The world is debating now on the course of the post Covid-19 economic recovery, notwithstanding that the disruptions caused by the pandemic are still at large. Development strategies, undoubtedly, should be ahead of time to cut the time lag between the pain point and recovery stage, a globally accepted benchmark for directing the development works.
Where should Africa begin? There is an overwhelming opinion that a course correction is needed in the continental development effort. The “Africa Rising” narrative, which focused on GDP and exports of primary goods, development economists opine, should give way to a strategy that lays importance to employment, poverty reduction and creation of wealth that can be shared amongst the masses rather than creating isles of millionaires and billionaires. In short, inclusivity should be the hallmark of the post Covid -19 growth dynamics since the pandemic showed how vulnerable the bottom of the pyramid has been
during the stress times.
Should it mean the conundrum “Rising Africa” be replaced with “Inclusive Africa”? Mindless industrialization is not the pathway to socio economic transformation. Industrialization trends in some of the member countries are glaring examples. Levels of industrialization in countries like Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Angola etc have created wealth in a skewed way, neglecting some of the basic development enablers like agriculture, proliferation of micro, small and medium industries etc , with the result that the development process did not permeate to the grassroots. That led to the curious juxtaposition of growth accompanied by unemployment, poverty and destitution. That is the model of growth the economists negate.
Happily, at a macro level there has been an awareness to migrate into new paradigms of growth. A few countries in the continent are seriously thinking towards a fourth industrial revolution and are holding dialogue with stakeholders to leverage digital technologies to bring about paradigm shifts in the development process by ensuring better access to the common man digital technologies that can bring him/her to the mainstream. Almost all development efforts by the African Union and multilateral organizations like the World Bank, the IMF and the bilateral treaties and agreements have an extended clause to work for the betterment of youth and women, who hold the key to the future development of the continent.
The launch of the Africa Growth Platform, spearheaded by the World Economic Forum (WEF) , which aims at helping companies to grow and compete internationally is a futuristic program to proliferate entrepreneurship in the continent. It augurs well that Africa’s entrepreneurial activity in its initial stage is 13% higher than the global average. The creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is another effort to create more business opportunities in the continent, which has close to 1.3 billion people. Of that, more than 60% are in the productive age group of 15-45, making it as the
world’s youngest continent.
To top it, Africa is presently realizing how important it is to the outside world for procuring raw materials, chemicals, rare earths and commodities, which are critical for global industries to keep their production processes in stream. Also, the huge tracts of cultivable land, perhaps, is key to global food security, which will have close to seven billion people to feed.
The post Covid -19 development plan of the continent should, therefore, necessarily fact these brownie points to gain better bargain power with the partners, who are keen to re-negotiate the partnership terms with the continent. Admittedly, the post-pandemic seemingly looks like Advantage Africa with a caveat that how diligently it plays its cards.
