L-R: Lamido Sanusi, Central Bank Governor of the Federal Bank of Nigeria, with Ngowari Harry and Foday Sackor, 9th Annual African Economic Forum co-chairs
By Isseu Diouf Campbell
Organizers of the 9th Annual African Economic Forum, which started on April 13th, 2012 at Columbia University in New York, wanted their session to make an impact, so they chose “Africa Reclaiming Africa: Changing the Rules of Engagement” as the forum theme and picked Lamido Sanusi, Central Bank Governor of the Federal Bank of Nigeria, as their first keynote speaker.
Sanusi who masterfully handled the financial crisis in Nigeria by not being afraid to hold those responsible accountable, was named the Forbes’ 2011 Africa Person of the Year and one of the Times magazine’s most influential people of 2011.
For Sanusi, if the solution to Nigeria’s economic problems is “Produce what you can produce and import what you can’t produce,” the secret to unlocking Africa lies in moving Africa from primary sectors to secondary sectors.
For example, “40% of the tomatoes that we produce in Nigeria are lost between the farms and the market. We sell gas to France, we sell gas to Italy we sell gas to the U.S., yet we don’t have gas moving from Southern Nigeria to the North or the West.”
According to the economic expert, fixing the value chain and having a proper structural adjustment is key to the solution.
“I have nothing against Americans, British or Chinese, but what we need is to get them to come and produce on African soil, employ African workers, create income in Africa and import from the continent rather than deplete limited reserves for African nations. It’s time for Africans to start thinking how do we get the Americans to stop selling us wheat but sell us agricultural equipment and machinery and technology. How do we change the nature of the relationship with these countries?”
While Sanusi suggests revisiting the nature of the relationships between the south and the West, China, a new player on the continent’s economic scene, should also be watched very closely, he said.
“We never think of China as a colonial power, but what does China do in Africa? China comes for the oil, the solid minerals and they sell finished products so now what is colonialism? Colonialism was about access to raw material and markets for finished goods. No country in the world has developed from exporting primary products.”
For more information on the 9th African Economic Forum, visit www.aef2012.com.
Photos of the event
