Africa combined is the 8th largest economy in the world yet as individual countries we barely register on the global radar. Individual African countries are simply not viable. No amount of aid or borrowing will fix scale deficiencies - in fact, the lack of scale is what makes our current national debts worrisome and risky!
The idea of "national pride" carriers is ancient and obsolete. We need Pan-African Champion Airlines (where countries buy shares in not more than three Pan-African Airlines - North, Central and South). This would immediately dissolve the perceived (delusional) national advantage of self-imposed barriers to open skies and regional trade.
The current heavy reliance on international markets is not smart at all (we are highly exposed to global shocks and geopolitics); it should be supplemented by sensible and massive intra-Africa trade.
Pan-Africanism is not a sentimental idea, it is a rational and intelligent economic strategy. It is the only way to create a common and unified mindset that will unlock scale in Africa.
Thankfully
a good number of African leaders and technocrats are recognizing these challenges, hence the
AfCFTA (African Continental Free Trade Area) initiative, which requires ratification
of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), the Protocol on the Free Movement of
Persons, and the African Passport, as part of the integration process.
As
business people it is in our interest to support these initiatives as
much as we can - but also to be vigilant of powerful (foreign state-backed) resource-extraction MNCs that would want to hijack or sabotage Africa's integration because it spoils their centuries-long plunder party.