The West loves to talk about “developing” Africa.

They hold conferences, sign billion-dollar aid deals, push economic policies they claim will help the continent “catch up”. But here’s the truth: they aren’t developing Africa. They’re extracting from it. And they always have been.

Look at trade. African nations are forced to export raw materials such as gold, cocoa, oil, lithium, at dirt-cheap prices, while Western corporations refine and sell them for massive profits. A chocolate bar made from Ivorian cocoa generates wealth in Europe, not in Côte d’Ivoire. Oil drilled in Nigeria fuels global markets, while Nigerians face fuel shortages. The system is rigged to keep Africa dependent, never powerful.

Look at debt. After colonial rule ended, Africa was handed a new form of control: loans. The World Bank and IMF gave out billions with strings attached. Structural adjustment programs forced governments to cut education, healthcare, public services… just so they could keep up with debt payments. Payments, by the way, that have already been repaid multiple times over through interest and unfair trade deals. Yet the debt never disappears. Because that’s the point.

Look at aid. The West frames it as generosity, a helping hand. But aid money always comes with conditions. It funds Western NGOs, not local organizations. It creates dependency, not self-sufficiency. And for every dollar of aid Africa receives, far more leaves the continent in resource theft, tax evasion, and illicit financial flows. They give with one hand and take ten times as much with the other.

Look at military intervention. When African governments resist Western control, suddenly the narrative shifts. Leaders who won’t play along are branded as ‘dictators’. Coups are supported. Proxy wars erupt. The same powers that claim to bring peace are the ones supplying weapons and fuelling instability. Because war is profitable.

They call it development, but it’s just a modern version of the same colonial playbook. Africa’s resources, labour, and land are still being used to enrich the West, just with new branding. The only real development will come when Africa takes back control of its economies, its policies, its future. And that won’t happen through foreign aid or Western approval. It will happen when Africa stops asking and starts demanding.