d turned it into a purposeful, functional machine.<\/p>\n

However, even then the elephant in the room loomed large: how could the AUC stop dangling a begging bowl to foreign funders? When some countries could hardly feed themselves, how could they finance their continental commission?<\/p>\n

The team went to work again. African Union Member States should implement a 0.2% levy on eligible imports to finance it, suggested the bright heads. All made so simple that everyone wondered why it\u2019d never occurred to them!<\/p>\n

The fund would be enough for financing continental peace and security; managing the Union Commission; implementing continental development; easing countries\u2019 assessed contributions to the Union. All commencing by January 2017. Has anything come to fruition? Unfortunately, the lumbering feet!<\/p>\n

And so here we are, grieving that the prices of everything are skyrocketing, all because NATO countries and Russia are scuffling it out over who controls which tuff, with Ukraine being beaten by the rain of their quarrel. Thus, no oil, no wheat, no whatever, from Russia or Ukraine.<\/p>\n

May this be a wake-up call for Africa to be self-reliant? Time to maybe call on the wits of the bright head to again devise ways of heaving the AfCFTA into action?<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. What the heck is this? Faraway north-eastern countries catch a warring-cold and we in our resource-cure-rich south sneeze our brains out? And here we are, whining, totally lost for a soothing balm? It\u2019s a crying shame! Africa, full to the brim with natural resources should not be yearning for morsels from near-to-all-year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":13885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,761,28],"tags":[760,763,758],"class_list":["post-13886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\nNot enough wheat, oil, gas, all, for Africa? It\u2019s a crying shame! - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What the heck is this? 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