THE British Prime Minister, David Cameron and President Goodluck Jonathan have prescribed strategic recourse by African countries to liberal economy, to free-up the region's potential for accelerated economic growth and development.
The two leaders, in an op-ed article in The Guardian today, warned that foreign aids have puerile potency to promote development in African countries.
They stressed the need for focus on trade and enterprise, to turn around the fortunes of economies on the continent.
Specifically, Jonathan pledged to collaborate with Nigeria's trade partners in the West African sub-region, as a leverage to enthrone a new regime of robust continent-wide free trade, in line with current global economic growth strategy.
Britain, on its part, according to Cameron, will invest more than 160 million pounds between now and 2015 in freeing-up trade, including having delays at 10 key border crossings, with a message of greater commitment throughout the continent to regional transport corridors.
Indeed, Cameron, who is on a two-day tour of South Africa and Nigeria, is pushing the message that trade, not aid, is the key to Africa's future prosperity.
Cameron and Jonathan, in their article, said: "Things are changing in Africa. In the past decade sub-Saharan Africa was the third fastest growing region in the world, after China and India. The question is how does Africa build on this and close the gap for good?
"We believe a big part of the answer is free trade within Africa. Freer trade in Asia gave them space to grow. African countries, by and large, have not exploited opportunities to trade with each other. It is time for that to change.
"We are two leaders, from different countries and different political traditions. But we each passionately believe in the power of trade and enterprise to change people's lives. As we are seeing now on every continent, what will lift tens of millions out of poverty in the long run is the dynamic engine of economic growth. And that means African countries buying from and selling to each other, doing business with one another and the world.
"In the past, there were marches in the West to drop the debt. There were concerts to increase aid. And it was right that the world responded. But they have never once had a march or a concert to call for what will in the long term save far more lives and do far more good - an African free trade area. The key to Africa's progress is not just aid. It is time for some fresh thinking".
The two leaders pointed out that Africa's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could be better enhanced through economic restructuring, increased investment inflow, improved infrastructure and good governance." "Consider these facts. An African free trade area could increase GDP across the continent by an estimated $62 billion a year. That's $20 billion more than the world gives Sub-Saharan Africa in aid. Backed by investment in people and infrastructure, sound government and effective tax systems, imagine what this would mean: businesses growing, new jobs on offer, families on the up, living standards transformed.
"So we need to take on the obstacles to trade and growth. Despite recent strong economic growth in Africa, today just 12 per cent of African trade is with other African nations. For much of the continent, it is easier to trade with Europe or America than it is to trade with a neighbour. Infrastructure can be poor and overstretched, red tape endemic, and trade taxes stifling."
The Guardian