Oramah: Africa Must Break Economic Bondage, Build Its Own Industrial Power

· Says political independence incomplete without economic freedom

· Urges investment in manufacturing, skills, technology

Nume Ekeghe

The immediate past President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Dr. Benedict Oramah, has urged African countries to intensify efforts to achieve economic independence through industrialisation, deeper intra-African trade, strategic deployment of capital and investment in human development.

Oramah, who spoke in an interview on the sidelines of the recently concluded International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, said the continent’s political independence would remain incomplete unless African countries developed the capacity to produce goods, create decent jobs and determine their economic future.

He called on governments, financial institutions, businesses and other stakeholders to see themselves as fighters for Africa’s economic freedom, warning that the continent must overcome the fragmentation and dependence that continue to constrain its development.

“Everybody in the banking business, including our governments and corporates, has to regard themselves as economic freedom fighters. We are combatants for economic freedom. Those in banking and financial services are engaged in financial guerrilla warfare,” he said.

According to him, political independence was only the beginning of Africa’s struggle, with the ultimate objective being economic self-determination.

“Political independence gives you the platform to achieve the ultimate independence, which is economic independence,” Oramah said, adding that the struggle must now be fought through ideas, industrial production, technology and human capital rather than weapons.

“The fight we are in now is not going to be fought in trenches, but on factory floors, in technology incubation centres and so on. It is not going to be fought with brute force. It will be fought with ideas. Capital is key, not bullets. That capital includes human capital,” he added.

Oramah, who recently completed his tenure at Afreximbank after two terms, said he had established Marob Strategies, a strategy and advisory firm, to continue contributing to Africa’s development by helping institutions formulate and implement strategies.

He explained that Africa’s challenge was not merely a shortage of ideas but the inability to execute them effectively and mobilise the resources required to achieve continental ambitions.

On regional integration, he lamented that Africa’s trade with external partners remained disproportionately high compared with trade among its own countries, despite the continent’s significant infrastructure assets and productive capacity.

He said existing infrastructure could support between $1 trillion and $1.4 trillion in African trade, yet intra-African trade accounted for only about $170 billion to $200 billion.

Oramah further urged African countries to develop their own artificial intelligence capabilities rather than remain mere users of technologies developed elsewhere.