Africa, the world’s second most populous continent, is blessed with a variety of natural resources that may be harnessed to enrich inhabitants and the continent as a whole. With this view, African leaders continue to push for socioeconomic and industrial progress during their summit in Niamey, Niger’s capital. According to the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), the summit was organized to review the continent’s progress in economic diversification, industrialization, and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in light of global shocks, debt vulnerabilities, climate change, and security issues.
The summit’s host, Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum, urged African governments to enhance and use the rule of law to foster African entrepreneurs and the private sector to improve the continent’s economic and commercial environment. He adds that the continents need private-public sector collaboration to achieve cohesive industrialization. Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has advised African governments to capitalize on the continent’s massive and increasingly young population. He argues that the labor gap may be reduced if young people are given access to a high-quality education tailored to the labor market’s needs.
Africa’s economic growth needs to be built around value-added products.
On his part, Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, argues that the continent’s lack of industrial base results from a lack of investment in industrial policy, energy, and infrastructure. Given the present rate of Industrialization in Africa, he said, the development targets outlined in Agenda 2063 seem unrealistic. Also at the summit, AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina, who was represented by Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, AfDB acting vice president for Regional Development, Integration and Service Delivery, avers that industrial production is a significant factor contributing to the success of developed free trade areas around the world.
Furtherly, he noted that considering the global instance, Africa’s developmental and economic growth and stability need to be built around value-added finished products that can be marketable in the international market. There is a need to refine the continent’s raw product into a marketable commodity. Adesina highlighted the AfDB’s ongoing work, stating that the institute is investing $25 billion to reform the agricultural sector and unleash the agribusiness industry, which is projected to be worth $1 trillion by 2030.
37 of Africa’s 52 nations have been industrialized in the last 11 years.
Akinwumi Adesina of the African Development Bank (AfDB) emphasized the need to develop energy, health, natural resources, and pharmaceutical sectors in order to promote Africa’s Industrialization and economic diversification. Oil, gas, minerals, and metals abound in Africa, and the continent has a sizable blue economy that has to be swiftly industrialized. The first Africa Industrial Index was unveiled during the summit by the African Union, the African Development Bank, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.
Index rates the degree to which African nations have industrialized across several criteria, including the capital, labor endowments, institutions, infrastructure, and macroeconomic stability. According to the institutions’ collaborative research, during the previous 11 years, 37 of Africa’s 52 nations have been industrialized. The research evaluates the development of 52 African nations using 19 essential parameters. Manufacturing performance, capital and labor, business climate, infrastructure, and macroeconomic stability are only some of the areas measured by the index’s 19 components.
African leaders are committed to taking far-reaching decisions.
The summit, which featured twenty heads of state and government as well as their representatives, underscored benchmarks for countries to assess their industrial performance better and adopt best practices more effectively. In light of mounting frustration with the slow pace at which projects and programs related to industrialization and achievement of the African Union Agenda 2063 have been implemented, African leaders are committed to taking far-reaching, conscious decisions to expedite industrialization, economic diversification, and trade on the continent, with contractual capacity by the inhabitants.
Related Link
AU: Website
