President Goodluck Jonathan has described the sustenance of regional cooperation and the development of transport links between African countries as key to the attainment of industrialisation in the African continent.
President Jonathan, who was speaking at the ongoing conference of Ministers of Finance in Abuja, also noted that industrialization remains the key to closing poverty gaps in the continent.
The conference, attended by Heads of Government, top officials from the African Union and their counterparts from the United Nations, was organised to find a solution to issues of non-industrialisation of the African continent.
Although statistics shows that countries in Africa have witnessed a five per cent growth rate per annum in the last decade, translating this into reality remains a daunting challenge many of the leaders would want reversed.
President Jonathan noted that “our continent’s industrialisation plan will not take off until we fix our infrastructure. For example, in power, we know that the entire African continent currently produces only about two per cent of global electric output” adding that “transport infrastructure, road linkages between our cities are always not in the best conditions” insisting that “the transport links between our countries also need to be greatly improved”.
While achieving an all-inclusive industrialised continent for the African people seems possible, especially if government officials match words with action, others believe that pending regional treaties must also be addressed.
President of Liberia, Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson, in her address, noted that “the process of developing a common African position has been analytical and widely inclusive, consultative and interactive.
“The aims is to ensure that our priorities are clearly articulated for both importing into the global developing of the post 2015 development agenda and most importantly for underpinning Africa’s country future development plan for future development plan and priorities
“These development plans and priorities will guide our efforts to promote inclusive growth on the continent and provide a basis for our engagement with our development partners” she said.
President of the African Development Bank, Mr Donald Beruka and Director General of UNOPS, Vitaly Vanshelboim believe that the huge potentials in the region that could help in translating the dreams of this heads of government into realities is human capital, infrastructure and a sustained internal and domestic borrowing.
While so much commitment seems to have been made by government officials to improve the industrial capacity in the continent, many Africans are still eager to see if resolutions reached at this meeting will translate into an all-inclusive growth for the continent.
