Industrial Policies Must Reflect National Interest – President Akufo-Addo

President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana on Thursday urged African leaders to ensure their industrial policies reflected national interest in order to achieve the collective desire of industrialising the continent.

Akufo-Addo made the remark at the Annual Lecture of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) with the theme: “Mainstreaming Policies to Catalyse Industrial Renaissance” in Lagos.

Akufo-Addo, represented by Mr Samuel Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Senior Minister, Ghana, decried the apparent inability of African countries to transform their abundant natural resources into opportunities for creation of jobs and wealth.

He also emphasised the need for African leaders to fast-track the creation of the environmental framework to make industries succeed in creating wealthy people in Africa.

“The continent boasts of young, determined and highly educated people across all sectors.

“Yet we have not been able to get the right mix of policies to fully unearth and develop the entrepreneurial talents that abound in Nigeria in particular and on the continent.

“In addition, the approach of rushing to the international markets to sell our resources in their raw state which fetches peanuts must be stopped,” Akufo-Ado said.

According to him, It is far better to leave the resources untapped for the future generations to rise up to the challenge of conscientiously developing the best policy mix that prioritises Industrialisation.

He said that was the most convenient means to drive the much needed effects in Africa’s socio-economic development.

He advised African governments to collaborate to develop common trade platforms and innovative ways of assisting local industries without breaking the WTO, ECOWAS rules and other conventions.

“Africa must begin to trade among ourselves, concentrating on areas of comparative advantage.

“We must begin to break the trade barriers among ourselves and form alliances with the various countries Associations of Industries and Chambers of Commerce of the various countries.

“Policies like the Africa Continent Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) are critical to our economic development.

“Much as the benefits are huge, it is important that we do not rush into taking decisions that will not have the buy-in from all critical stakeholders who drive business growth in Africa.

“Our countries share common values but there are country-specific issues that we need to critically integrate into our intra-Africa trade policy-initiatives so that we all will be comfortable with what we ascribe to.

“Therefore, our focus in all trade policy development should be a win-win approach,” he said.

The Ghanaian president advised that policy-makers should handle long term corporate agenda of the industries and businesses aimed at industrialisation.

“Let us therefore begin to be circumspect with those we put at the helm of affairs as board members to advise us on the productive application of our investment.

“Weak board of governors create weak institutions that do not offer any relevant engagement on the industrial field to enhance policy initiations, development and implementation for any effective industrial renaissance,” he said.

He said agricultural policies must be formulated to fit into the industrialisation policies of every  country.

He said the government of Ghana was  implementing the Policy of Planting for Food and Jobs to produce enough to feed the people.

He said the policy would also enable the local industries to maximise their operational capacities and then export to earn higher values as part of the country’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda.

He reiterated his government’s commitment towards initiating industrial policies which had been mainstreamed into his administration’s governance structure, from the local to the centre.

“On this note, we instituted holistic industrialisation policies for our private sector driven by  one district, one factory (1D1F) programme in ensuring decentralisation to communities.

“This way, we will reverse the rural-urban drift and migration of our able and energetic skilled labour to foreign countries with their attendant problems,” he said.

NAN