Africa's poverty consequence of poor leadership - Peter Obi

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By Madu Obi

The former Governor of Anambra State and Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi has said that Africa's poverty is not due to lack of resources, but a consequence of poor leadership and mismanagement of its abundant natural wealth.

Obi made the observation while delivering a keynote address at the London Business School, hosted by the institution’s Africa Business Club, on the theme: “From Promise to Prosperity: Charting Africa’s Development with Political Will and Vision.”

Insisting that Africa is not poor, Obi said:n: "We are blessed with about 30% of the world’s known mineral reserves and over 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land. 60% of global solar energy potential is in Africa, yet we are still talking about energy, poverty.

Also, over 60% of the continent’s 1.4 billion people are young and potentially productive and by the year 2050, 40% of the world’s youth will be African, which is an untapped asset waiting to be unlocked."

Despite this, He lamented that despite the positives, Africa remains home to extreme poverty, insecurity, and high unemployment, which he attributed to a “failure of leadership.”

He noted: “While Asia now contributes over 35% of global GDP, Africa contributes less than 3%. This is largely because Asian leadership focuses on education, healthcare, production, and poverty reduction. In Africa, unfortunately, the reverse is often the case. What we lack in Africa is purposeful, accountable, and competent leadership.”

To reverse this trend, Obi advocated for strategic investments in education, health, food security, and poverty alleviation, calling for a redirection of public resources away from wasteful spending towards human capital development.

He emphasized that if Africa is to move from promise to prosperity, leadership must be grounded in competence, character, capacity, compassion, and integrity.

The event was attended by students, academia, and members of the African diaspora community. It formed part of the Africa Business Club’s ongoing efforts to foster dialogue on Africa’s development trajectory.