ABSTRACT
This introductory chapter quantitatively shows that until the early 1960s the economic prospects and, in some cases, performance of Africa was better than Asia. Africa subsequently suffered a reversal as gap in income between the two continents has been widening. For instance, Nigeria’s per capita income in 1980 was six times that of China while per capita income of China is almost three and half times that of Nigeria in 2019. One of the reasons of declining relative income in the African continent is its excessive dependency on natural resources and lack of economic diversification. On the other hand, Asian economies, despite having natural resources, diversified through explicit acquisition of industrial capacity, especially manufacturing and services sectors. Notable Asian economies that followed this development trajectory are: China, South Korea, and Malaysia.
Consequently, natural resources have proved to be a blessing for Asia and a curse for Africa. The African continent can still reverse its fortune by strengthening and diversifying its industrial manufacturing capacity while investing in services sectors. We suggest that the continent concentrates on the agro-processing industry and develops competitiveness in exports of processed agri-products rather than exports of raw agricultural materials.
