AFRICAPITALISM: AN ENABLING FORCE FOR PEACE BUILDING IN AFRICA (2)

AFRICAPITALISM: AN ENABLING FORCE FOR PEACE BUILDING IN AFRICA (2)

© 2018           CHIBU NDUBUISI      20/10/2018     WEEK 42

 “Peace is like oxygen, when you don’t have it, it is all you can think about but when you do, you don’t appreciate your good fortune” Joseph Nye 

Peace be upon you.   

Africapitalism as an idea is hinged on four core values of sense of progress and prosperity, sense of parity and inclusion, sense of peace and harmony, sense of place and belonging. Amaeshi. k (2013).

The value of peace and harmony will be our focal point for this discourse. The idea of Africapitalism is about how Africans can invest in instruments of productivity and healing rather than destruction. When Africans are empowered, Peace and harmony flows. Ibeanu (2004), further opines, that peace, as a process involving activities is directly and indirectly linked to increasing development and reducing conflict in all spheres.

To understand Africapitalism, we must go back to a lesson in Chinua Achebe, classic novel “Things Fall Apart “(1958;17) to understand why his narrative is important in this discourse. Okonkwo approaches Nwakibie the successful farmer on his entrepreneurial quest. This is how their discussion ensued; Okonkwo said

I have come to you for help; he said. ‘Perhaps you can already guess what it is. I have cleared a farm but have no yams to sow I know what it is to ask a man to trust another with his yams, especially these days when young men are afraid of hard work. I am not afraid of work. The lizard that jumped from the high iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no one else did. I began to fend for myself at an age when most people still suck at their mothers’ breast. If you give me some yam seeds I shall not fail you’.

Nwakibie cleared his throat. ‘It pleases me to see a young man like you these days when our youths have gone so soft. But I can trust you. I know it as I look at you. As our fathers said, you can tell a ripe corn by its look. I shall give you twice four hundred yams. Go ahead and prepare your farm’ 

Nwakibie the successful farmer obliged Okonkwo with his yam seedlings because he has already succeeded as an individual but equally wants to create social wealth by empowering Okonkwo to succeed equally.

This is what Africapitalism is trying to teach. It is about believing in people and investing in them productively. 

 Africapitalism at this point can be likened to a “Critical juncture” in Africa’s political economy. A point of seeking for yam seedlings like Okonkwo did to Nwakibe the successful farmer.

 Daron Acemoglu, James A Robinson (2012;101) talks about “Critical junctures” as a major event or confluence of factors disrupting the existing balance in a society, a double edge sword that can cause a sharp turn in the trajectory of a nation like the Industrial revolution, French revolution etc.

Africapitalism is a point, when we take ownership and responsibility to help in providing the fuel for the future. It is about how to stand on ones feet through wealth creation. What Africapitalism for Peace building seeks to achieve is that, in this Information, Communication and Technological age, Africans need to awaken fellow Africans on how we can achieve more collectively to counteract the damage Western capitalism has inflicted on Africa.

Ben Lawrence writing in TELL magazine of August 24, 2015 p 45 ‘motherhood in tears’ Posited that.

“Most of the Nigerians dying in Sahara desert and drowning in the Mediterranean are 50 years plus and below. They are desperate generation gunning for money at all cost helped also by want caused by unemployment and a leadership without rudder. The same generation sweeps the crowd of drug peddlers and cyber fraud clan.

So, it is with many African countries. Africapitalism is about halting this perilous and suicidal trend.

Tony Elumelu on his part, started in 2014 to empower 1000 Africans yearly and till 2024 through the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) powered by the Tony Elumelu Foundation. This act qualifies him as a Peace building agent. 

Who is a Peace Building Agent? Peace building agents are Nation states, International Organizations, Non-governmental organizations, Civil societies, Academia, Religious groups, Communities and Individuals who consistently put efforts towards ensuring that positive peace prevails and their roles are: On the Government level, when integrative policies are made for the populace rather than alienating policies that negate positive peace. On the Academia: when the type of education taught in schools are those that foster peaceful living. On the religious axis: when the teaching that bothers on hate, fundamentalism and extremisms are not taught, but teaching that bothers on love and hope are encouraged. On the individual level: when self-spirited individuals like Tony Elumelu uses his wealth to pursue a positive cause like the TEEP programme. People who engage in advocacy work that fosters peace. Civil societies: can serve as buffers against government excesses and help in interest aggregation.

Jonathan Sacks (2017) advised that “what makes a civilization survive is not strength but how they respond to the weak, not by wealth but how they care for the poor, not by power but the concern for the powerless, what renders a culture invulnerable is the compassion it shows to the vulnerable”.

Peace building is about understanding activities that promote long term stability and justice. It also endeavours to create peace enhancing outcomes with due attention to the processes and outcomes. Peace building is about supporting programs to reduce destructive attitudes and to build trust which include measures to improve the confidence and commitment of all parties (Osita .:37), Charles T Call (2008)

Africapitalism comes in as that galvanizing force in the direction of leaving no one behind. ‘Poverty anywhere is a threat everywhere’. Tony Elumelu (2017).

It is about nurturing and harnessing Africa’s socio-economic cum political ecology on African values.

The Global Peace Index (Institute for Economics and Peace) “gauges global peace using three broad themes: (a)the level of safety and security in society, (b)the extent of domestic and international conflict and (c)the degree of militarization. “Africa is well represented in these parameters hence Africapitalism for Peace building id timely.

The Peace and harmony of a nation can only be sustained when acts that ennoble all are enabled and where each unit in the system is valued as an important part of the system. So, when Africapitalism espouses on the need of creation of social wealth, some questions that come to mind are; 

a.   Why are we thinking of social wealth now?

b.   What are the social capital that drives this social wealth?

c.   Can Africapitalism serve as that symbolic substitute for conflicts to enable peace building?

The Agenda 2063 vision of the African Union dreams of building “an integrated prosperous and peaceful Africa” driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in international arena” AU-ECHO (2017) Africapitalism already talks of “confluence of the right business and political action” because it is an idea that has an organic base and as we know, peace is organic. It is about having an African narrative to Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” (1899). It is about empowering Africans to fight the next battle and become a continent to reckon with among comity of nations. It is about the philosophy of “I am because we are”. It is about making “the Centre to hold” again and the “falcon hearing the falconer”. William Butler Yeats(1919).

               

Africapitalism is about identity politics and socio-economic reawakening of Africans, strong in the moral sense of using its values to strengthen communities and reconnecting to a shared moral code, revitalizing shared responsibilities and sustaining a conversation that ultimately contributes to peace building.  Jonathan Sacks(2007)  posit that “business is the most powerful alternative to war and the choice will continue to be between the market and battle field”.

Peace building is about trying to fix the core problems that underlie the conflict and change the patterns of interactions of the involved parties. It is about increasing investments and employability to aid income generating activities and mitigate conflict drivers.

Peace requires social conditions that foster individual and societal well-being. We are mindful of the numerous challenges in Africa, but as Chimamanda Adichie(2009) advised in her TED talk “ The Danger of The Single Story” that “negatives are not the only stories about Africa”. 

In his address at African Economic Platform Mauritius (2017) Tony Elumelu posited that:

 ‘My own African Dream is to see that everyone – regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion or nationality – has access to opportunities to make their own lives better, either through the availability of stable, wage-paying employment or by becoming entrepreneurs and building businesses of their own.

Africapitalism is about contributing to the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA )through business approach method, and it intends to help in the manifestation of the Seven African Aspiration 2063, Aspiration 4 “ to build a Peaceful and Secure Africa”. That is what peace building approach to Africapitalism is all about.

An investment in peace building will pay dividends for ages to come. 

Peace be with you.

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