Manu Chandaria: Lessons Africa can learn from China to grow its economy

USIU-Africa Chancellor Manu Chandaria has challenged African countries to take advantage of their close relationship with China to advance their development agenda instead of whining that the Asian giant was introducing neo-colonialism tendencies in the continent.

Addressing students drawn from the faculty of journalism and international relations during public lecture at the institution on Africa in the 21st Century: Reflections on Emerging Challenges in Media and Foreign Policy Reporting in Africa and China on Tuesday, Chandaria acknowledged that indeed China, the world’s most populous country, had come a long way to become a global economic powerhouse through transformative leadership over the years..

Prof Howard French, who teaches at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, who was the guest speaker, shared China’s growth trajectory since independence stating that Africa needs to borrow a leaf from the Asian tiger and embrace exemplary and selfless leadership to realise economic growth of its citizens.

“African leaders need to set a paradigm shift to harness the continent’s possibilities to drive growth of the continent,” he argued. 

The public lecture was part of a broader institutional partnership under discussion between USIU-Africa and Columbia University in New York – Columbia Global Centers.

The event was hosted by the School of Communication, Cinematic and Creative Arts and School of Humanities and Social Sciences with the aim of creating awareness to link academia and industry on global matters as well as preserve and expand knowledge repositories in both public and private spaces.