KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF CAPP HAJ. (DR.) RAMATU TIJJANI ALIYU AT THE ECONOMIC FORUM OF THE ECONOMIC COUNCIL OF CAPP IN TUNIS, TUNISIA ON THE 16TH OF JANUARY 2018
PROTOCOL
Good day ladies and gentlemen, and once again welcome to this all important economic forum of the economic Council of CAPP. Let me also specially commend the members of the economic Council for putting this forum together. I am positive that we'll not only discuss Africa's developmental challenges but also come up with viable solutions towards addressing them.
For several decades now, Africa has always been considered a continent with immense potential. Unfortunately, we have not been able to translate this potential to greatness. Some of the challenges holding us back are not unfamiliar neither are they insurmountable, but for some reason we have not been able to get our act together. Permit me to highlight some of these challenges.
1. Challenge of Sustainable Growth, Human Development and Poverty Reduction.
With 54 countries on the continent and a population of about 1.3 billion people Africa has a Gross Domestic Product (nominal GDP) of about $3.3 trillion (according to UNDP and AfDB 2017 report). This is a very small percentage of the global GDP and therefore shows how far we have to go in terms of sustainable growth and development in Africa.
As we speak, a very large proportion of the population (approximately 36.2% of Africans) live below the international poverty line of US$1 per capita expenditure. We need to find a way to attract and sustain economic development that will pull our people out of poverty. Admittedly, economic growth alone is by no means sufficient for rolling back poverty, but it is certainly a necessary condition for national prosperity and would require massive multi- sectoral investment.
2. The Governance Challenge
Good governance remains a key ingredient for development, and this is particularly true in Africa. Improvement in the quality of governance in Africa is vital for progress in the 21st century. Such improvement must touch especially on the participation of all stakeholders in national development; transparency and accountability in the allocation and use of public resources and public policy management.
It must also address the issue of the process by which governments and leaders are selected and replaced. The capacity of governments to effectively formulate and implement sound policies and programs that would enhance the living conditions of their people is equally central to the issue of good governance. In so doing, special attention must be given to the empowerment of women, youths and civil society organizations.
3. The Challenge of Human Capital Flight
The continual loss of trained and skilled African labor to the industrialized world; otherwise known as brain drain has exacerbated the human capacity constraints facing the public and the private sectors in most African countries.
Today, the deficit of skilled manpower, which African countries so badly need for poverty reduction and sustainable development has reached an alarming proportion and must be swiftly and consciously discouraged. Tackling this issue entails providing the enabling environment within for our bright minds to thrive. And by extension we would be able to significantly avert the illegal migration and human rights abuse crisis we have witnessed recently on the continent.
4. The Challenge of Regional Cooperation and Integration.
Africa faces the challenge of strengthening regional cooperation and economic integration. Development experiences from the industrialized world and even East Asia have shown the significant role regional cooperation and integration can play in the improvement of a people's fortune. We can borrow a leaf from their experiences to improve Africa’s economic performance and trade relations amongst ourselves.
Although we have had a long history of Regional Economic Communities (RECs), any little progress made is often eroded by our lack of unity of purpose. From PTA/COMESA, ECOWAS, UDEAC, to SADCC the stories are essentially the same. Instead of promoting intra-bloc trade, the different groupings have often followed different paths.
Perhaps the growth of the Economic Council of CAPP would pave the way for an Africa-wide Economic Union. Indeed, I am hopeful that this economic forum would provide a platform for cooperation on regional public goods which can in turn help prevent or peacefully manage conflicts over scarce resources like land, water and energy across the African continent.
5. Resource Flow to Africa.
While Africa has been a leading recipient of official development aid (ODA) from bilateral and multilateral sources for over three decades, it has not benefited from the tremendous increases in private capital flows to developing countries over the past two decades.
The lesson to be learnt here is simple, we cannot have our cake and eat it. We must tailor our policies and politics towards getting the rest of the world to come invest here thereby creating jobs for our people and growing our economies. We cannot continue to fold our arms and wait for foreign aid and handouts.
6. The Challenge of External Debt Burden.
Another major challenge facing Africa is its external debt burden. The huge external debt burden is a major constraint to growth of most African countries and the debt burden continues to mount without showing any signs of a bathing.
The majority of these borrowings are not well thought out. I say this because how do you explain the fact that this unsustainable debt problem has persisted in many African countries despite almost 20 years of debt relief efforts from the Paris and London Clubs. Instead what you see is an ostentatious lifestyle by leaders and government officials across the continent.
And despite the recent debt reliefs from the Bretton Woods institutions, there is a need for capacity building across the continent on debt management and negotiations which is vital if African countries, individually and collectively, are to frontally address the issue of debt burden.
7. The Challenge of the Information Revolution and Scientific and Technological Progress.
Revolutionary advances in information technology are strongly reinforcing economic and social changes that are transforming business, society, welfare, and creating virtual communities. A new kind of economy - the information economy - has emerged. Today, trade, investment and information sharing are globalized, and institutions compete on the basis of knowledge and on the platform of electronic networks on a global basis.
The revolution has also brought pressure to bear on countries for the emergence of more competitive, more democratic, less centralized, and more transparent and accountable systems and procedures in both public and corporate governance and administration.
This is by no means exhaustive. But I am hopeful that we can make headway towards finding practicable solution to our developmental challenges in Africa. In doing so we may tap from the experiences of other continents (or even countries), but we must not lose sight of the fact that the best solutions are usually homegrown. Our challenges though daunting are not insurmountable. With commitment and unity of purpose we can overcome them.
Long live CAPP,
Thank you for listening.
