President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan said Wednesday in Perth, Australia that for Nigeria and other African countries to speed up the attainment of their potentials, they must improve their governance structures, curb
illicit financial outflows, increase capital investment and diversify the productive base of their economies.
Delivering a key note address titled: “Unleashing Africa’s Potentials – A New Vision” to the Commonwealth Business Forum, President Jonathan said that African countries must also quicken their pace of human capital development and ensure a better utilisation of opportunities which international trade offers for growth.
“A central plank of actions that we need to take to ensure that Africa achieves its latent possibilities as a contributor to global ideals of peace, security, growth and prosperity is improved governance. We must, therefore, continue to strive to ensure the enthronement of credible and accountable governments.
“We are confident that improved political governance, the accelerated diversification of African economies into higher value sectors, the growth of an African middle class and increased political stability will assure sustainable growth and generate prosperity across the continent, both in the medium to long terms.
“As we nurture our partnerships; as we build bridges across the Commonwealth, I believe that much of the work that remains to be done to unleash Africa’s potentials must be driven by Africans and their governments.
“We in Africa must therefore put our house in order by preventing conflicts and creating conditions for security and stability in our various countries and regions,” the President said.
He also identified illicit financial outflows from Africa as one of the factors hindering the attainment of the continent’s full economic potentials.
“As we think of scaling-up growth in Africa, we will, of course, have to factor in Africa’s relationships with the global economy. At a time when we are looking for as much resources as possible to drive Africa’s economic transformation, we now have to contend with an increasing trend of illicit financial outflows from Africa which is conservatively estimated in the Global Financial Integrity report to be about $854 Billion between 1970 and 2008.
“As we explore options for tackling this drain on Africa’s scarce resources, we also have to cope with the challenges of adapting to climate change and building green economies, and for this, we will continue to need the support of the international community, including the delivery of the resources promised to developing countries to help them tackle climate change,” President Jonathan told the large gathering of political leaders and businessmen from countries of the Commonwealth.
President Jonathan said that for Nigeria, the urgent task was to turn the productive and innovative energies of its youthful population into a positive force for change and development.
“We are proceeding with our privatisation programme in sectors ranging from telecommunications, energy, oil and gas, solid minerals and infrastructural development.
“It is therefore appropriate that I seize the opportunity presented by this forum to formally invite investors from the Commonwealth to take advantage of our liberal investment climate to do business with Nigeria.
“I equally invite the rest of the international community to join hands with us and support Africa’s efforts to achieve its vision of a continent that is peaceful and stable, a continent that provides meaningful economic opportunities for its peoples and a continent that is able to respond to regional challenges and contribute actively to global economic development,” the President further said.
He also remarked that while improvements in economic management and governance, the increased role of the African private sector, widening ties with emerging economies, the removal of the debt overhang and the provisional of additional resources have brought increased prospects for Africa’s development, there was a need to generate even greater momentum towards the full realisation of the continent’s potentials.
Referring to the current positive rates of economic growth in Africa, President Jonathan declared while an average growth rate of 5% is encouraging, “it has not been sufficient to reach the target of the Millennium Development Goals to halve poverty by 2015”.
The President also spoke of the need to hasten to accelerate the pace of regional economic integration in Africa to enhance opportunities for economies of scale and competitiveness.
“There is a need to do more around the continent including the need to have clearer basis for trans-boundary cooperation to manage common resources like water and energy and to enable the erection of regional infrastructure that will power inter-Africa trade which is currently at only 10% of total trade in the continent,” he said.