For the last four decades the pace of economic growth in African countries remained too slow or stagnant. This problem is analyzed by first developing a framework that focus on growth process of indigent economy, where deferring current consumption is hardly possible, and by relaxing the usual assumption of unfailing market condition. The analytic result suggests that the degree and direction of effects of factors of market failure make a difference in nations\u27 level of income per capita as well as its rate of growth. On this ground, the poor economic performance observed in the region can be well attributed to poor capacity to manage and exploit factors of market failure. The empirical evidence obtained from analysis of panel data supports strongly this argument
