After 100 years with ExxonMobil… 20 African countries no better off today

Feb 18, 2018 ExxonMobil, News

The splendour Mother Nature has bestowed upon the continent of Africa cannot be ignored. But neither can the fact that after 100 years of hosting ExxonMobil’s operations, the people of 20 African nations are no better off today.
This can be seen from a simple examination of the latest Human Development Index (HDI) report. (http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/HDI)
The HDI was created to emphasise the point that people and their ability to live a better life should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country.
The African countries which have been flagged in the HDI report as places of low human development include: Angola, Chad, Cameroon, Madagascar, Nigeria, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and the Republic of Congo.
Those African nations with managed to scrape medium development for its people after finding oil include Equatorial Guinea, Egypt, South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Ghana, Sâo Tomé and Morocco.
On this basis, one can surely understand the notion that oil alone does not guarantee the “good life”. This very point was recently hammered home by world renowned scientist and head of the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST), Professor Suresh Narine.
At the Guyana International Petroleum Business Summit (GIPEX) which was held from February 7 to February 9, Professor Narine asked, “Will Guyana simply shoot to the top of the HDI by simply becoming producers of oil? And for how long shall we maintain this good life, if we are able to attain it? Or will it only be over the lifetime of our reserves? ”
Professor Narine emphasised once more that energy on its own doesn’t guarantee the good life. The world renowned scientist noted, however, that it can unlock the good life in the presence of all the very things that makes life good – the things that feed our bodies and our souls in an environment of peace and security.
According to Professor Narine said, “How we manage this industry, how we deploy the proceeds from it, our enablement and careful stewardship of sustainable industries and attention to the sustenance, promotion and protection of our marvelous environmental and cultural diversity is entirely within our hands.”
“Not only must we ask what the emergence of this industry will mean to our current generation – we must envision the Guyana we wish for the next and future generations and lay the groundwork now, as many of the decisions we make now will only affect the next generation in 25 years or so.”
With ExxonMobil’s operations moving full steam ahead, Guyana like many African nations, is poised to become an oil producer by 2020.

5 thoughts on “After 100 years with ExxonMobil… 20 African countries no better off today”

Action February 18, 2018 at 5:30 am

What industries are the Guyanese government planning to develop with the oil money? Are they going to make Guyana the top exporter of agricultural products to the Caribbean? Are they going to make an extraordinary effort to reduce unemployment, boost education, solve social issues in school (bullying), and in society ( suicide, rampant gun crimes). Guyana is just like all the other terrible countries because they cannot eliminate gun crimes. That and drugs are some of the top problems that hold back a country. The youths and young men have to be shown and given another way. Consequences must be severe, not just to be locked up so they can hangout with their friends in jail.
1. RJ Pratap February 18, 2018 at 2:04 pm
  
  Nah man dem gun tief fus den wah lef if de people lucky dem gun get biskit an lime wash.
Kassem_B February 18, 2018 at 1:32 pm

‘After 100 years with ExxonMobil… 20 African countries no better off today’
But a lot get rich and now living in their favourite metropolitan cities in Europe and North America.
Hey, hey ,hey, hey
MyFun1 February 18, 2018 at 2:40 pm

Agricuture is always the most stable economic base of any country & the high demad both domestic & foreing makes the Industry profitable if effectively managed. Oil is just another high value foreign exchange earner like bauxite which contributes to the Country’s GDP. However Government has to be
Pam February 19, 2018 at 12:21 am

All these ‘cousins’ together are no good for managing any country.