If Nigeria Is So Rich, Why Is It So Poor?
Channel: Mirror African TV
Date: 18/09/2016

They call it the Curse of Riches.

Although the African continent is blessed with gold, diamonds, oil, coltan, bauxite, uranium, iron ore and other valuable resources, its inhabitants have long numbered among the world’s poorest. While a few sub-Saharan African nations are doing relatively well, most are mired in poverty.

That a continent’s abundant natural resources can in so many cases have so little effect on its people’s quality of life over so many years is one of the great mysteries surrounding the grouping of 49 nations located south of the Sahara desert.

It is particularly vexing to the many international organizations, foreign governments and private groups that have been trying since the era of independence to promote regional development, food production, education, better housing, health care, improved infrastructure, jobs and economic growth. Although more than five decades have passed since the end of colonial times, African governments often still appear clueless when it comes to lifting their people from extreme poverty. Change can seem impossible.

Everyone seems to have a pet explanation for this tragic phenomenon, citing pervasive corruption, dysfunctional democratic institutions and justice systems, greedy multinational corporations, shady local and international elites, incompetent or ineffective international aid agencies, resource wars waged by domestic militias as well as outside armies and the vestiges of colonialism