'Tope Fasua has a pointed response to those who treat African debt as a cautionary tale: debt, he argues, has not just burdened nations but built generations.
Fasua's position is straightforward. Every country that holds real weight in the global economy got there by borrowing against its future cash flows. The math is not unique to the West, and the principle does not expire at Africa's borders.
Where Fasua gets sharper is in his pushback on how Western engagement with African economies gets framed. The amounts involved, he writes, have been peanuts, and Africa is not a charity case waiting to be rescued by modest foreign lending.
The bigger question his argument leaves hanging is this: if the instrument is sound, what does purposeful governance actually look like when it picks it up?
Originally published by Premium Times.