Aregbesola proffers solution to Africa’s challenges

The Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has identified non-competitiveness in Africa’s economy as a major challenge for the continent’s development.

Aregbesola was on Sunday, in a statement by the Director Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Office of the Governor, Semiu Okanlawon, quoted as speaking at ‎the launch of Africa Business Club of the Imperial College Business School, Imperial College London.

To gain increased economic value, the Governor advised that nations in Africa needed to switch from being producers of primary to secondary goods.

Using Osun State as a case study, Aregbesola said, “In our own little way, when our administration was inaugurated, we made a policy that all government’s purchases must be made within the state, except where it was absolutely necessary to do otherwise.

“This created a value-chain that raised the economy of our state from bottom up and empowered people mostly in the grassroots, especially artisans. In a small way, that is innovation. If this should happen on a larger scale, continent wide, where most of government spending is retained locally, the result would be transformational in a very short time.”

Aregbesola also lamented that African countries were more integrated politically with low attention to economic collaboration.

He further illustrated, with 2015 competitiveness report by the World Bank, that Africa’s economy was the least competitive globally and has remained in the same position for 15 years.

He added that, “There have been several and far-reaching attempts at African integration. These are commendable. However, rather than geld the continent economically, they are dangerously going towards political integration. One major factor is non-competitiveness in Africa’s economy. ‎

“Specific attempts should be made, apart from the point I made earlier, on adding value and transiting secondary producers, tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade in the continent should be removed. There has to be creative ways of doing this.

“It is disheartening that more economic interaction is done informally than is done formally because of tariff and non-tariff hindrances.”