Experiences and Challenges of Africans Diaspora in Great Britain and their Role in the Future Development of Africa

People of African descent have lived in the UK for centuries. Indeed, they have been here since antiquity, but in small numbers. Yet, since the 20th century, we have seen their population increasing considerably. In recent years, African diaspora groups have become the subject of increased attention. The history of their migration is different from other migrants who came here for work from other countries. Africans came either in ancient times as slaves and later as either students to further their education and improve their job opportunities back home, as overseas workers, as political asylum running away from oppressive governments or as refugees following wars in their countries. To this day, many African political leaders, professionals and academics were educated in countries such as UK and the US. There is limited knowledge of how people of African diaspora dealt with aspect of their race, class and nationality. Their experiences is generally simplistically compared to those of the local black. They generally face inequality, poverty, police brutality with regular stop and searches as well as racism. But not all African groups experience the challenges above, many are very successful and are able to achieve great things. There are many who hold very important position in academia, various industries, and in politics who can certainly help Africa in various aspect of its growth. Historically, African diaspora’s contribution to decolonisation the African continent is an established and an acknowledged fact. This paper posits that the African diaspora has more to contribute to lift the continent out of the wood of poverty and underdevelopment the same way that Jewish diaspora lifted the State of Israel from a rural desert land to a first world country that competes with the best of the Western countries.