THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: EXTRA-AFRICAN INTERESTS AND AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT

Adesanya, Olusegun Paul

Department of International Relations

Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

E-mail: adepaulsegun@yahoo.ca

ABSTRACT

That Africa is well endowed with mineral resources is no news; neither is the search for such resources, which are considered vital to extra-African powers’ interests. What is news however is the take on how such extra-territorial interests would impact on Africa’s development. On one hand, it is believed that extra-regional interests would impact African development immensely; and this is particularly against the background of the influx of foreign direct investment (FDI), needed machineries and expertise that are necessary for development. On another, it is believed that these ‘flavour’ of external interests notwithstanding, they would serve as the fault lines through which the continent would be negatively impacted. On this note, this study seeks to explain that there is a third paradigm to the argument. As such, the paper, while adopting a desktop research style, seeks to grapple with the problematic of: in what ways are extra-African interests influencing development in Africa? How vital are African resources to major global powers and how are such powers assisting in harnessing African resources to equally benefit the continent? Is Africa permanently consigned to underdevelopment? This study seeks to answer these questions and many more.