TABLE OF CONTENT

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…………………………………..3

PREFACE………………………………………………….4

AFRICA…………………………………………………….6

DEMOCRACY……………………………………………..9

BORDERS ………………………………………………..13

CLANDESTINE MIGRATION…………………………...17

MENTALITY………………………………………………22

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 ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ibrahim Oumar Cisse is a student entrepreneur and was born in
Bamako, Mali on 20 June 1996. He is currently a final year student
studying for Bachelor’s degree in Electronic and Communication
Engineering in Malaysia and an active member of the Association of
International students in my university, he is also a Brand Ambassador
of a revolutionary e-commerce platform that makes education more
accessible and easier to students and all class of people called
Mindappz. He graduated from Federal Government College Jos, Nigeria
in 2012, and wherever he finds himself he has a desire to make a
difference and to make situations better around him. Right from a young
age he questioned almost everything around him and read a lot to be
enlightened, from then till now he was able absorb a lot of information
and by observing his surroundings he felt a sense of responsibility to use
what he knows, or he observes to think of ways to propose ideas or
ways to fix problems. All these traits put him on the path that he is on
now he started by writing diaries, then to writing stories and poems, and
also started a blog to share my ideas and now he was able to
successfully write a book. All this while he buries himself in books. In the
end the writer is considered to have and feel a sense of responsibility to
be a tool for change and impact lives of people in a positive manner that
does not involve violence or negative means but rather intellectual
means.

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 PREFACE
This book came about in an unprecedented manner since I was young
there was always something about poverty war famine or corruption on
the TV or news and the majority of that was about Africa, so I used to
ask myself is it that why is it like that why there is no change what is the
reason why is there no sustainable development what is the problem is
anything been done to curb this problem as humans we all deserve the
best and no race is more superior our skin or race is superficial there is
something deeper than that, and we all deserve to know the truth on how
our resources are been utilized how our governments runs where our
taxes go to what are our rights when should we stand up for our rights
how should we work to attain sustainable development and the blunt
truth is that most of us don’t know our rights and don’t know when it is
been infringed and our money and resources are been stolen and
exploited, but we still don’t know sometimes even our necessities such
as electricity and water are not provided we are made to fight each other
to divert us from the realities taking place right before our eyes. We need
to create awareness among ourselves on these issues by way of
reaching out is by writing as I believe there is nothing that cannot be
resolved in a civil and gentle way preferably through educational means
as Gandhi says “ in a gentle way you can shake the world”. I believe
education is a vital and absolute weapon in dealing with our problems
we need to implant ideas and values such as chivalry, honesty, love of
one another, hard work, integrity and other positive qualities to breed a
new generation of progress driven people and also a paradigm shift in
the present generation. We can see how a single idea often changes the
entire course of human history for better such Gandhi's movement for
independence the civil rights movement in America by the likes of Dr
Martin Luther king the pan Africanist movements which led to a wave of
independence across the continent what makes these movements key is
that they are mostly non-violent what motivated me to write this book is
that I know I might not be Ghandi or Martin Luther King but if they can do
things that will have a positive impact on their people then nothing is
impossible, the former’s movement led to the independence of India and
the latter led to his country to have a black president in a country where
there was segregation in bus and toilets and even schools. In this book I
like to make comparison with the past to expatiate on problems and
provide my humble solution to the problem I wrote in a way that totally
immerses the reader to the level they are transposed to the past, or they
are present in the moment of all the occurrences it is basically an eye-
opener and broadens the mind. The journey of writing this book has
been fantastic and wonderful there were some challenges along the way
such as self-doubt among many other negative feelings but through all

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that I was able to triumph and I was able to learn through the journey,
while researching about this topic I was able to develop an immense
love for my beloved continent I learnt with consistency faith and smart
and hard work everything is achievable just like the goal of this book
shall be attained by God’s grace the feeling of accomplishment having a
purpose and drive that there is a higher calling for each one of us, we
have to make a positive difference and the feeling of seeing myself as a
vice regent of my community and family and whole of Africa to the world
were all encapsulated in me from the beginning of the journey till date. I
evolved as a person through this journey from a person who was a
conformist anchored by dogma and the status quo and a person who
always talks about how bad it is to a person who believes change is
possible through civil and intellectual means I feel more responsible, and
whatever I do henceforth I have it ingrained in me that I am representing
my continent as a whole which makes want to be the best version of
myself. The research process was hectic and strenuous but regardless it
proved to be a success as my sources are mostly journals, magazines,
articles and testimonies and also books which are all genuine and
factual which is remarkable and unique. I would like to offer my sincere
gratitude to the Almighty God Alhamdulillah for making this happen and
all those who believed in me and this book is by no means written to
incite hatred or violence but rather for peace, progress, development and
love of the continent and the whole world.

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 AFRICA

I want to talk about my continent which is full of dreams and potential,

the cradle of humanity, abundant in natural resources which was on the
verge on becoming the greatest civilization in human history. But that
was altered we were enslaved both physically and mentally, as for the
former it is still in our state. Gone are the men who stood up and fought
for the continent men who will rather rot in captivity than give up their
movement, to see this continent is a better place, all we have now are
conformist to an alien culture. It has gotten to a point whereby even our
currencies are regulated by other countries. Till when will we be free
from these shackles, Our present generation have no clue or zeal to do
anything for this cause, It is because we don't know our history and our
value As Confucius says “know the past and you'll divine the future” By
knowing what we were, what we came from, and what we are capable of

5
We should see ourselves as one not bounded by the meaningless
geometric borders they set up for us by colonialists. The idolization of
foreign norms, dependence on foreign aid, which is nothing but
manipulative aid, are all anchors to our development. We have great
natural reserves of oil and natural resources, so do we have brilliant
minds who just need their candle lit up by a little spark with all these we
should not be dependent on aid or be in this state we are in now.

The grand Mosque of Timbuktu that was built before colonial times.

The Obelisk of Axum is a 4th-century AD, 24-meter-tall (79-feet) granite stele/obelisk, weighing
160 tonnes, in the city of Axum of the Axum Kingdom. It is ornamented with two false doors at
the base and features decorations resembling windows on all sides.

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It is from Africa that great empires the likes of which a few other empires
could rival such as Songhai Empire, Axum kingdom, Benin Empire, the
Zulus and many others rose. We were even reported to have sailed
across the Atlantic before Christopher Columbus did. The moors came
from our lands and went all the way to Spain conquered and ruled under
the Islamic banner for about 800 years and they made it flourish into an
era of light and knowledge when Europe was in darkness. The likes of
Mansa Musa the ruler of the Songhai Empire left a mark on history that's
immortalised till date. He is reported to be the richest man that ever lived
he had a lot of influence and did some charitable works all the way from
his empire across the Sahara desert to Egypt all the way to Saudi
Arabia. All these but to mention a few gives a sense of nostalgia to those
who understand the value of this continent the likes of Cheikh Anta Diop
who wrote his doctoral thesis on the topic "centrality of ancient Egypt on
human civilisation". He didn't do this for writing sake but rather to remind
us of our greatness and what we are capable of. During his epoch there
was a continental movement for independence across Africa, He also
mentioned that go for us to properly consolidate our power and freedom
we should consider on yourselves as one from Cape to coast. But alas!
No one heeded and here we are several years later deluded into thinking
we are independent rather to use an eloquent term we in the era of neo-
colonialism. We need to reflect on our past glory in order to apply that to
our present situation to be completely liberated. Therefore is a wakeup
call, a call to strive in a pacifist nonviolent way, a call to use intellectual
means to be free. For so long we have had other countries posed as
helpers but they turned out to be the reverse they have for centuries got
involved in our business and halted our progress, making people of the
same tribe hate each other, Looting and stealing our resources. Inciting
hatred among us that led to genocides and wars. When we look back in
history as history is the best teacher, for so long we have had priceless
artefacts and archaeological marvels pillaged or stolen by other
countries it has reached to a point where it they even take credit for it.
And in 1884 they met in Berlin to share our continent like a cake. The
king of Belgium annexed the whole of Congo to himself during his reign
of tyranny they looted astronomical resources and made the same
people they are looting work for them and those considered work shy
were executed or imprisoned millions lost their lives as a result. They
divided brothers from each other and put strangers together all for selfish
reasons to loot us. And they justified their actions by saying we were
primitive and couldn't become civilised without their help what an irony!
Considering all the great empires we had before their Advent, Even after
the so called delusional independence they granted us, they still
infiltrated our governments, and any government that didn't serve their

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purpose they found ways to exterminate it. Such has been the fate of
people like Amiral Cabral a great revolutionary anti-colonialist in the
continent. He led a guerrilla movement against the Portuguese colonial
government. With support from Kwame Nkrumah, he taught his troops to
teach local farmers better farming techniques in order to increase food
productivity both for the people, his collaborator Nkrumah was also not
spared as he shared this goals and vision with Cabral, Patrice Lumumba
who was undaunted in courage and determined, fearless towards
exposing the atrocities of the Belgians and enemies of Africa was also
among those purged in and he gave a memorable speech at the time of
independence of Congo highlighting the atrocities. How can we forget
Thomas Sankara who took radical steps in changing his country’s
outlook, both in the foreign policies and domestic policies? His
international policies bore anti-imperialist stances, shunning foreign aid
and nationalizing all land and mineral wealth. In the domestic front, he
led nationwide literacy programs, promoted public health vaccinations of
meningitis, measles and yellow fever, appointed women to top positions
in the government. His image was a source of inspiration to many. On
October 15th, 1987, he was assassinated by his best friend Blaise
Compaore who was reported to have gotten support from people against
his policies. A week before his assassination he had declared that,
“While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot
kill ideas.” Many others have fallen but there is need for us to wake up
and keep these ideas these people died for let it not be they died for
nothing lets carry on the legacy and there is only one way which is by
intellectual means not violence and anarchy.

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 DEMOCRACY
Democracy was born in ancient Greece, Athens to be exact before
embracing democracy Athens was under near despotism the people
were tired of this system. In 507 B.C a political change was introduced
which came in series of changes in the Athenian political system by
Cleisthenes. Then around 470 B.C Pericles an Athenian lawmaker
helped coordinate and cement these series of changes into a strong
political system. This framework had 500 voting members however just
natives were permitted to be in this system, they ought to be male
nationals and of particular age and he trusted each member ought to be
engaged with this political system paying little relevance to financial
standing. The fundamental point of this system was to weaken the
aristocrats and vest power in the citizens to form a government of the
people, by the people and for the people. It also aimed to establish a
structure to execute rule of law. Highlighting the introduction of
democracy is not just for the purpose of history, but instead to make a
comparison with regards to the reason it came to fruition how it identifies
with African political issues. In pre-colonial Africa politics was dynamic it
ranges from decentralized, centralized, monarchies, kingdoms,
dynasties and many others for instance a centralized state was the
Malian kingdom controlled by Sundiata Keita from 1235 to 1255. And we
could know these incorporated states since it was kept in oral tradition or
written records the story was part of an oral history retained by state
delegated historians called 'Griots' who rehashed it to the general
population hence this was composed down later on. The Malian kingdom
of Sundiata keita was shaped after the battle of kirina he made Niani his
capital. He vanquished and annexed different states and every one of
the regions were responsible to the lord yet at the same time he didn't
have total power. The kingdom ran for the most part as an organization
with every clan having an agent at the court of the king the kingdom
likewise has the GREAT GBARA ASSEMBLY was the deliberative body
of the kingdom which was shaped under the constitution known as
“kouroukan fouga" it was comprised of 32 individuals from 29 groups.
The capacity of these individuals was to check the energy of the
sovereign which was directed by the Belen Tigui (speaker) who identified
any individual who needs to talk including the king it was partitioned into
four voting alliances isolated among military, political, religious and
monetary lines the political coalition was comprised of the royal tribe;
which is the ruling family and related factions that could rise to the royal
position there were additionally religious families, filling in as marabouts
(Islamic aides or respectability) there was likewise the nymakalas
(wielders of nyama). Nyama is the power that streams inside and among

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Everything and this aptitude is vital for metal forgers recorders and griots
who are additionally called "djeli".

Visual representation of “Griots or djeli” the chroniclers of oral history, they are the
state delegated historians. Who rehashed oral history it to the general population.

Another case of a decentralized society was the Igbo group in southern

and eastern Nigeria in pre-frontier times there is an absence of adequate
authentic information. Since they had no rulers there was minimal
motivating force to keep oral or composed chronicles they lived in self-
sufficient towns, every town was politically isolated and was not
politically associated with different places a system of hereditary chiefs.
Decisions were made by a headman and council of elders and
committee of senior citizens that chose the headman without a
centralized government. It does not mean there was no system or
foundations of administration among them they were still able to develop
a specialized and diversified economy in agriculture textiles and trade.
When we ponder upon the systems mentioned we can be able to tell that
Africa had political systems which were efficient. The reason why
democracy worked for Athens to some extent is because the political
system evolved with the circumstances of that period to reach
democracy. While, the African political system was also evolving and
growing but that natural growth was altered and colonialism is the culprit.
It stunned the natural growth and democracy was one way or the other
imposed on us. I believe if Africa was not colonized and the evolution
continued without interference it will have been more beneficial. That can
be further understood by taking the United Kingdom as an example

10
firstly it started with monarchs who claim to have earned the rights to
rule of a divine source to 1215 when King John was forced to sign the
Magna Carta. This was a declaration which involved him sharing power
with the barons and no one was above the law this is one of the earliest
statement of citizens’ rights in the world. The so called model parliament
was summoned by King Edward I himself in 1295 and is regarded the
first representative assembly which required the approval of parliament
to tax his subjects. In 1341 the British parliament became the House of
Lords and commons. The bill of rights in 1689 which is still in effect lays
down limits of the crown sets out rights of parliament, freedom of speech
rights in parliament regular elections and the right to petition the
monarch without fear of retribution. Other vital reforms was in
1867,1884,1912,1970 and 1973 it joined the European Union. All this
chronological progression lead it to be one of the world powers the
uninterrupted evolution happened with the needs and circumstances of
the people from worst to better. The question we should ask ourselves
is; has democracy failed in Africa? Some might say the realignment of
borders will help Africa to be better, the nations in Africa are not based
on tribes or languages but rather the reverse case but they were drawn
in 1884 to serve the interest of Bismarck and other European leaders.
Countries in Africa mostly contain two or more very different and
incompatible tribes each could govern itself but they cannot get along
together and mostly they are historical enemies. For example the
northern Nigerian region consists of the same tribe of Hausa with
neighbouring Niger republic. But they have been divided by borders
while in Nigeria the Hausa are merged with Yorubas and Igbos in one
nation. This sort of distribution of borders has caused more harm than
good at the same time I do not advocate separatist ideas, as it has
already happened. But in my humble opinion decentralizing power might
be a solution. Switzerland is an example of a nation with that system it is
a confederation of 26 states called Cantons the only thing they have in
common is foreign policy, currency and constitution. They can adjust
their laws to fit the needs of the people in each canton as they have
direct democracy, which enables the citizens to vote for referendums
every four months. Which entails all spheres of their lives if we can adopt
this system to some extent each community will be responsible for their
issues. There will be no blame on a central authority in way whereby the
decisions can be centralized but execution can be decentralized. It will
also reduce the power of the presidency and the executive branch of the
governments. Mostly the executive possess too much power beyond
what is normal and take advantage of that in an unjust manner. Though
no country has absolute democracy but they have to adjust their
systems based on the situation of their people and their needs. There is

11
always a clash between what the governments are doing and the needs
of the people. We should not just blindly follow democracy without
flexibility. Countries such as Singapore and China are democracies but
one of the most developed and also Norway is a democracy and has
one of the strongest and most efficient institutions and systems in the
world. The point here is that their systems was not chosen for them they
made their system work for themselves based on their needs and
circumstances. In ancient Greece philosophers were highly cynical about
politics. Socrates is displayed in the book THE REPUBLIC written by
Plato. He was in a dialogue with adeimantus trying to get him to see the
flaws of democracy by comparing the society to a ship. The dialogue that
ensued is as follows;

Socrates: If you were to head out on a journey by sea who will you want
in charge of the vessel anyone or an expert in the field?

Adeimantus: the latter of course

Socrates: so why then responds do we keep thinking anyone is fit to

judge who can rule his point is voting is a skill it needs to be taught to
people letting people vote without education is as irresponsible as
charge of a trireme sailing to Samos in a storm.

His point makes sense as most of us vote without knowledge mostly

tribe biased without considering the important factors such as progress
and development which leads to demagoguery. People seeking votes
exploit our immediate desires with fake promises. We imagine an
analogy of two people seeking public office one a doctor and the other a
sweet seller, while campaigning the sweet seller downplays the role of
the doctor, by saying the doctor always inflicts pain by injections surgery
and other procedures and also stops them from eating what they want.
While all that is for the people’s benefit, while the sweet seller promotes
himself by his sweets and how sweet and good it tastes. While in the
short term the sweet seller is more desirable while on the long term the
doctor has more benefit and it is lasting. We can see from this analogy
how politicians can easily create mirages of our immediate needs and
wishes to delude us into voting for them. As Socrates said voting is a
skill and to be able to see past the mirages and choose wisely. We have
to develop that skill I am not saying democracy is bad but there is a need
for us to choose appropriate systems that are compatible with us rather
than insisting on democracy that we are not even following well.

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 BORDERS
The most destabilizing effect of colonialism on the African continent is
the arbitrary drawing of borders. The impact of which is still being felt till
date we cannot fully blame colonialism for everything. Before
colonialism, borders were not of much concern, because mostly
territories expanse is estimated by military and trade influence, the
European arbitrary borders often were based on selfish interest such as
drawing it far from other colonial powers without taking into account the
separation of political groups and races, forcing sometimes enemies to
live together. For example northern Mali also has Touaregs who are a lot
in Algeria but instead they are merged with Fula, Bambara, Malinke and
Soninke tribes in one nation. It is quiet counterproductive to propose
redrawing the borders as it will create more problems we see that in
many African states. Such as, in Nigeria during the civil war in 1967 to
1970. The leadership of the old eastern region of Nigeria came to the
conclusion that they just could not continue to coexist with the rest of
Nigeria, especially as a result of religious, cultural, ethnic, economic and
political tension that prevailed during this period mostly with the North so
they started a movement to secede from Nigeria as a solution to that
problem. The region that wanted to secede was known as Biafra, this
movement led to a war between the two parties, the region of Biafra was
completely surrounded within just one year after the war began. The
complete surrounding of the Biafra coastline and borders led to blockage
of routes through which goods and services could enter into Biafra. Most
of the food came from the north because the soil of the eastern region is
not as favourable as that of the north for agriculture and the land was not
favourable for grazing. Which hinders cattle rearing to provide meat
unlike in the north. So this made it difficult for the country to feed itself
and its populace. Soon after, severe famine became the order of the day
and feeding became very difficult for the Biafra military and people. They
also could not get adequate equipment to fight the war. Up to 2 million
civilians died in the course of the Biafra War on both sides, with majority
of the victims coming from the Biafra side. Major causes of death were
diseases and starvation. This was the same factor that led to the quick
end of the war. The world was forced to take note of happenings during
the Nigerian civil war when pictures of malnourished children were
circulated to the outside world in the middle part of 1968. This promoted
Non-Government Organizations to rise up and raise funds towards
providing for the Biafran starving populace while in the meantime not
only the east suffered so did it affect the economy as the country is
heavily dependent on oil, eventually a truce was reached and the war
stopped. Coexistence of the two parties leads to a symbiotic relationship
of food and oil. Another instance is in Sudan and South Sudan both

13
nations used to be one before the south seceded after decades long of
civil wars due to ethno-tribal differences and misunderstandings. Both
nations are rich in natural resources (such as oil, grazing land, gold), but
there is much conflict over the use of many local resources. The Libyan,
Sahara and Nubian Deserts in Sudan have a wealth of oil reserves
extending across the border of both nations. In South Sudan, there are
also huge reserves of iron ore, copper, silver and tungsten. Given the
southern wet season, agricultural production and cattle farming are
productive. Arable agriculture varies from crops such as wheat,
sugarcane and cassava to fruit such as mango. In a region where
malnutrition is a major health issue, farmland is important; a person’s
status is dictated by their ownership of land and cattle. Consequently, in
both nations, land is fiercely fought over. The issue of desertification is
an added problem; in both countries the combination of conflict and
desertification has locked their people into a cycle of developmental
decline caused by social, food and environmental insecurity. South
Sudan’s more productive climate and land allow for cattle herding.
Again, size of herd is a measure of wealth and is linked to a requirement
to own large areas of land for grazing. Due to this desire for status,
South Sudan is locked in a civil conflict of its own. In Sudan, politics is
further complicated by ethnic differences between Arab-Sudanese and
African-Sudanese. As in much of Africa, borders were crudely drawn up
in the 19th century to divide the continent between competing colonial
powers. Straight Line borders grouped together many tribal territories
under the nation of Sudan. South Sudan has some of the worst levels of
development and social equality on the Human Development Index.
Since 2011, up to 10,000 are reported to have been killed in local
conflicts with rival army factions and tribal groups unhappy at the
election of the country’s first leader, President Kiir. He is of Dinka tribal
origin, representing a majority group. However, other groups have a
strong presence and compete for grazing land with the Dinka –
particularly the main opposition tribe, the Nuer. President Kiir has
already been the target of an attempted military coup. Throughout the
new state there has been conflict over the redistribution of agricultural
land following the split, and people are becoming disheartened with the
government’s inability to push for better Red Sea trade links via
Khartoum. It has been stated by the WHO that South Sudan is one of
the world’s poorest nations, with the majority living on under $1.25 a day.
Urgent strategies are needed. Sudan is also feeling the impact of the
split. It has lost oil reserves and other resources to the south and is
facing a severe financial crisis, as 20% of all its export income is made
up from oil we can see if only they had remained together as one country
and found a suitable solution all these adverse effects will not have

14
happened such as the humanitarian crisis, ethnic clashes, weak
institutions and governments in South Sudan while in Sudan there’s a
drop of about 20% in export which used to comprise of oil. The objective
here is to show the adverse effect of redrawing or separating borders
had it been this was in the late pre-independence or early post-
independence era, it will have been more effect and had less
repercussions, as that time there is less dependence on each other’s
territories to serve economic or other beneficial interests. The way
forward is to adopt a means that will carter for huge divide and cultural
differences and incompatibilities, a system that is non-violent and at the
same time very effective. Before we do that we need to consider several
factors and one rigid system cannot be used for all regions the core
principle may be one but the execution has to be decentralized and
flexible enough to fit each region. One strong approach is to decentralize
the central regions because most of these territorial disputes have one
thing in common which is the part that wants to secede feels neglected
and oppressed or denied their rights one way or the other. If there were
to be decentralization of local governments and local communities it will
give the people more resources and power over their welfare and that
way each territory will strife to make their community as best as possible.
There would not be so much blame on the central government because
each community will be given sufficient control over the fate of their
communities. Another great initiative that will deal with these border
each issues is the initiative by the African Union, on one African passport
for all the nations of Africa this will go a long way to open up the African
countries to each other. This will offer more economic growth as issues
such as free trade. On one account there was this time at the borders
there was the immigration officers at the border stopping people to check
their documents and sometimes take money from them which they aren’t
supposed to, and just a few feets away there was thugs and hoodlums
collecting their own levies for no reason and the officers are not doing
anything about it. And on another account i was traveling we reached a
certain in West Africa the immigration officers were on the road with their
guns we stopped then they came and tried to extort the driver, he
decided to try to escape from them in order not to pay them. As he drove
they started shooting then he had to stop and we were all taken to their
office and there we all had to pay huge amounts of money individually.
Things like this make people take shortcuts and unauthorized ways
across the border as they do not even feel safe on the supposedly
normal borders. There so many problems such as these at the African
borders which need to be addressed, to make people have ease of
traveling and trade. The European Union for example the Europeans can
easily move from country to country without fear as it is made to feel as

15
though the whole European Union member nations, was one country
and it really helps tremendously in economic and developmental terms.
Adopting decentralized systems and opening up borders in the sense
that the borders should be secure at the same time free from extortion
and corruption. People should be able to travel freely as long as they
have the proper travel documents and there should not be visas
between African countries it should at least be visa free. The non-African
countries find it easier to access African countries than other fellow
African countries. There might be a concern of security but the benefits
make the adverse effects negligible if the governments can be properly
organized and solidified along with its institutions then security shouldn’t
be a problem.

16
 CLANDESTINE MIGRATION

There was a time when people from different continents used to come to
Africa due to one or more reason such as education, the likes of these
places was Timbuktu. Which was a center of learning in different aspects
such as Islam, Mathematics, Science and Astrology and many other
spheres of knowledge till date some of the manuscripts are still
preserved. Today we can see the vicissitudes of fortune and reversal of
roles; where there are issues such as been misinformed and misguided
about migration which leads to illegal migration. There is a huge gap
between the rich and poor, lack of accountability, lack of jobs and health
issues are all issues that make life very difficult in our African countries.
With all these factors it makes life really difficult and most people find it
unbearable and migrate to other countries which also comes at a cost.
As not everyone can afford to use the legal means or have the
qualifications or Requirements to legally leave their countries. So those
who can't do so legally resort to illegal and clandestine means to achieve
their goal. It is quite ironical that the money these migrants use to
migrate illegally is enough for them to set up a good business. But that is
where misinformation and economic deterioration clouds the opportunity
for a better alternative such as setting up a business with the money
used to migrate. It is quite worrisome that some people find it a blessing
when they leave their countries and they have no intention of going
back. Most of the time even on social media whenever there's a post
about something going wrong the comments are disturbing. You see
comments such as there is no hope for our country, I just want to leave
this place and never come back People even go to the extent of denying
their nationalities. What caused all these is the people have lost hope in
our governments they have been let down so many times they have
grown tired and weary. There are a lot of countries with high level of
migrants such as Israel, Italy and Spain. The migrants heading to Italy,
Spain and other European countries, the major way people get into
Europe is through the eastern central and western Mediterranean. Those
migrants going through the central Mediterranean from sub-Saharan
Africa go through Agadez a city in Niger republic then to Libya, They
mostly spend time in certain houses, which the residents of Agadez call
“ghettos”. These houses are really small to fit them, they lie in the heat
the houses are far from been clean and healthy. They then from there
they use pickup trucks across the desert to Libya, to cross the
Mediterranean and eventually reach Europe. The way it works is that the
migrants come through a broker who is in liaison with a marketer in their
home country.

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They pay the broker and the agents in the so called "ghettos" get the
migrants through the Libyan Desert till they reach Sabha in central Libya
then the money is released by the broker to the agents. They then
continue on to Tripoli from where they embark on simple boats on the
Mediterranean Sea to Italy which is a treacherous route and many die,
some are captured by the authorities and detained and even enslaved.
This incidents started after the fall of Gaddafi in November 2017 when a
video of humans been sold for US$400 went viral on the internet. While
for those who go through the western Mediterranean go through the
Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta from Morocco. The migrants
storm the border fences in Melilla in thousands to overwhelm the border
guards few make it across the 12 and half kilometre fence. Those who
make it stand a chance of been taken to mainland Spain those who do
not make it get beaten up brutally. The other ways used to cross the
borders are to pay money to be taken across with cars that have fake
undercarriages which is the most expensive. Another is to use boats
which is less expensive, all these methods are risky and can be fatal
another route is the Eastern Mediterranean route. The migrants go
through Egypt and then Turkey after that they get smuggled into Greece.
Which is an easy way to get into the Schengen area, and through all
these routes the migrants face a number of problems such as
humiliation, exploitation, injury, loss of live among others causes of this
phenomenon are:

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1. Bad governance is a root cause of this problem most people
venture into clandestine migration to seek better conditions
elsewhere, there so many issues such as bad economic policies
that doesn’t propagate human development, entrepreneurship,
embezzlement of state resources, conflicts and so many
unfavourable factors which is a drive for mostly young people to
seek better lives elsewhere.

2. The desire to earn higher salaries and wages, most countries have
low minimum wages for example Angola has a monthly minimum
wage of about US$65 and the cost of living is really high there a
meal in an inexpensive restaurant cost about US$18, a liter of milk
at about $3.22 while renting an apartment in the city center is
about US$1,800 monthly there is no how this is sustainable with
such a minimum wage in the country even though the average
salary is US$1,277 still makes life difficult there, in places such as
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Ethiopia the respective
minimum wages are US$ (73, 63, 75 and 21) and minimum wage
does not increase most of the time it is virtually static but food and
living expenses keep increasing. The people in the rural areas
mostly earn less than the minimum wage. Though it seems
unbalanced to compare but the countries with the greatest influx of
illegal migrants have hourly wages equivalent to monthly to
monthly wages of some of our countries which is quiet deplorable.

3. Large Investments and high remittances made by migrants in the

diaspora is also a drive in making people want to migrate at all
cost and make such amount of money. The world bank reports that
Nigeria alone has an influx of about US$11 billion and about
US$40 billion for the whole continent yearly these figures are much
this awakens a certain drive among mostly youths.

4. Another scourge is misinformation, there is of misinformation

regarding this issue, some families is having a relative overseas as
a necessity and they feel compelled to get themselves out of
poverty, they use their little resources to fund a relative to migrate
by all means most of the time illegal means to go overseas and get
themselves out of their misery, and reality hits mostly when the
sponsored relative embarks on the journey and face the realities of
extortion, hunger, misery, sickness and all sort of difficulties on the
way and if the person is able to make it alive to reach their
destination getting a job is also a problem, living under fear of

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 getting caught by the authorities for not having the proper
documents.

“We cannot ignore the real policy difficulties posed by migration, but
neither should we lose sight of its immense potential to benefit migrants,
the countries they leave and those to which they migrate.”
— Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General

It is quite evident that if our countries were as good as the countries the
migrants are risking life and limb to go to, no one will undertake such
perilous journeys across the deserts and the Mediterranean. So the main
issue is governance the situation in our countries are really bad, not all
our countries but majority of them. If only our governments can put our
needs before theirs give the people what they really need namely good
infrastructure, good institutions, accountability, good economic policies,
good educational systems. The main focus should be on the youths as
they are the majority of those who engaged in this phenomenon. They
should be given platforms and opportunities to really have a chance to
excel without resulting to illegal means. There are so many skilled
youths in Africa whose skills are rotting because they are not given
proper opportunity for their skills to be used. There are youths who are
skilled in making shoes, bags, good tailors, writers, mechanics who are
really good despite been deprived of proper formal education. Imagine
the extent of their achievements if they were to go through proper formal
education and getting the proper opportunity. Some are good athletes
who deserve the opportunity to be in the national team or good clubs
that will elevate them but they do not get the chance because maybe
they are not from a rich family or have connections so they get
marginalized. There was an instance when a certain worker got fired, not
because he was ineffective but because his boss had a bachelor degree,
while he the worker went on to get a master's degree so because the
boss see him as a threat to his position so he fired him. With these kinds
of issues there is no how we can have a sustainable cure for this
problem unless the governments makes life favourable for the people
and countries better. At the same time migration is also of benefit to the
continent as the remittances by the Diaspora helps the families of the
remitters and the economy at large. The better alternative was to make it
easy for those who want migrate to be able to do so legally by good
agreements between the origin countries and the countries they want to
migrate to.

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 MENTALITY
As written on the cover of the book “do not underestimate the power of
human thought as a human being is nothing but a collection of thoughts”.
It is quite profound because as a human what you think is what you
strive to become which leads me to a problem which is mentality. Let us
make a simple comparison from the past to the present.

Visual representation the Israelites in ancient Egypt.

Let us a take a narrative from ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh was the
absolute monarch and the most powerful ruler in ancient Egypt. At some
point the sons of Israel were minorities in that epoch and they were
made to work against their will and subjected to all sort of degradation
and humiliation. They had multiple atrocities committed against them like
when the Pharaoh had all the male new-born babies slaughtered. Due to
vision that there was going to be a male child from the Israelites that will

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be his doomsday. But they still didn't stand up for themselves, they
remained in the same state until they were liberated by the prophet
Musa peace be upon him. Throughout the ordeal the Israelites were
large in number we wonder why they remained in this state of inaction
but that is where the issue of psychological manipulation comes in.
Despite the fact that the military might of the Pharaoh was unparalleled
to that of the Israelites it was not just the military aspect that kept them
on the leash but it was the latter that played a major role. Whatever was
done to them they took it as they were made to believe that's what they
deserved. In as much as it seems this incident is not related to our
present day situation but there actually is a connection. Most of our
leaders deliberately refuse to improve the standard of education and
living. The reason behind this is they do not want the masses to be
educated enough to question the status quo, which has corruption and
oppression sewed in its fabric. This deprivation of these basic
necessities puts the people in a lost state. Whereby, they see things
around them as all is dark is gloomy with no significant development.
Therefore this situation makes people over time accept the status quo.
So subtly, their situation becomes similar to that of the Israelites under
the oppression of the Pharaoh. We can see there a lot of people with
talents and potential but they are unable to enhance and evolve their
skills to a marketable level, for decades they just remain dormant only a
few are able to rise above this scourge. The people in the lower class
feel they are where they belong. They have become accustomed to
blaming the government, and talk about how bad things are without the
knowledge of how things work and without thinking of solutions. The
people become idle and hopeless those who make it in life are
considered just lucky or as thieves even though their source of income is
legitimate. Another issue is the parasitic relationships in some families
whereby whenever a single member of a family becomes successful
most of the others just sit back and relax and expect that a single person
to be their saviour and provider. This leads to tension and hate because
it is illogical to expect that one person to take all of his or her income and
be giving it out completely. It is quite prevalent that the people receiving
the money are not willing to use to work but rather they just waste it. It is
okay to help family but the moment it becomes like an obligation to be
randomly giving out a person hard earned income to people who are
lazy that becomes a problem. When the person refuses or does not fulfil
any of their single wish they begin to hate the person and instigate all
sort of evil against the person. The main reason for this sort of mentality
is lack of proper education and idleness due to lack of opportunities and
jobs. After generations of oppression and corruption the people have
given up hope of change very few are hoping. The rest instead of staying

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in their countries to see how they can progress it, everyone wants an
easy way out that is to migrate to developed countries. Both the
educated, the skilled and the less educated are migrating we end up
losing our talented people and the labour force. If the leaders are not
fixing the problems at hand and have no confidence in the system they
are in charge of, what of the people under them and their state. It is
seldom we see our leaders endorsing products made in their countries,
for example the German chancellor uses German cars, same with the
United Kingdom prime minister and the French and so many developed
countries use their own products. It is undeniable that the quality of our
products are not comparable to that of developed countries but
everything has a start. The Governments should fund and help the
manufacturers and entrepreneurs, at the same time apply quality control
to meet and eventually surpass the standard of those at the top. The
leaders are so drunk with power that they consider themselves above
the people and forget they are actually in power to serve the people.
They have become so unapproachable to the people that they do not
even know the needs of the people, or what is happening in their own
country. The salaries of the people in public offices is just too much and
attracts the wrong people, most of the people in power are there for the
money and power. If there was to be a cut in the salaries and allowances
that will definitely sieve out the gluttons and loots from the system to
some extent. The time people complain our leaders are corrupt, but we
fail to realize our leaders come from us what we are is most likely what
they will be. We need to change our thinking and ways we need to start
from the roots. Our educational system needs a reform, we need to
include ethics and responsibility from an early stage, to groom the
younger generation to be more responsible citizens and know their rights
and what is required of them. In conclusion we should work towards
making society better as in the end we are the ones that will benefit and
eschew laziness and rise above the mental prison that limits our
ambition and creativity.

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