With the year 2020 now
with us, it is just a decade,
that separates us from
the attainment of 2030 sustainable
agenda- a United Nation initiative
and successor programme to the
Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs)- with a collection of 17
global goals formulated among
other aims to promote and cater for
people, peace, planet, and poverty.
And has at its centre; partnership and
collaboration, ecosystem thinking,
co-creation and alignment of various
intervention efforts by the public and
private sectors and civil society.
Accordingly, an Interesting sidelight
without going into specific concepts
or approaches that have recently
reshaped the development con-
versation is a sudden renunciation
of the underlying philosophy, and
realization by both economists and
development practitioners that the
world economy can be seen in a sim-
ple unitary way or the notion of the
world as a single market as all now
have their own laws and ideologies.
Despite this shift in the global
economic arrangement, the average
living standards of the poor are at
risk of multiple communal shocks
including extreme poverty and
hunger, unemployment, devastation
and other natural disaster-sometimes
conflicts and medical epidemics as
well as idiosyncratic shocks-includ-
ing theft, damage to the homestead,
illness and death in the family.
Further heightening but differently,
the strategic implication of this new
economic order and challenging
reality the world and Africa in par-
ticular currently face were William F.
Maloney and Gaurav Nayyar. While
discussing; Industrial policy, infor-
mation and Government Capacity,
they observed that government are
resource and bandwidth constrained.
Hence, needs to prioritize produc-
tivity-enhancing policy. To win, they
advised that it requires information
on the nature and magnitude of mar-
ket failures on the one hands, and the
government capacity to redress them
successfully on the other.
Given the above economic develop-
ment, came two potentially interest-
ing solution from the Western world.
First, America/Europe separately
entered into developmental partner-
ship with corporate/private organi-
zations, Civil Society Organizations
and development agencies in the
race for infrastructural development.
Secondly, to promote their economic
interests, ‘they used their economic,
political, social and diplomatic pow-
ers to level the economic playing field
with China (the de-factor empire
that tries to behave as if it were a
nation-state)’, defend democratic val-
ues at home while guarding against
Chinese political influences.
If the above policy and approach
worked for America and Europe,
brought accelerated development,
and helped these continents establish
themselves to the level of raising fears
among African countries, it again
raises the following posers; Why have
African governments and policy-
makers on their part serially failed
to come up with a better communi-
cation and co-ordination of infor-
mation on the nature and magnitude
of market failures, and the needed
government capacity to redress them
successfully? Does the poor level of
infrastructural and socioeconomic
development in the continent have
any link with how successive gov-
ernments in Africa managed funds
from their countries? Will more
funds in the coffers of African leaders
translate into greater well-being of
African citizens? What incentive or
deterrents are in place to promote
accountability and transparency with
government spending in Africa?
Before attempting to provide
answers to the above questions, there
is an important distinction to make.
Productive partnership between
government and private sectors will
continue to elude African countries.
The reason is simple.
Admittedly, there are ongoing calls
globally for private organizations to
shift from risk to resilience manage-
ment. However, despite this call, no
sincere corporate organization will be
willing to partner with African gov-
ernments because of the perennial
challenge of transparency, openness
and process devoid of efficient risk
analysis.
This assertion is specifically built
on the premise that no organization
can enter into partnership with any
government when not enough is
known to create and validate a con-
vincing quantitative risk assessment
or decision analysis that commands
substantial agreement from different
stakeholders.
Beyond this partnership chal-
lenge between the government and
private sector in the race for massive
infrastructural development, there
are other palpable fears and factors
that may impede development of the
continent even as the world races
towards achieving the sustainable
development agenda.
Such fundamental obstacle in-
cludes but not limited to governmen-
tal reluctance to appreciate devel-
opment plans and reform programs
from a rights-based perspective. This
posturing on the part of leaders in
Africa has continued to engender
cynicism among the populations.
Directly and indirectly, this adversely
affects the efficacy of development
initiatives, as the citizenry do not
perceive their participation as a right
possessing available remedies in
event of violation by the government.
As clarified by the United Nations
Independent Expert on the Right to
Development, the right to develop-
ment is the right to a particular pro-
cess of development that allows the
realization of economic, social and
cultural rights, as well as civil and
political rights, and all fundamental
freedoms, by expanding the capabili-
ties and choices of the individual.
Against this backdrop, the human
rights approach to development
should, therefore, entail the infusion
of human rights principles of partic-
ipation, accountability, transparency
and non-discrimination towards
the attainment of equity and justice.
Individuals, groups and communi-
ties have a right in decision-making,
planning and implementation of
programs that affect them.
To, therefore, reshape the Africa’s
economy, eradicate extreme poverty
and hunger, attain universal primary
education, promote gender equality,
reduce child mortality, improve ma-
ternal health among others, attract
productive partnership that will
engineer infrastructural development
to the continent in 2020, African
policymakers must learn to stop
being a coach in a game that they
are supposed to be a captain, view
alliances as assets to be invested in
rather than cost to be cut, drop the
attitude of policy inconsistencies
and somersault, and recognize that
‘private sectors understand better the
location and nature of market failure
and barriers that inhibits industrial
and infrastructural development of
any nation and give them that pride
of place’.
Jerome Utomi writes from Lagos,
Nigeria.