Africa is the second largest continent in the world,and also the second most populous continent, second only to Asia. The continent has a large land mass totaling about 30.2 million km².Her total surface area is about 6% of that of the world. There are 47 countries and 7 beautiful Island nations totaling 53 countries.
The Continent is also blessed with a large resource of human capital with it's population being the second largest in the world with over 1 billion people (2009).
The continent is beautiful with lots of breathtaking sceneries. The second largest rainforest in the world is in one of the continent's western countries; Congo. The largest desert in the world; the Sahara desert is also found in this great continent. The Nile, the longest river in the world is also in Africa.
This is just to mention a few of all that makes Africa beautiful.
Africa is blessed with lots of natural resources ; Agricultural products and mineral resources. Some countries engage in the export of cash crops such as:
cotton in Zambia, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, and Benin;
coffee in Uganda, Rwanda and Cote d’Ivoire,
and tobacco in Malawi and Zambia,
Cocoa can be found in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.
Food crops such as Cassava, Groundnuts, Maize, Millet, Sorghum .etc. are available in Africa.
Now to the mineral resources:
Oil : Nigeria, Angola, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Chad, the DRC and Sudan are the 8 oil producing nations. With Nigeria being the largest producer in Africa and 11th in the world.
Gas: Nigeria, Algeria, Libya and Egypt.
Timber: Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana and Liberia.
Diamonds : DRC, Sierra leone, Botswana, South Africa.
Gold: South Africa, Liberia, Ghana, Mali, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Burkinafaso, Cote de ivoire.
Bauxite : Guinea, Mozambique, Ghana.
Coltan: DRC
These are some of the natural blessings of Africa.
Africa is the 12th largest world's producer of oil and the 8th world's exporter of the same.
Needless to say, with this wealth of natural resources, great land mass and a large human capital one would have imagined that Africa will be a rich continent. Unfortunately, this reserve of wealth has made her easy prey for selfish leaders who have sold their people and countries to other nations. Corruption is at it's zenith, civil wars and disputes over these resources, killings, poverty and moral decadence are all Africa has to show for all of mother nature's blessings. Some of the leaders are greedy,selfish and corrupt and have made themselves and their families the sole benefactors of what is meant to be for the whole nation.
What can we do to improve the socioeconomic condition of the African man?
There is so much to do especially in the area of food, education and health.
Things have really improved in recent times with Africa becoming one of the fastest growing world economies.
This is a clarion call to all and sundry, to join hands together to lift Africa above her present challenges and bring back the glory that was once to be.
Subsequently, we will be discussing public health issues in Africa,the way forward and the measures we as individuals can take to abut the decline in the socio economic condition of the average African and accelerate the growth of the continent at large.
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