Gradual systemic decoupling from Western and Eastern global powers is a natural and logical next step to ensure African sovereignty – economic and otherwise. There is no justification why halfway through a century of political independence most African countries are still heavily reliant on Western aid to meet basic needs for their populations, local infrastructure and markets are too weak to support local economies leaving economies dependent on Western markets.

Africa must take control of its economic development and reconfigure its global status. The continent needs to act towards a strategic shift toward indigenous economic models, regional integration, and sovereign control over resources to break decades-old cycles of imposed dependences to chosen interdependencies.

Predictably, the Foundational architecture of the current global economic infrastructure is not representative Africa’s interests; it is founded on an extractive design and never meant to assert Africa’s economic and policy agency; instead, it primes the continent for the export of raw materials with little to no focus on building capacity for local processing.

The global economic design characterised by three pillars of institutions – the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank Group (WB), and the World Trade Organizations (WTO) – established to manage international cooperation, stabilise financial systems, and facilitate global trade are Western designs that primarily protect Western interests and view Africa as source of resources and not an equal partner.

Within this global economic framework Africa is often an afterthought that must somehow fit itself in Western-centric solutions. Over the years, economic structural adjustment programmes have been imposed as ‘solutions’ without due diligence to comprehend their local viability. These have tended to worsen than improve the debt crises, erode state investment in social projects, damage trust between governments and the public and worsen the security situation and the average African’s circumstances.  

Fundamental continental changes that would require local processing skills development and technological sharing in critical industries are needed.

A purposefully united Africa is important for an effective strategic shift away from paternalistic relationships to mutually beneficial engagements with the rest of the world; it is in Africa’s interest to avoid becoming “stuck” in a “panic trap,” where countries feel unable to resolve conflicts in the absence of the Western and the Eastern global powers thereby increasing anxiety and feelings of helplessness locally. While we acknowledge the obvious technological skills gap and advantage of our international partners, that will never justify a surrender of our sovereignty to any global entity.

How we engage with the rest of the world is a projection of internalised views of ourselves. It would appear Africa subconsciously retains the views of itself as espoused by the colonial rulers who saw Africa as an inferior partner in any interaction with the West, thus Africa tends to look outside the continent for perceived better life outcomes for itself.

Given the Western and the Eastern powers have played and continue to play a significant role in reducing poverty and improving lives in Africa, excessive reliance on them has resulted from Africa’s lack of foundational skills in providing the right education for its population and a lack of diversification in our global partnerships.

Critical socio-political structural changes are required to improve access to opportunities to decision-making by citizens, improving human rights, improving governance institutions, data and digital autonomy across the continent along building informed economic systems founded on the correct diagnoses of Africa’s challenges.

Solutions will begin by the African leadership building a whole new economic architecture including strengthening the local infrastructure and oversight — building strong policy, improving security provision, tightening continental systemic operations, setting realistic domestic goals, standards and conditions for global engagement.  

We concede there are always opportunities to learn from others, but no we should not yield to any economic and political zone. Africa needs to create a safe diplomacy space to navigate intercontinental sensitivities, including a shared strategic shift from dependency on every other zone.

Rather than relying exclusively on the Western or Eastern global powers, African nations need to galvanize and organise internally, diversify their partnerships and leverage global power competition to negotiate from a position of greater strength.

Essential work is being undertaken by the African leadership to boost local entrepreneurship, regional supply chains, and manufacturing to build genuine economic sovereignty. Refocusing economic activity to prioritise and revitalise the African zone and reduce reliance on Western markets and foreign aid is one such undertaking. This is being done through a deliberate prioritisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Overreliance on the Western and Eastern global powers for development risks African countries seeing these zones as a “fix-it” mechanism rather than short-term supportive networks or even exploitative relationships that preside over the extraction of critical minerals for a pittance perpetuating dependency that delays local responsibility and growth.