The problem with Africa 20

During an investigative discussion in Rebrand Africa Group, one question was asked, why are Africans corrupt? After brainstorming, we discovered that corruption had nothing to do with wealth or poverty, education or illiteracy; the rich are corrupted as well as the poor, the educated as well as the illiterate. Then why is Africa corrupt?
 Africa so corrupted that the prime minister of England once said, if the money stolen from Nigeria was stolen from Britain, Britain would cease to exist.
The answer is simple; Africans inherited a culture based on fear and mental laziness. The fear that what she has isn’t enough no matter how abundant and the mental laziness to think of ways to sustain it.
The life of an average African was shaped by a culture practiced in fear and mental laziness. When an African learns that there may not be rain for his farm tomorrow, instead of him thinking of alternatives to watering his crops, he’ll resort into the easy way, even when it’s a corrupt way.
Many years ago, I was leaving a city where I had gone for a missionary work, the local boy who was helping me with domestic wanted by boot but it was oversized for his leg, worn and old. I promised him that I’ll send him a new pair of boot but he couldn’t wait till later, he said he rather have the torn and worn oversized boot that he is seeing now than waiting for me to send the new one in a later date.
The fear that whatsoever we don’t have now we can’t have in a future date has made the average African crave for whatsoever he could see now. He can’t wait for the future because his mind wasn’t trained to have faith and he isn’t disciplined to think of ways to create the right situations and conditions for his desired future.
That desire to have it all now because of the inability to creatively think of ways of living in abundance tomorrow is the primary cause of corruption in Africa. When an average African has any opportunity to be in charge of any resources, because he has been trained not think of ways to sustain resources, he’ll want to have it all now even when it’s not morally right.
If we must grow as Africans, we must see the future, believe in it and plan for it. We must look beyond now and consider the long term repercussions of every of our decisions.
We should ask ourselves, is what I’m craving for today hinder me from getting something better tomorrow?
Will eating it all now make me hungry tomorrow?
Poor men think of what to eat now, average men think of what to eat for a week, rich men think of what to eat for a year and very wealth men think of what to eat for decades. If you planning to eat for decades, it might mean that you have to sacrifice eating now in some occasions.
The African must think of what to eat for decades, when we think decades it will guide the choices we make for now, the kind of men we enthrone over us and the way we manage our resources.
The poverty of the mind is the primary cause of corruption in Africa. If we can believe in our tomorrow and plan for it because we believe in it, it will affect how we live today.
We must stop eating our seeds because we are afraid it won’t germinate. Let think of ways to make the seed grow.
Integrity, good names, honesty and patience etc. are the evidence of faith and firm plan for the future
Fear not Africa; Believe and Think
God bless you.
Promise Ikpe