Moghalu Warns: Africa’s Population Boom Is Fueling Poverty, Not Prosperity

President and Vice-Chancellor of the African School of Governance, Professor Kingsley Moghalu has sounded a strong warning against what he describes as the myth of population-driven economic growth in Africa, calling for a shift toward Indigenous values and systems as a foundation for real development.

In a statement shared via his official channels on Wednesday, Moghalu argued that Africa’s long-standing pursuit of development based on foreign models has yielded little progress.

“For 60 years Africa has sought to achieve ‘development’ based on the values, systems, and structures of foreign lands and foreign powers,” he said. “To reverse this and prosper, our countries must find and promote positive African values and systems of organization.”

He criticized the narrative that Africa’s rapidly growing population presents a market advantage. “Anyone who tells Africa and Africans that the population boom is creating a market is deceiving you,” Moghalu stated.

“Is it creating factories? Is it even creating markets when GDP per capita is so small even in countries like Nigeria?”

Moghalu emphasized that prosperity is not about sheer numbers but about economic productivity. He contrasted Nigeria’s population of over 200 million people and a GDP per capita of around $1,500 with Switzerland’s 9 million people and a GDP per capita of $99,000.

“At current trends the more we ‘born pikin,’ the more we redistribute poverty,” he said pointedly.