Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, vice president, claims that Africa’s continued reliance on basic commodities is hindering its economic development.
Dr. Bawumia says the situation is forcing many African governments to manage crises due to external shocks.
Speaking at the Harvard University’s Africa Development Conference in the United States over the weekend, Dr. Bawumia said African countries must shift from raw material production to value addition.
“The reliance on primary commodities has made African countries vulnerable to external shocks. As a result, the focus of economic management by successive African governments since independence has been crisis management as a result of factors such as an increase in oil prices, collapse in commodity prices, debt unsustainability, macro-instability and so on.
“Governments have by and large not focused on the underlying system that underpins economic activities and economic growth. Our focus has always been on managing crisis of one nature or the other,” the Vice President said.
Dr. Bawumia further urged, “Our generation needs to break the shackles of the impossibility mindset and embrace the mindset of possibility! It is time for us to figure out the best ways to be masters of our destiny, to chart our own path and develop on our own terms. It is possible!”