Africapitalism:
The role of Benue State
Terungwa Roy Shaapera – Independent Academic Researcher, Dublin Ireland. roisharpi@gmail.com
“Africapitalism is an economic philosophy that promote long term investment in strategic sectors that will create economic and social wealth. That is financial returns for shareholders as well as social dividends for society” — Tony O. Elumelu
Commercial activities in Africa are undeniably a promising pathway for sustainable development of the continent in diverse categories that are also interwoven with the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The concept of Africapitlism tend to predicate it’s rationale on the idea that Africa’s private sector has the potential to lay a firm foundation for the transformation of business and economic activities in Africa to the benefit of every African on the continent and beyond. This also means that Africapitalism seeks to remodel the existing status quo of business-society relationships in way that commercial activities will become the basis for societal development across all African communities. The philosophy has the potential or an evidence-based inclination to suggest that sectors such as education, healthcare, agriculture, security, infrastructure and social welfare services will fundamentally become beneficiaries of a successful implementation, regulation and continuous practice of the tenets of Africapitalism.
In this article I wish to focus more on how the philosophy of Africapitalism is relevant to Agricultural businesses or entrepreneurial activities and the role of Benue State (food basket of the nation) can play towards the practical realisation of this concept. According to Tony O. Elumelu in his speech at Oxford University, he claimed that agriculture in Africa is embedded with potential business activities that have the capacity to transform our society in tremendous ways. He also queries the fact that agriculture in Africa contributes up to 30% of the GDP of most African nations, however, the farmers who provide these services are amongst the poorest across most African societies. In this context, if all African farmers are treated as business partners by the public, investors and other financial services with the requisite funding and support, the idea of Africapitalism will effectively become realistic in ways that Agriculture will increasing become the basis for significant development in African communities.
This hypothesis leads me to reflect on the position of farmers in Benue State, a community in central Nigeria that equally produces a significant amount of farm products annually. In recent months, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Muhammad Nanono reiterated that ‘Benue state has great potential in food production’ and the realisation of this potential will effectively ‘boost productivity and employment opportunities’ in the state. It was further said the Federal Government will create a partnership with the state through the ‘Agricultural Mechanization Programme’ in a bid to realise the said goal and this process will affect all the local government councils in the state. It was also said that farmers will be linked with processing industries that will collect their farm products for the next stage of food production. In another sequence, the executive governor of the state in recent times has also called on farmers and the people of Benue State to access the loan structures in place through the Bank of Investment (BOI) and engage in agricultural practices.
However, my question now is… presumably… in the ‘unlikely’ absence of government intervention in agricultural practices in the state, how can the people of Benue State actively engage or partner with farmers in the state on the premise of Africapitalism in ways that will trigger development of the state and also create jobs for the youth?
I share the presupposition that the youths regardless of the financial challenges face in the country, have always found ways to successfully engage in entrepreneurial activities in diverse categories over the years. For example, youth like Bar. Kator Anweh have evidently made promising impact through KATS (a shoe brand) recognised throughout Nigeria and beyond. Similarly, in agriculture, existing investors have established preliminary structures aimed at supporting farmers. His structure seeks to financially support local farmers in ways that will motivate them to continue farming and engaging in business activities predicated on the farm produce.
Consequently, the philosophy of Africapitalism can become binding to this sequence I just highlighted above and especially in the agricultural sector. This means that in a situation where the youth or people of Benue State approach agricultural practices with an entrepreneurial inclined mindset, there are probable chances that agricultural practices in the state will increasingly yield results that should attract investors willing to set up competent industries with the capacity to process all our farm produce. In effect, these industries will employ Benue people and reduce the rate of unemployment and poverty. This presupposition re-echoes one of the key tenets or set goals of Africapitalism which aims at putting African businesses and entrepreneurial activities in parallel with the domestic needs of African communities and create opportunities seeking to resolve African communal issues.
In conclusion, although Africa has an embarrassing history of colonialism, corruption, bad governance and poverty, the philosophy of Africaptalism through agriculture may become our innovative path to greatness in a continent which is currently rich in potential to recover from its decades of developing in stasis and set sail towards an promising developmental process that will send shock waves to every corner of the globe.
