Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has said Africa needs to make significant investments in smart infrastructure, for that is critical to the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
According to him, there is an urgent need for African countries to prioritise investment in smart infrastructure in a bid to fast-track industrialisation on the continent, and that Africa must take bold steps to reduce poverty.
He said this at the maiden edition of The Africa Prosperity Dialogue Series dubbed the “Kwahu Summit” which is ongoing at the Safari Resort with Africa’s political and business leaders, gathering and brainstorming on the all-important single market project for the continent.
The vice president said, “There is the need for smart investment in critical infrastructure, as a continent, we need to produce and trade our way out of poverty and underdevelopment, and we cannot do that without investing in smart infrastructure across the continent.”
Dr. Bawumia also mentioned that the time had come for Africa to define its own narrative since it cannot allow poverty to be the driving force of its destiny, hence efforts must be made to transform Africa into a global power house where trade, industrialization and investment would drive the agenda.
Vice President Bawumia also averred that in the last decades, Africans have seen some positive investment, and that there is the need for additional resources to finance the routes for trade, which include the physical infrastructure such as roads, rail and energy, digital infrastructure such as data centres and financial infrastructure to allow for integration of our financial markets.
To be able to achieve the needed industrialization on the continent, the Vice President also called on African governments to implement concrete and workable actions to ensure that, stressing that, “Like the vision of our forebears, AfCFTA has set the stage for Africa’s industrialisation drive. But it will take concrete, strategic actions by governments and businesses on the continent, the right mix of policies, and a greater sense of purpose for more intra-Africa trade to happen to support economic diversification and the much-needed industrialisation on the continent.”
