Friday, April 18, 2025 - Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), has called for an end to the export of raw materials from the continent, describing it as a major contributor to poverty in Africa.
In a statement shared on his official X page on Thursday,
April 17, Adesina said, “Africa must end the exports of its raw materials. The
export of raw materials is the door to poverty. The export of value-added
products is the highway to wealth. And Africa is tired of being poor.”
His comments come amid increasing advocacy for structural
economic reforms across the continent, especially following the implementation
of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, which aims to
boost intra-African trade and industrialization.
Adesina, a prominent development economist, has consistently
pushed for the creation of competitive industrial value chains in Africa to
reduce dependency on imports and to create sustainable jobs. Earlier this
month, he reiterated this position during the launch of the Special
Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) in Calabar, Nigeria.
At the event, the AfDB president said Nigeria blessed with
vast arable land, low-cost labour, and a diverse agricultural landscape, should
be a major food exporter rather than a net importer. He said the successful
implementation of SAPZ projects would help drive food security and economic
development across the country.
In a related development, Nigeria recently waived taxes on
90 percent of goods traded within Africa, following the official gazetting and
transmission of its ECOWAS tariff schedule to the AfCFTA secretariat. The move
aligns with the broader objective of reducing trade barriers and enhancing
regional integration.
However, Nigerian authorities have urged African trade
ministers to intensify efforts in addressing non-tariff barriers, which
continue to pose challenges to the full realization of the AfCFTA’s goals.
