Date: Thursday, 14 January 2021
What is self-reliance? Self-reliance is the ability of being able to rely on oneself for one’s needs. A country can be said to be self-reliant when it is capable of producing the majority of its basic needs. There are so many reasons why it is important for a country to be self-reliant. For example, a country that is not self-reliant is sometimes forced to do certain things against its will and principles simply because the benefactors have said so. Many African and Asian countries normally find it quite difficult being self-reliant. These countries largely rely on foreign donors in order to provide basic needs for their people.
Of course, no country is totally self-reliant – not even the most powerful country in the world – the United States. But this doesn’t mean that the country depends on other countries in order to produce the basic needs of its people or to solve all of its problems. Unfortunately, this is what so many countries that aren’t self-reliant do.
How can a country become self-reliant?
There are so many ways that a nation can become self-reliant. Some of these ways include the following:
· Through the provision of quality education and training: One of the best measures that can be taken to enable a country to become self-reliant is through the provision of quality education and training to its people. It is important that government pays much premium on this because the more educated and highly skilled people are, the higher the chances of the nation developing. It is for this reason that many developed countries that are self-reliant don’t take education for granted. Such countries have a huge chunk of their population having various degrees of quality education and training.
· The change of the mentality of the people: Many countries that are not self-reliant have leaders that have a mentality of always looking to other countries for help. This normally comes as a result of a lack of confidence in themselves. They feel that the solution to their problems lies in other places but not in their country or in themselves. When the leaders change their mentality and start having confidence in their ability to solve their own problems, then the country begins to drive on the road to self-reliance.
· The controlling of the rapid growth of the population: One of the major causes of poverty in many African and Asian countries is as a result of a large population which keeps growing even larger. According to experts, this can have a very negative impact on the country and its economy; and this of course prevents the country from being self-reliant. In such places, people normally give birth to children that their finances cannot adequately take care of. The population increases to the extent that the government has to important things such as build more schools, hospitals, and create more jobs for the huge population that is in desperate need of these crucial things. This puts an enormous amount of pressure on the economy of the country, leaving the country with no other option than to look for help from other countries. This is one of the biggest problems bedeviling many African nations. Education and family planning are believed to be the best measures that can be adopted to mitigate the problem of rapid population growth and steer the country back towards the road to self-reliance.
· Corruption should be curbed or totally eradicated: There is no doubt about the fact that wherever corruption thrives, poverty also thrives. One of the major causes of poverty in many third-world nations across the globe is as a result of severe corruption in the system. Corruption is destructive to all nations. It cripples a nation in one blow and prevents the nation from being self-reliant. Simply put, when a country is managed or run by corrupt leaders then the future of such a country is very bleak. Corruption makes people to be selfish and think only about themselves, and this attitude can never move a country forward. The best it can do for a country is to drive the country into poverty and dependence on other developed countries for funds in order to run the country. If a country has to be self-reliant, then corruption must be eradicated.
Encouraging of goods that are made in the country: In certain poor countries in Africa, Asia and South America, people have a strong taste for things that are made from outside their country and hardly patronize similar things that are made in their country. This attitude hugely prevents the economy of a country from growing and makes the country to rely on other countries for funds or aid. What happens when people of a particular nation decide to ignore their locally manufactured goods for foreign ones is that it ends up making the foreign countries richer and theirs poorer. And when a country is poor, then it would have no other option than to be dependent on other rich countries. This problem can be curbed if governments can educate their citizens on the importance of buying locally manufactured goods and also if the government can help local industries to improve upon the quality of the goods that they manufacture locally.
