Oyeleye

NOW THAT THE African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a reality, countries within the continent need to get to work in dead earnest on how to turn this reality to opportunities. For all the pomp, ceremonies, good wishes, promises, expectations and hopeful outlooks, much work remains to be done. For a continent fractured along […]

PEOPLE’S POWER is increasingly gaining pre-eminence in Africa, judging from recent events. Whether it is called Africa’s resurgence or African version of the Arab Spring, the past couple of months have been remarkable in Africa, a continent with the largest number of the world’s remaining dictatorial, high-handed and visionless national leaders. The new wave of […]

EQUATIONS, permutations, extrapolations and scenarios about environmental stewardship in the context of energy and dependent technologies will remain incomplete and will miss out vital assumptions as long as African perspectives are not given elaborate consideration. The global quest for renewable energy and emission reduction arising from technological innovations would need to open a special chapter […]

IMPRESSIONS ABOUT aid dependence have to be erased when discussing about the Africa of the future. What defined the continent’s past does not necessarily have to define its future. Africa has benefited much from freebies, hand-outs and aid packages which haven’t translated to anything substantial in terms of development. Some debts have also been written […]

AS THE WORLD becomes ever more interconnected in so many different ways, the consequences have started to emerge, more especially in strange ways. Socially, economically, politically and intellectually, the complexities are evolving – some in ways that task the brightest of minds, or exert pressure on material resources, or yet place precious human lives in […]

As the squabbles between the United States and China on reciprocal trade come near a crescendo, and certain decisions signal the proximity to a possible tipping point, the wider implications of these crises should not be regarded as distant. The ripple effects could be far-reaching. Countries far and near – not least the countries of […]

THE WORLD’S LARGEST free trade area is now in Africa. This, presumably, is based on the fulfilment of African Union’s time table stipulating, under Article 23 of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement, that the AfCFTA Agreement would become operational after 30 days of securing a minimum threshold of 22 ratifications. That happened […]

Efforts to join back together what was put asunder 135 years ago in the widely acclaimed Berlin Conference have recently got a boost. As part of the culmination in attempts at re-integrating a hitherto disintegrated continent, Africa has recorded a landmark. A little more than a year ago, African leaders held an Extraordinary Summit (or, […]

THAT Africa is rich in mineral resources is a settled matter. What is not settled is how the continent can tap into these resources in the future for a robust economic transformation, clean environment and public health. Against the backdrop of the rising population and the need to meet the energy need of the continent, […]

AGLOBAL CONSENSUS about the strategic importance of Africa to the future of the world seems to be crystalising. From “The hopeless continent” in the infamous verdict of The Economist magazine in May 2000, to “Africa Rising,” a landmark narrative championed a decade after by McKinsey, a consulting firm, Africa has seen the bad and the […]