ECONIOMIC and development experts must address the lopsided Africa GDP growth which has so far failed to
add value to the life of the peoples of the continent.
This was according to former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who spoke in the context of the Africa’s five per cent GDP growth rate that placed the continent among the fastest growing global economies.
Obasanjo made the call in Addis Ababa on Sunday where he was among members of a panel on the UNDP Rise of the South 2013 report.
Speaking at the event themed “The African Renaissance in the context of the Rise of the South,” the former Nigerian president said it was worrisome that the rate of Africa’s GDP growth of about five per cent annually was not showing by way of improvement on the lives of the people.
He urged the UN Development agencies, economic experts and Governments of African countries to address the situation before it becomes a serious setback to the continent’s development.
Nigeria had recorded seven per cent GDP growth over the last decade, the president said, especially in Oil and Gas, Telecommunication, Banking and Financial sector and few others.
“But we need a kind of growth that would reflect on the lives of the people and the environment in terms of water supply to the villages, electricity and infrastructure; that is the kind of growth we want.
“The economists should address that to change the current situation, where the GDP is growing while the people continue to suffer.”
He urged the UNDP to reflect on the impact of the GDP growth and find ways of ensuring that it matches or comes to terms with the development of the common man in the rural areas.
Former Ghanaian President John Kufuor also harped on the need for good leadership, prudence in governance and peoples active participation in governance to usher in more sustainable growth that would impact positively on the lives of the common African.
Kufuor urged African leaders to address the demographic advantage before it becomes a catastrophe, adding that, “we must also reduce dependency on foreign funding of our development projects to sustain our continent’s growth.”
He urged the African leaders to also address gender disparity by implementing gender programmes to usher in evenly distributed growth with gender balance.
“We must tackle Africa’s demographic challenge, environmental degradation through sustainable leadership to ensure political independence and viability to Africans.”
Earlier, Ms Helen Clerk, UNDP Administrator, said the report looked at the evolving economies and geopolitics, examining emerging issues and trends in addition to the new actors shaping the development landscape.
Clerk posited that there were quite a number of transformation in many countries and developing economies with growing political influence having significant impact on human development.
“Over the last decade, all countries accelerated their achievements in education, health and income dimensions as measured in the human development index to the extend that no country for which its data was available had a lower value in 2012.
“The 2013 report makes a significant contribution to development thinking by describing specific drivers of development transformation by suggesting future policy priorities that could help sustain such momentum,” Clark said.