For a long time, the history of Gabon was reduced to that of a French colony. Of the periods before the French settlement, almost nothing was known. In recent decades, thanks to the use of non-written sources, knowledge of Gabon’s past has deepened. The results of archaeological research, in particular, have established that man has lived in the regions of present-day Gabon since prehistoric times. Indeed, the first inhabitants of Gabon are Pygmies, foresters, hunters living in small family communities on the banks of the rivers. The 16th century saw the arrival of the Bantu peoples from a group of Golo, Nkomi and Irungu. In the southwest, the Punu settled, and in the extreme southwest, the Nzebi and the Teke. In the eighteenth century, the Fang people settled in the north.In the south, the Kita and the Kwele settled. In the pre-colonial period, Gabon was constituted small tribal kingdoms, and part of the country was subordinated to the medieval Kingdom of Congo. In 1472, Portuguese ships landed in Gabon for the first time. The country also aroused interest of French, Danish and British sailors who regularly visited the coast to trade with local tribes for ivory, precious woods and slaves. Thus began the colonization of Gabon…
From 1910 to 1958 Gabon was part of the French Equatorial Africa (AEF) federation. The country obtained relative autonomy in 1956 with the adoption of universal suffrage and became a member republic of the French community following a referendum held in 1958. The country gained its independence on August 17, 1960. Elected president of the state, Leon Mba organized a government by appointing Jean Hilaire Obame as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Unfortunately, the tense relations between the two men led to the dissolution of the National Assembly and thus to the announcement of new elections. Thus begins for the country a tumultuous post-independence period as in many African countries. On August 30, 2009, Defense Minister Ali Bongo won the election, succeeding his late father as president. Observers from the European Union and the African Union confirmed the legality and Ali Bongo was sworn in on October 17, 2009.
In the 2016 presidential election, Bongo was narrowly confirmed in office with 49.8% against 48.23% for Jean Ping. The latter has so far contested the election results and has proclaimed himself president of the republic. On January 7, 2019, an attempted coup d’état
“to restore democracy” by officers of the Gabonese armed forces foiled.
GEOPOLITICS AND INTERDEPENDENCE
Gabon is a country of Central Africa, it is crossed by the equator and is limited to the North-East by Equatorial Guinea, to the North by Cameroon, to the East and South by Congo Brazzaville and to the
the West by the Atlantic Ocean which borders it on 800 km. This country being at the height of the equator, the climate is tropical, hot and humid. The relief of Gabon is made up of a low coastal plain hills in the interior of the country and savannahs in the east and south. Gabon shares its borders to the north with Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon, and to the east and south with Congo.
From 1960 to 1967, President Léon M’Ba implemented a very discreet political strategy, which this explains why the country’s openness to the rest of the world was very limited. His policy showed a knowledge of Arab-African countries and a great reserve with regard to other African countries. Nationalist China is the exception that proves the rule. This gives more importance to the Libreville-Paris axis, which explains the particularities of Franco-Gabonese diplomacy at that time.
CURRENT DEVELOPMENT POLICY
As a pilot state in Equatorial Africa, Gabon’s economy was making rapid progress thanks to the exploitation of the forest (85% of its surface area) and mineral resources (oil, uranium, manganese) which are far from being fully developed.
The historical predominance of an economy largely dependent on the exploitation of natural resources still prevails today. Between 2010 and 2014, the oil sector accounted, on average, for 80 percent of exports, 45 percent of GDP and 60 percent of budgetary revenues. It should be noted that these natural resources are mostly exploited by large foreign groups. Aware of this limited dependence on natural resources, President Ali Bongo Ondimba presented a “Strategic Plan for an Emerging Gabon” when he came to power in 2009. But the sharp drop in oil prices in 2014 led to a rapid deterioration of Gabon’s public accounts. In 2016, a public deficit emerged for the first time since 1998.
In order to quickly get the country out of the vulnerability of an economic model anchored, for more than half a century, around the oil industry, the Gabonese government decided, at the end of 2016, to open bilateral negotiations with the IMF to order to help the country emerge from the crisis and structure its adjustment efforts. Despite this agreement and the commitments of other multilateral donors (World Bank – African Development Bank), Gabon is struggling to really revive its economy. Due to the persistent accumulation of external arrears, the difficult management of the stock of arrears, the difficult management of the stock of domestic arrears, as well as the level of the (1/3 of public expenditure), the economic system remains critical and shows enormous weaknesses.
However, the country’s efforts to reposition itself economically in the subregion are not negligible. The near-zero growth of 2017 (0.5 percent) and 2018 (0.8 percent) has recovered in 2019, reaching 3.4%. Macroeconomic indices have improved, but more slowly than expected. Public financial management reforms, some of which are still being implemented, have been beneficial. They have already led to a reduction in the wage bill and increased resource mobilization. Efforts to control public finances have efforts to control public finances have also led to a decline in imports and improved foreign exchange reserves.
SDG 4: Ensure equal access to quality education for all and promote lifelong learning opportunities
The Education Policy is based on three main principles:
● compulsory and free education from age 6 to 16
● democratization of education
● international equivalence of examination levels.
The main lines of a sectoral strategy have been defined in Gabon’s development strategy for 2025 and aim at a reform of the education system as a whole and an of the teaching profession. The reform is defined in terms of curriculum, the preservation of the national cultural heritage, and the strengthening of areas considered neglected such as vocational training and adult literacy. With a current school enrollment rate of 90%, Gabon’s population has one of the highest levels of education in sub-Saharan Africa. However, 22% of the population declares itself “without level”, i.e. having never been to school, and almost half of the population has not gone beyond primary school, 18% have not gone beyond lower secondary school, and only 6% have completed all of secondary school. The illiteracy rate is relatively low for the region. There are only 27% of illiterate among those over 15 years of age (34% of whom are women);however, these rates conceal strong disparities between provinces and areas. Thus, overall, 21% of illiterates are found in urban areas versus 49% in rural areas and 15% in the urban population of the Estuaire province versus 60% in the Ngounié province. Improving the performance of the Gabonese education system requires the establishment of a
multiannual governance of the sector, strong actions to considerably reduce the repetition rate in all levels of education, qualitative and quantitative improvement of the learning environment, diversification of the training offer, innovative financing models for the sector, particularly by private partners. It will therefore be necessary to:
Halving the repetition rate in primary and secondary education over 5 years starting by reducing overcrowding in classrooms by launching a construction of schools. It will also be necessary to carry out a control of the establishments open on the territory and proceed to the closure of those whose executive, teaching and / or staff do not meet the standards of the sector.
Develop scientific, technical and vocational education by reserving 20% of Schools built on the territory (10 out of 50 in 5 years). Create bridges between general secondary education and technical secondary education to combat early school leaving.
Set up training (workshops, study, apprenticeship) for out-of-school youth and/or without training.
Adapt the structure of the education system to employment opportunities in the territory by reviving university projects in Port-Gentil, Mouila and Oyem where new vocational streams. Redevelop and expand the 3 existing public universities.
Generalize the study allowance in higher education to offer everyone the same chances of success. Rigorous budget planning could be put in place to ensure that the payment of scholarships and teachers’ emoluments are made when due Regular.
Encourage and reward academic research. A research support fund could be set up to support the most deserving teacher-researchers in their research projects. Its financing could come from joint resources of the State and of companies.
Exempt from tax for 10 years new private institutions erected in the country in condition that the investment made for their construction exceeds CFAF 1 billion and that the academic standards are met.
Although these proposals are not exhaustive, their implementation would improve sustainably the quality and performance of the Gabonese education sector with the ambition to become term a sector provider of currencies.