ABSTRACT
Since attaining political independence, most African countries have recorded dismal rates of economic growth. The situation seems to have deteriorated over the last two decades with some countries experiencing negative rates of economic growth. In fact, a number of sub-Saharan African countries are economically no better off today than they were at independence. For example, the per capita income in Nigeria was $260 in 1973, rose to $1,200 in 1983, and by 2000 had dropped to $250 (World Bank 1989, 2002). Today, as we begin life in the twenty-first century, Africa remains one of the least developed regions of the world, despite its significant endowments of human and natural resources (UNDP 2002). The economic crisis facing many Africans is evidenced by various indicators of wellbeing, such as a large and increasing proportion of households who are unable to meet their basic needs, extensive malnutrition, low life expectancy, inadequate access to health care and affordable housing, high unemployment rates, and lack of safe drinking water. Once reasonably well functioning road and railway networks, electric power generation plants and transmission lines, irrigation schemes and other types of infrastructure left behind by colonial powers, are now in shameful disrepair. In addition to economic problems, African countries have, since independence, been
burdened by serious political problems such as oppressive non-democratic regimes.
