The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as launched by China since 2013, is the country’s massive signature infrastructure programme, also called One Belt One Road (OBOR) (in Chinese ????). Through the BRI, China has constructed or is constructing about 2,000 infrastructure projects, including roads, railways, seaports and many more, not just only within China but in the three continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa. How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect the BRI? While China has not been able to maintain the same level of investment in 2020 as in 2019 and the previous years, the BRI investment programme is still on track and could develop into a V-shaped investment outlook in the coming years.

In this article, two sources of socio-economic development finance for Africa, African Diaspora remittance funds and Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) funds, are compared. It is argued that Diaspora remittance funds constitute a better alternative to ODA funds for the development of Africa for a number of reasons. Not only have Diaspora remittance funds outpaced ODA funds, but they are more efficiently deployed for the development of the African continent in three main ways. The funds are less likely to be misspent as compared to the misappropriations and legendary inefficiencies in the foreign aid industry. Diaspora remittance funds, as gifts of love, are better focused on building the family and hence the nation. The distribution of these Diaspora remittance funds is far more efficient than ODA funds since these monies go directly to paying school fees, building houses and growing businesses. Some proposals are made to indicate how African governments can facilitate more remittance funds over and above ODA funds.