La France à Fric is a masterpiece by Senegalese Babacar Ndiaye published in France by Publishroom. It is a 128-page essay on international finance, economics, education, health, corruption, and social welfare, with the goal of bringing about change on the African continent for a balance that benefits the entire world. Through this book, the author paints the current African societies and reflect “a vision and proposals of solutions while waiting to see the international institutions organize global consultations to change this world for the benefit of the human family so that justice, love and peace reign.
La France à fric or Françafrica
A literal translation of the title of the book simply means France with money, since in a colloquial, pejorative language, fric means currency, money. It is therefore safe to assume that France is only interested in the money of Africans. And naturally, the money of Africans is their raw materials, their subsoil rich in natural resources. The title France à fric is then an allegory of the relationship between France and Africa.
Moreover, the book La France à Fric, Françafrica’s namesake, also addresses direct French interference in the internal affairs of former colonies, with or without the complicity of some local African elites. According to Babacar Ndiaye, “In recent centuries, the African continent has suffered too many injustices. After being emptied of its young and healthy population to build a better world elsewhere, it has been fragmented, resulting in moral humiliation, political weakening and chronic intellectual dependence.
A context that has certainly put in place a system of subjugation where Africans always think that the solutions to their problems must come from the West. And yet, they are the first to claim independence. “The latter will remain a utopia as long as Africa does not manage to design its own models,” says the author of the book. From now on, it may be time for African problems to be solved in an African way.
Shortcomings of the African education system
Furthermore, based on the case of Senegal, Babacar Ndiaye notes the shortcomings of the African education system. From his analysis, we retain three fundamental points on which we must focus in order to correct the situation: an educational model that is not appropriate to our demographic structure, a language problem and finally contents and programs that do not conform to our needs and realities.
An inadequate monetary policy
The author of “La France à fric” also addresses questions of economy and currency, and believes that, in the absence of a single world currency that could guarantee monetary justice within the human family, Africa must still have its own currency. He also argues that the CFA franc is not our currency, it is a fixed subdivision of the euro and that the latter is completely disconnected from our economic realities and our monetary policy needs.
Babacar Ndiaye is a Senegalese writer, actuary by training, statistician and financier. After serving in several international firms in France from 2010 to 2017, he returned to Senegal and set up a consulting firm named Deprice Consulting.
