NEO COLONIALISM AND THE DEPENDENCE OF AFRICA

First and foremost we will be talking on the issue “MULTI NATIONALS AS ENGINES OF GROWTH”.

Multi nationals appeared on the scene after the advent of the 2nd World War. The colonial powers that be knew that the systematic control of the colonies through colonialism was no longer going to be realistic and achievable, so as such they devised a means to enable them to continue wielding control over these colonies and this strategy was developed which probably even worked more than effectively in their quest to retain control of these colonies. So as such, in Africa we saw corporations like Unilever, Royal Dutch Shell, Philips, and Peugeot

Automobile taking over the manufacturing, petroleum, electronics and automobile business interests on the continent (Oatley, 2000)
As was done in the case of colonialism, the regime of Multi-national Corporations (MNCs) was promoted to be “the engines of growth.” And it was based on the notion that operations generated what economists call “positive externalities” in the host country: which promotes foreign investments, transfer of technology, management expertise and efficient allocation of resources.
Precedence from encounters on the African continent has shown us that these MNCs, instead of promoting growth, it has been an instrument of domination by the capitalists.

Oatley lamented; “it seems incongruous to achieve political freedom and liberty from these colonial powers and yet still continue to struggle from these colonial powers and yet still continue to struggle or strive under the economic dominance of the colonial powers through multi-national firms.” As can be seen from the foregoing list of MNCs mentioned, it is obvious that they engage in critical areas of national economy, in which the government has more interest in and where the conflict and crisis of interest often stem up. These conflicting interests atimes causes this MNCs to dabble in the domestic politics, or attempt to undermine the security of the host country: the extreme is their strategy of beating around the codes and regulations established to checkmate their operations and activities.

The MNCs are bent on maximizing profits and the well-being of its shareholders from global operations. As in most cases than not, they succeed in the contest of power through devices such as “inter-locking directorship and cross-shareholders” (Nkrumah, 1974: 259).

In conclusion, we could see the bold step taken by the Nigerian Government in 1971 to nationalize the assets of the British petroleum. The official reason for this was to prevent oil from getting to the enemies of Africans in apartheid South Africa. But the unstated and perhaps the most convincing motive was to force and coerce the hands of Margaret Thatcher (the Iron lady) of Britain in the protracted negotiations for Rhodesian (which is current day Zimbabwe) independence. (Aluko; 1981:212)

source : https://crusadersiii./2018/08/17/neo-colonialism-and-the-dependence-of-africa/#more-317