African leaders have been urged to adopt industrialisation to foster transformation and improve living standards of their people.
According to the Commissioner for the Economic Affairs of the African Union Commission (AUC), Dr. Anthony Mothae Maruping, industrialisation was the core of the transformation that the continent had always longed for.
“We’re tired of raw materials being repatriated by foreigners every now and then, which go a long way to affect the economies of the various African countries. Our leaders must therefore sit up and act swiftly,” he said.
Dr. Maruping was speaking at the opening ceremony of the fourth Congress of African Economists in Accra.
The three-day programme, on the theme: “Industrial policy and economic performance in Africa,” would discuss how to develop the capacities and skills for Africa’s industrial policy and structural transformation and the needed institutional and regulatory framework for industrial policy in Africa.
After the sessions, a communique and declaration would be adopted by the economic experts who have been drawn from the various countries on the continent.
Industrialisation remains elusive
He averred that industrialisation had remained elusive to the continent, coupled with Africa’s emerging manufacturing sector, low productivity and marginal participation in domestic and international markets.
While services had surpassed agriculture and industry as the leading income-generating sectors across Africa, he said he had not created the quality and quantity of jobs that had always been sought after.
“This fourth edition of the Congress of African Economists, therefore, called on the continent to refocus its economic development strategies on industrialisation, particularly on the means of formulating and implementing effective industrial policies,” he said.
Industrialisation resilient to shocks
The Commissioner noted that a robust and expanding industrial sector was needed to buy into the idea of manufacturing and resource processing as well as value addition to ensure the structural transformation of the African economies.
He noted that industrialisation would also render African economies more resilient to external shocks. The need for industrial development, he stressed, called for the provision of conducive business environment and a level playing field for both the private and public sectors.
He said for these to come true, there was the need to develop the skills and competencies of the locals.
That notwithstanding, Dr. Maruping stated that the bottom-up approach had been adopted by many African leaders in recent times to give voices to stakeholders, civil societies and the underprivileged in the society.
Ghana taking bold steps
In a speech read on his behalf, President John Dramani Mahama, added his voice to the call on his fellow leaders to embrace the concept of industrialisation for the continent to optimise the benefits from its vast natural resource endowments.
On the initiatives that Ghana was taking to realise the idea of industrial development, the President said the country had adopted the “Better Ghana Agenda” as a national strategic framework which focused on four issues of great relevance for economic and social transformation through industrialisation.
“Our efforts to promote the emergence of a strong manufacturing sector involved greater efforts to shift labour from lower to higher productivity sectors,” he said.
Source: Graphic