Oyeleye

WEALTH ACCRUING TO African countries from natural resources has helped in developing the various countries at different times and on different scales. Prior to and decades after independence, most African countries have relied on these resources as they annually generate tremendous revenues for the states. With the benefit of hindsight, however, Africa could have earned […]

SENEGAL EASILY COMES to mind when considering countries of Africa having contrasting features with relatively different historical and contemporary experiences when juxtaposed with many other African countries after the continental wave of independence in the 1960s. Unlike most other countries, Senegal has enjoyed relative social, political and economic stability over the years. The country stands […]

DEFINING ISSUES and causes of underdevelopment in Africa in many cases of public discourse, debates and academic exercises often revolves around infrastructure, human capital, types of governments – democracy or not – and sometimes colonial history and contemporary ties to the colonialists. These are often garbed in flamboyant attires of neo-colonialism, market economies, infrastructural deficits, […]

Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, and the 36th Ordinary Session of the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, got underway at the weekend. Common to those two disparate meetings were security issues. While the Munich  meeting considered the invasion of Ukraine […]

AT THE STATE OF THE UNION address last week Tuesday night of February 7, 2023, in the United States, President Joe Biden momentarily turned melodramatic halfway through his speech when he was complaining about the “Big Oil.” Before straying away from his prepared speech, he said “that Big Oil just reported record profits. Last year, […]

MOROCCO PULLED OUT of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1984, as it was then known, and remained outside it until January 31, 2017, when it returned to the group, now known as African Union (AU). Morocco’s grouse for withdrawing its OAU membership was in protest against the OAU’s  acceptance of the Sahrawi Arab […]

DEPENDENCY IS NOT supposed to mean vulnerability. But it sometimes does. In country relations, in particular, it means just that, placing dependent countries at the mercy of those providing some sorts of support. And many African countries are dependent for reasons of their locations, costing them greatly. Landlocked countries of Africa are somehow dependent on […]

LAST WEDNESDAY IN South Africa, Nigeria’s consulate in Johannesburg was subjected to an unusual embarrassment that caught the attention of global media. Electricity supply to the consulate was disconnected by the Johannesburg City Power officials over unpaid bills purportedly owed by the consulate, an action that sparked a diplomatic row between Nigeria and South Africa. […]

OF ALL THE FIVE COUNTRIES designated as the sub-region of Southern Africa in the southernmost part of the African continent, only one country overshadows the rest. Although made up of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland (now known as Eswatini), South Africa seems synonymous with all these countries put together for a number of […]