Introduction.

1.1. The Globalization Process is driven by the revolution in Infonnation and Communication Technology fueled by computing capacity and software is reducing the world into a global village. It has brought about the death of distance; happenings in far away corners of the earth and beyond are instantaneously brought to us in our living rooms. Our culture is assaulted daily by lifestyles that seem to capture the attention of and slavery imitation by the youth. Billions of global capital is moved around the world at the click of a mouse seeking investment destinations to create wealth or to cause financial crisis. Transnational corporations have made the world their factory place thanks to containerization revolution producing parts in different parts of the world and assembling the products in other parts for distribution in a global market. Successful entrepreneurs and workers need to have Web based skills, have satellite based internet access and reliable link and connectivity to play the global markets.

1.2. This is the world of globalization that we live in. Our nation states are no longer adequate in protecting us from global pandemics. As the world shrinks so we have to learn to focus on our common humanity and try to develop the resources of the earth for our common use and the progress of all humanity. Africa cannot get of the train of globalization. We can harness the benefits of globalization for our development:

2. What do we mean by success?

2.1. By success we understand a nation's standing in the international ladder of improved standard of living and social progress.

It is not only growth in output for generating the resource wherewithal for improving living standards of the people that interests us. We are concerned with is shared growth where the process of production includes strategies for minimizing the exclusion of the disadvantaged, and provides institutional arrangements and strategies for inculcating a sense of inclusion and participation in the development process. And where social progress of the nation is not viewed exclusively from the economic prism but from a broader social perspective where feeling of personal safety and sense of belonging are just as important as increasing cash income. It is only when the average citizen feels a part of the process of development that long-term sustainable growth can be assured.

2.2 In Africa where we have a multiplicity of ethnic communities forming our nation states, ensuring a sense of belonging and social cohesion through participation of a broad mass of the people in the growth process is essential to creating a process where economic success reinforces our embryonic and fragile democracies to yield sustainable development for improving living standards of the average citizen.

This is the world of globalization that we live in. Our nation states are no longer adequate in protecting us from global pandemics....

3. Historical Experience in Transforming Living Standards.

3.1 Modern economic growth that started the transformation of living standards and altered society beyond imagination. The transformation was facilitated through the harnessing of the fruits of science and technology for improving the general wellbeing of individuals and our living environment. The process is broadly dated to have taken off in the late 18th Century with the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom. It was powered by technological innovation including the invention of the stearn engine, the mastering and harnessing of coal energy. The process was accompanied by rising agricultural productivity that facilitated the transformation of agriculture and freed labour for other non-farm activities.

3.2 The spread of modern economic growth has radiated from its cradle to the rest of the world over the past 23 decades with different level of intensity and success. The process of diffusion of technology and the application of innovative ideas for improving the day-to-day preoccupation of the economic and social agents of nations has never ceased though the method and agents of the diffusion change from time to time.

3.3 We believe that in spite of the fact that each country is unique and that its geography, history, and cultural circumstances are rarely duplicated elsewhere, we can always glean lessons of the major factors that have driven nations to growth and the type of policy landscapes that have facilitated national efforts to escape the poverty trap.

3.4 The issue is complex. There are no magic wands and no primers. As Diamond warns us in his book [Jarred Diamond; Guns, Germs and Steel, A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years, Vintage Publications 1998:111] "We tend to seek easy single factor explanations for success. For most important things, though, success actually requires avoiding many separate possible causes of failure."