What We Need is ‘Books’

There’s been enough financial aid coming to Africa for decades now. We’ve had enough of that but we see no improvement. We still suffer hunger, we suffer unemployment, we don’t have internet, our homes are dark, there is inefficiency in our management systems and yet we still see the old method of receiving financial and political aid from the West. What we need is knowledge, what we need is ‘books’. In a ‘dumsor’ community, knowledge is best transferred as books. Whether used or new ‘a book will always be a book’.

We need books by Peter Drucker, Adam Smith, John Maxwell and the best-selling leadership authors. UN won’t be discussing about growing the African economy, improving healthcare and providing food aid if there were enough knowledgeable personnel in Africa. If you care enough about the African economy you will step away from our governance and leave us to make our own policies. But if you can’t leave and still have the desire to provide aid then do it the right way. The right way is not your presence in our administration. The right way is to provide us with the resources that developed your country. The right way will be to share your books with us. We don’t want our communities to be littered with Hollywood books. Keep the Superman and Spiderman to yourselves. We have Kumawood and Nollywood to entertain us. What we need is knowledgeable resources. What we need is books.

Most problems we face in Africa have been solved decades ago and are published in the old books dirtying in your storage. Dust them up and ship them to us, two containers a year per country. Our local libraries need them, our youth need books. There is a used book somewhere in your shelf, take it out and call your family members to do the same. Gather them and ship to Liberia, Nigeria and Ghana. Ship them to Africa, ship them to us. We as Africans need to have an independent mindset to run our own affairs and with enough knowledge the African can run his own affairs. What we need is books.