Africa Must Get Real about Chinese Ties

19 Mar 2013
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SANUSI LAMIDO SANUSI



Nigeria, a country with a large domestic market of more than 160m people, spends huge resources importing consumer goods from China that should be produced locally. We buy textiles, fabric, leather goods, tomato paste, starch, furniture, electronics, building materials and plastic goods. I could go on.


The Chinese, on the other hand, buy Nigeria’s crude oil. In much of Africa, they have set up huge mining operations. They have also built infrastructure. But, with exceptions, they have done so using equipment and labour imported from home, without transferring skills to local communities.


So China takes our primary goods and sells us manufactured ones. This was also the essence of colonialism. The British went to Africa and India to secure raw materials and markets. Africa is now willingly opening itself up to a new form of imperialism.
The days of the Non-Aligned Movement that united us after colonialism are gone. China is no longer a fellow under-developed economy – it is the world’s second-biggest, capable of the same forms of exploitation as the west. It is a significant contributor to Africa’s deindustrialisation and underdevelopment.


My father was Nigeria’s ambassador to Beijing in the early 1970s. He adored Chairman Mao Zedong’s China, which for him was one in which the black African – seen everywhere else at the time as inferior – was worthy of respect.


His experience was not unique. A romantic view of China is quite common among African imaginations – including mine. Before his sojourn in Beijing, he was the typical Europhile, committed to a vision of African “progress” defined by replicating western ways of doing things. Afterwards, when he became permanent secretary in the external affairs ministry, the influence of China’s anti-colonial stance was written all over the foreign policy he crafted, backing liberation movements in Portuguese colonies and challenging South Africa’s apartheid regime.


This African love of China is founded on a vision of the country as a saviour, a partner, a model. But working as governor of Nigeria’s central bank has given me pause for thought. We cannot blame the Chinese, or any other foreign power, for our country’s problems. We must blame ourselves for our fuel subsidy scams, for oil theft in the Niger Delta, for our neglect of agriculture and education, and for our limitless tolerance of incompetence. That said, it is a critical precondition for development in Nigeria and the rest of Africa that we remove the rose-tinted glasses through which we view China.


Three decades ago, China had a significant advantage over Africa in its cheap labour costs. It is losing that advantage as its economy grows and prosperity spreads. Africa must seize the moment. We must encourage a shift from consuming Chinese-made goods to making and consuming our own. We must add value to our own agricultural products. Nigeria and other oil producers need to refine crude; build petrochemical industries and use gas reserves – at present often squandered in flaring at oil wells – for power generation and gas-based industries such as fertiliser production.


For Africa to realise its economic potential, we need to build first-class infrastructure. This should service an afro-centric vision of economic policies. African nations will not develop by selling commodities to Europe, America and China. We may not be able to compete immediately in selling manufactured goods to Europe. But in the short term, with the right infrastructure, we have a huge domestic market. Here, we must see China for what it is: a competitor.


We must not only produce locally goods in which we can build comparative advantage, but also actively fight off Chinese imports promoted by predatory policies. Finally, while African labour may be cheaper than China’s, productivity remains very low. Investment in technical and vocational education is critical.


Africa must recognise that China – like the US, Russia, Britain, Brazil and the rest – is in Africa not for African interests but its own. The romance must be replaced by hard-nosed economic thinking. Engagement must be on terms that allow the Chinese to make money while developing the continent, such as incentives to set up manufacturing on African soil and policies to ensure employment of Africans.


Being my father’s son, I cannot recommend a divorce. However, a review of the exploitative elements in this marital contract is long overdue. Every romance begins with partners blind to each other’s flaws before the scales fall away and we see the partner, warts and all. We may remain together – but at least there are no illusions.
• Sanusi, CBN governor, wrote this opinion piece in the Financial Times

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/africa-must-get-real-about-chinese-ties/142520/

So, this clown is now the new western imperialist tool they're grooming to destroy Africa in the next decade, no Focus on your job, mate... Oh well, that's if he actually knows what his job entails - a man who studied Islamic studies should never have been appointed as the head of the CBN, anyway...

[img]http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/IMF+Managing+Director+Christine+Lagarde+Visits+ylila4V5E4Um.jpg[/img]

^^^^Birds of a feather..SMFDH.... Africa's NEMESIS..

Nice one Mr Sanusi. You just stated the facts. It now boils down to what the African leaders will do regarding these issues.

shymexx: So, this clown is now the new western imperialist tool they're grooming to destroy Africa in the next decade, no Focus on your job, mate... Oh well, that's if he actually knows what his job entails - a man who studied Islamic studies should never have been appointed as the head of the CBN, anyway...

[img]http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/IMF+Managing+Director+Christine+Lagarde+Visits+ylila4V5E4Um.jpg[/img]

^^^^Birds of a feather..SMFDH.... Africa's NEMESIS..

^Maybe you should stick to your favoured basketball commentaries, this is serious stuff and It's obvious digesting stuff this serious is way beyond some. Lebron and the Heats in some run huh?

wesley80: ^Maybe you should stick to your favoured basketball commentaries, this is serious stuff and It's obvious digesting stuff this serious is way beyond some. Lebron and the Heats in some run huh?

Perhaps, maybe you need to start using your brain-cells and realise that we live in a competitive world - and no one is going to give you hand-outs and transfer technology/know-how to you on a platter of gold - you've to do it yourself... No one gave the Chinese hand-outs, they had to go there and get it to become what they're today - heck, they achieved everything under technology embargo... Iran is also thriving under back-breaking sanctions by itself without hand-outs from anyone - why can't Africa do the same

At the end of the day, the Chinese are giving you the best bargain you can get anywhere right now... Why can't you maximise that to your advantage and stop crying wolf everywhere like spoiled brats?? Africa needs to look inwards - life/world is about the survival of the fittest... China will always look out for China!! Take the best bargain that you've ever got for your resources and move to the next level - this is Africa's last chance as we move into a bi-polar world...

Nigeria is far behind. The people we call leaders are not helping matter,and so are the followers.

omiobo: Nigeria is far behind. The people we call leaders are not helping matter,and so are the followers.

Thank you...

People like this Sanusi guy are also part of the problem... He chastised China in his opening sermon - then proffered "solutions" in the middle, yet being one of the stakeholders in Nigeria's government, he hasn't effected any policy where he heads, to improve the country...

I just hate seeing these fools cry wolf about China - China is paying you good money and helping you more than "anyone" has ever done - let them be if you can't lead by example...

I can see through this deceitful pseudo-marxist...

shymexx:

Perhaps, maybe you need to start using your brain-cells and realise that we live in a competitive world - and no one is going to give you hand-outs and transfer technology/know-how to you on a platter of gold - you've to do it yourself... No one gave the Chinese hand-outs, they had to go there and get it to become what they're today - heck, they achieved everything under technology embargo... Iran is also thriving under back-breaking sanctions by itself without hand-outs from anyone - why can't Africa do the same

At the end of the day, the Chinese are giving you the best bargain you can get anywhere right now... Why can't you maximise that to your advantage and stop crying wolf everywhere like spoiled brats?? Africa needs to look inwards - life/world is about the survival of the fittest... China will always look out for China!! Take the best bargain that you've ever got for your resources and move to the next level - this is Africa's last chance as we move into a bi-polar world...

^ In your desperation to pick on his academic qualifications and all that, you missed the core of Sanusi's message; the Devil is in now so what do we do? The Chinese are bulldozing their way through Africa like undetected cancer in a human so how do we put a stop to their adventure? The drivel you posted above may have strained your brain cells but sadly, is only fit for the bin. Nice try but I still think you'll be better off sticking with NBA commentary.

They don't give a sh*t about us. They agree to finance projects roughly 70percent while you provide 30percent and on the terms that they'll bring in their workers to execute it. They also come along with paperwork that includes sections written in Chinese containing a lot of hidden clauses to fool you. On inception, they work with say 20percent and start buzzing you to provide money and if you refuse, they stall the project. They don't respect agreements and at the end of the day, they always get the better deal over us. I'v always disliked China due to their low moral standings and integrity.

Nah, the brain fart in your head failed to read between the lines... His pseudo-message reminds me of a pastor who's quick to tell his congregation that the bogus "devil" is responsible for every sin they commit and how they can conquer the "devil" by being born again... Yet he sleeps with most of the women in his congregation... So, who's fooling who What has he done in his capacity as the CBN governor to see that there's a change in the system Isn't this the same lunatic who wanted to waste billions on printing higher notes in the country The clown who stays donating CBN's money to bogus "victims" of different crap everywhere in the country??

He needs to shut up and do his damn work the right way - tell him to lead by example, mate...

Africa has no friends.

The sky is blue.

Thanks to Captain Obvious, I guess.

shymexx:
So, this clown is now the new western imperialist tool they're grooming to destroy Africa in the next decade, no Focus on your job, mate... Oh well, that's if he actually knows what his job entails - a man who studied Islamic studies should never have been appointed as the head of the CBN, anyway...

[img]http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/IMF+Managing+Director+Christine+Lagarde+Visits+ylila4V5E4Um.jpg[/img]

^^^^Birds of a feather..SMFDH.... Africa's NEMESIS..

So now with the naira tading on the black mkt at 186 you still maintain your view?