Niger is the 7th largest producer of uranium all of which go to Europe yet it is the 7th poorest country on earth; 40% of its 20 million people live in extreme poverty yet 40% of its budget is funded through aid.
Françafrique is the wrongful colonial view that France owns a part of Africa which it controls through the military, currency, trade, foreign policy, aid, economic, cultural and so called-democratic measures that install puppets, when in actual fact, this is a continuation of colonisation whose intent is to get resources out of Africa. Social workers and development practitioners from right across the globe, should help dismantle this policy, for ethical and professional reasons.
The exploitative policy has resulted in numerous death, and more sadly, it has maintained poverty and corruption. The policy has promoted aid and welfare, yet we all know evidence points to the relevance of developmental work (not aid and welfare) in Africa.
The challenge with aid: When Nigeriens removed former President Bazoum from power, France sanctioned the whole country and removed all their so called ‘humanitarian aid’ and budgetary support while the EU cut security and budgetary aid. They promised to bring back aid if Bazoum was reinstated. Burkina Faso supported Niger, and then France cuts their aid to Burkina Faso. This clearly shows that the West use aid to shape African policy. The more a population depends on aid, the more they will listen to the West. The sad part is, even with all the millions that are channeled towards aid, Niger is one of the poorest countries on earth. The statistics are: Niger is the 7th largest producer of uranium all of which go to Europe yet it is the 7th poorest country on earth; 40% of its 20 million people live in extreme poverty yet 40% of its budget is funded through aid. The country ranks 189th out of 191 countries in the 2022 UN Human Development Index. Want to read more about aid and dead aid, visit this page for Dambisa Moyo’s Dead Aid Theory.
There are many French organisations in Africa employing thousands of social and development workers at home and abroad. These are the front of Françafrique, in several ways including but not limited to distributing aid, forceful cultural change, supporting regimes favored by France and colonial education, including social work education.
Here is a different kind of a European, Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni who has consistently challenged France for its colonising role in Africa.
Is the Niger revolution a turning point?
The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, who should be the voice of reason given his young age, vowed to “not tolerate any attack against France and its interests”, retaliate “immediately and uncompromisingly”, “retaliate immediately and intractably.” Instead, he should simply pull out French troops, stop the fake aid, give Nigeriens their lithium back, stop the CFA and do the same in all African countries they are treating as a backyard empire.
At one point he visited Africa and said it was time to reset relations. But then, zero. His predecessors have said similar things, bu then zero. “Without Africa, France will slide down into the rank of a third [world] power”, French President Jacques Chirac said years ago. In 2007, then French President Nicolas acknowledged “The colonials came and looted, helped themselves, exploited, took resources and wealth that did not belong to them. They stripped the colonised of their personalities, of their freedom, of their lands and of the fruits of their labours.”
What has Africans said?
Former Permanent Representative to the African Union Mission in Washington DC, Dr. Arikana Chihombori Quao, “There are other coups that we are not talking about that we should be talking about. By France forcing Niger to send all its natural resources to France, that’s a coup. By France having its own military in Niger and forcing Nigeriens that they can only be trained by France, that is a coup. By forcing Niger to deposit 50% of its reserve with France, that is a coup.
I would like to call what’s happening in these 4 countries an ideological realignment of their economic, political and social values.
It is unbelievable that till this day you can have a country like Niger to be the second poorest country in the world and yet all their resources are going to France.
It is a warning to the Western powers that the African revolution has begun, and those who are going to align themselves with the people, are those who are going to survive the revolution that’s taking place in Africa.”
She said that the west should seriously consider this “revolution” and rethink its foreign policies towards Africa.
Former Nigerian Presidential Candidate and Global Affairs Analyst, Dr. Victor Okhai, “What this does present for Africa now is an opportunity to begin to renegotiate its trade policies, its economic policies with these western powers.”
Motasem Dalloul, a writer in the Middle East Monitor Newspaper said “France completely ignored the people whose wealth it had been stealing. So, when an ambitious leader rose through the ranks and called for giving a reasonable portion of a country’s wealth to its people, he was either toppled or killed. Since 1963, France has assassinated more than 22 African presidents who refused its colonial power and attempted to redefine the independence of their countries. French intelligence services, believed to be carrying out coups and murders in Africa, have been known very well by Africans.”
France (as well as its brothers and sisters) does “not address any of the people’s problems including violence, poverty, lack of economic opportunities, poor education systems and poor infrastructure. The West African countries – which were former French colonies – are the poorest countries in the world despite the fact that they are the richest in terms of natural resources. The ‘democracy’ that Paris seeks to maintain here is the protection of pro-France leaders”, said Motasem.
Young Africans, including Adelle Onyango from Kenya address macron directly, in the same room, about France’s exploitative relationships with Africa which is not collaborative, exploitative, unethical, imbalanced and lacks integrity.
I couldn’t agree more with all of the statements successfully and politely exposed by this young African Lady. Greetings from Mexico to all our African brothers and sisters!
@mengokumwenda3832
True Africa is not just in the soil but in the hearts of the generation that stand up to protect it even if our leaders have lost hope. This girl carries the blood of a true African and stands for those that fights in silence. There is hope for a better Africa as long as this courage runs in the blood of the young generations.
I’m proud of this woman. Love from Cameroon 🇨🇲. Cameroon is still suffering so much because of France
We need our continent on a good shape, the negative effect of colonisation still holds us back indeed, Africa has done so much for the western world and it’s time they help we the youth to rebuild our continent and stop using these corrupt leaders to keep impoverishing the citizens. Let’s all come together and build our continent, well done lady.
As a black American this makes me feel so much pride 
️ stand up for the truth
From a reader and follower of our blog “Thank you so much with this amazing, insightful and educative email. I have added my collection of local, context based and relavant theories that influence social work practice in Africa. I am really helped because I was in the process of looking for a better theory of management influenced by indigenous knowhow. I will never remain the same, after reading this email. “
The French are finally leaving Niger, which is a good outcome. Like any other forms of aid, military aid is ‘dead aid’ because it only serves the interests of those giving the aid. You can read about the Theory of Dead Aid here https://africasocialwork.net/motsi/african-theories-of-social-work/#dead-aid-theory
The President of Burkina Faso put it right when he said ‘western aid strength hens itself. They do not strengthen the armies of Africa, so they can come in with their armies, and claim to be saviors. Is the same happening in agriculture and food aid? Please let us know what you think.