The video of a man speaking on the impoverished state of sub-Saharan Africa has been making its rounds on social media, particularly on TikTok and WhatsApp.
In the viral 4 minutes, 22 seconds footage, the man was speaking on keeping Africa stuck on its role as the raw material producer for the development and prosperity of Europe and the global continents.
In his words:
Sub Saharan in Africa has been fundamental to the global prosperity of the advanced countries and Africa had a role to play. It has a role as a raw material producer, we will not allow sub Saharan Africa to escape that. Okay we do everything to keep sub Saharan Africa where it is also impoverished. It’s absolutely vital for the prosperity of everyone else. So let’s get clear about that okay and this means all the economic structures, all the global institutions and the economics we teach everyone is designed to keep Africa where it is … We need Africa to be impoverished because we need those raw materials and we need them dirt cheap.
The video was posted on TikTok by multiple users as seen here, here, here and here.
Also, the video has been circulating in multiple WhatsApp groups.
CLAIM
Video shows man denigrating Africa in a speech.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING!
Checks revealed that the man speaking in the video is Howard Nicholas, a professor and Senior Lecturer in Economics at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, Netherlands.
A keyword search conducted on the words ‘Howard Nicholas Speaks on Africa‘ provided multiple search results including a YouTube video uploaded by Critical Collective.
The video (archived here) is the first of a three part discussion on the underdevelopment in Africa organized by Critical Collective and was uploaded since October 2015.
Further checks revealed that the viral clip was doctored and taken out of context using multiple scenes from the original footage which is nearly thirty minutes, especially at 2:01 and 12:51 respectively.
Nicholas was giving a background of his paper on why the economic structures of sub- Saharan Africa still remains the way it is and NOT denigrating Africa.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the video shows man denigrating Africa in a speech is MISLEADING; the video was doctored and taken out of context from the original version.
Seasoned fact-checker and researcher Fatimah Quadri has written numerous fact-checks, explainers, and media literacy pieces for The FactCheckHub in an effort to combat information disorder. She can be reached at sunmibola_q on X or [email protected].
Can you provide us with the original video since the one you are reporting about is doctored?
Here’s the link to the original video: https://youtu.be/SaqgQvLn5sQ?si=Wt3sV4BezVI0-mqc
We r not fools as African whatever is said in the video is a fact truth of how the Europeans,asian and US are using African to make them rich as we remain poor in poverty.so don’t tell us about the video being docted we r not fools
Howard Nicholas is *criticizing* the economic exploitation of Africa, not *promoting* it!
I have sent Prof. Howard Nicholas an email regarding his lecture. It is very clear what he was saying it doesn’t need any explanations. I didn’t talk anything bad about his lecture but I was very nice and I think he thought I was a European who lives in Africa. We have been exploited for decades and he too didn’t hide that evil agenda. The world owes Africa and Africans not useless “We are sorry”, but huge compensations.