THE HUMAN PERSON AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA: PROGRESSION OR RETROGRESSION

Abstract

How has the human person fared in the whole gamut of development in Africa? Has the hitherto development theories been holistic enough to cater for the enormous lacks that presently bedevils the person within the African space? The person in Africa has been subjected to an array of developmental quagmire all emanating from the fact that other aspects of development such as infrastructural and economic development have been given priority over human development that should be the pivot point of every development approach. Since ideally, according to Nyerere, development is by man, for man and of man, the research seeks to unravel certain problems that are at the heart of the present perilous fate of the person in terms of development in theAfrican continent. Using the method of phenomenology, the research finds that at the base of the problem of development in Africa, is the misplaced position given to the 'person' or the place of the 'individual' in the African continent in the scheme of things by earlier theories of development where the intrinsic value of the person is lost on the altar of material development. The research concludes that any development paradigm that will work for Africa that is not centered at the onset on the value of the human person in its entire approach negates the aim of development. The research posits a new development paradigm for Africa, one anchored on “anthropocentrism”, where the value of the person is not lost to an untamed concentration on “scientio-technological” advancement and socio-econocentricism.