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Akinwumi Adesina:
Africa's Optimist-in-chief & ALM African of the Year 2019 Easily one of Africa’s most illustrious sons, the continent’s promoter - in chief and President African Development Bank Group, Dr Akinwumi Adesina’s pro-Africa shuttles across the globe is receiving attention and support. He recently emerged African of the Year 2019 in the continent’s premium vote-based poll, which attracts over 1 million votes from Africans across the globe. The awards is reserved for Africans who are contributing towards promoting the continent and positively altering her image. Often described as Africa’s Developer – in – Chief; Optimist – in – Chief and Economic Commander, Dr Adesina believes that Africa does not need to beg to be developed and he tells us why in this exclusive interview. Dr Akinwumi in this interview with African Leadership Magazine also speaks on the Bank’s activities, investment in Africa and the gains of a connected continent. Excerpts:
The African Economic Outlook report 2020 was recently launched by the African Development Bank which called for an urgent investment in education, due to the large skills gap and mismatch. What informed this position? So, the African Economic Outlook Report was launched recently and I must say I am really proud of the report, as well as the continent. So, simply put, the report say that Africa’s growth rate last year was 3.4%; this year it is projected to be 3.5% and next year it is anticipated to be 4.1%. However, that doesn’t tell you the whole story. We actually have 20 countries that are growing by 3.5% and another 20 countries that are growing at above 5% well above the global average. Look at Rwanda for instance, which is growing at over 8%, Ghana 7.1%, Ethiopia 7.4%, Benin 6.7%, among others. But what is actually mindboggling is that those growth rates are not contributing towards reducing the number of the extremely poor people on the continent. So this is good, but like I said, nobody eats GDP. Growth must be felt in the lives of the people. Growth must make a difference in our lives - things like access to quality healthcare, access to water sanitation, access to education, and access to quality life. So, the report shows that Africa needs to do more in the area of education. We are doing pretty much at the moment, but we need to do more, like invest in physical infrastructure. But physical infrastructure is not enough. Our report shows that, if you invest in infrastructure and
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So, we are investing in the jobs of the future and not the jobs of the past. That said, I am very excited about Africa’s prospects. That’s why they call me Africa’s Optimist in Chief and I like it.
human capacity, we can increase the GDP to more than 30%. So, it’s not just about investing, but, strategic investments. We are in the era of 4th industrial revolution. You have automation, artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology and nanotechnology. So we have got to retool and reskill, because all these new developments means that the world is moving rapidly. So, as a bank we have launched a program called Jobs for Youths in Africa, to help the continent create twenty-five million jobs over the next ten years. We are investing and working with Microsoft and Google to set up coding centres across the continent, because coding would be the currency of the future. So, we are investing in the jobs of the future and not the jobs of the past. That said, I am very
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