Top 5 Tropes on Africa that the Media Needs to Avoid
In an ideal African world and not some fairytale Wakanda, Africa is always doomed to fail. The media says it, the politicians say it, and even the Mailman says it. Whether it is Ebola, the emergence or fall of a ruthless dictator, genocide, or Boko Haram, betting against the fall or self-capitulation of African nations was a sure wager.
It’s a game; The media willfully neglects Africa and what it’s up to, then it decides to suddenly care by telling a story with incredulous coverage.
Journalism on Africa is often blighted with factual errors, premature analysis, and unbelievable stereotyping that an intern editor wouldn’t miss — all things being equal.
Let’s shed more light on this topic with these carefully chosen Five tropes that the media needs to stop yapping about:
1. Indexing of any African country’s poverty:
Yes, Madagascar has been touted and paraded as the poorest country in the world by GDP figures. Madagascar has been plagued with dwindling economic growth, severe climate shocks, poor infrastructure, and corrupt politicians just like any other country in the Sub-Saharan African region. The metrics are out there for anybody who cares to look but we now live in a world where the quality of a conversation about Africa is determined by how good the reporter can quantify the poverty in the region. If continents had posters and emblems, Africa would either be a running buck in the wild or a starving kid with a wry smile. The media does not care for meaningful conversations that can actually solve the problem at hand.
2. When will Nigeria cease to be “on the brink” or “at a crossroads”
Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa with about 200 million people. Nigeria is also the richest country in Africa and the 20th largest economy in the world in terms of nominal GDP and Purchase power parity. To further elucidate the irony of the narrative of a country that is predicted to implode or explode (depending on the reportage), Nigeria has a stronger economy than at least 170 countries in the world. If we were to really follow the money, 170 countries are likely to implode before Nigeria.
Nigeria holds its presidential, National Assembly, and gubernatorial elections every 4 years. When it’s election time, the media starts to blow the ‘end of days’ trumpet and urge all expatriates to vacate the country. The 2023 General elections were the 6th quadrennial election since the end of military rule in 1999, and yet the media is out with the tropes again. Nigeria has survived an election before; it will survive again.
3. Africa should “climb up the value chain”
Should Africa climb up the value chain? Yes, most certainly. To be fair, this is a catchphrase used mostly by politicians. Africa is blessed with several mineral resources and the big talk has always been ’imagine if those resources were exploited to their full potential”. We are in the 21st century and there is a thing called comparative and absolute advantage. While productivity is a never-ending curve as we can always out-do, out-perform, and out-produce our last efforts, there is one truth that needs to be established; Africa can’t competitively process all of its raw materials. An example is how Nigeria cannot competitively process cocoa into chocolate. Also, mining and exploiting certain minerals mean maintaining a status quo corrupt government.
4. The dubbing of every tech hub as ‘Yabacon’, ‘Silicon Savannah, etc.
Oh, we get it! Silicon Valley is the gold standard of an ideal tech ecosystem, albeit a town. The Silicon Valley synecdoche or any of its other fanciful appellations is a subtle method used to keep the development of African tech ecosystems under a form of subservience. Business clustering is nothing new all over the world. Industrial areas with similar companies located a yard or two from each other have long existed since the 19th century. It’s not a Silicon Valley Innovation, and it’s a tiring narrative that reveals the desire of the media to pit and compare any form of progress to a Western establishment.
5. Africa is falling into a Chinese debt trap
In the wake of Trump’s America First Policy, China and President XI have created a plan called “project of the century.” In the Belt and Road Forum of 2017, President Xi pledged at least $113 billion to be used for roads, bridges, gas pipelines, ports, railways, and power plants in mostly emerging economies in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. On paper, it’s a cohesive plan but hasn’t quite hit the mark as expected. Last year, Sri Lanka had to hand over a National port to Chinese companies it owed about a billion dollars. This unfortunate incident has been used to create propaganda that Africa is falling into a Chinese debt trap. There are 54 countries in Africa, and Sri Lanka is just the unlucky one in this context.
CONCLUSION
Recently, there has been a certain level of acceptance and conviction, especially from the U.S. government. In 2014, at the largest gathering of African heads of state and governments ever assembled by the White House, Joe Biden requested an equal partnership moving forward. In the Vice President’s words; The question for most world leaders and technocrats has always been what can we do for Africa instead of what can we do with Africa?
