Elder Statesman and former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has said that if the Global Africa agenda is advanced to the point of economic integration of the continent and its diaspora, especially using the vehicles of the Intra Africa Trade and Investment Fair (IATF) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), it would surely shake the world.
Chief Obasanjo, the Chair of the IATF Advisory Council, who said this during a Fireside Chat moderated by Fifi Peters of CNBC on the margins of the ongoing IATF 2025 in Algiers, Algeria, insisted that Africa has everything it needs to lead the world, and wondered why its people should continue to be Lilliputians instead of giants.
He said the main reason for the such state of affairs is that Africans had not been working together as they should, stressing that unity of purpose and action would wipe away the decades of shame and suffering brought about by slavery, colonialism, neo-colonialism and globalisation.
According to Chief Obasanjo, even the founding fathers of the then emerging independent nations of the Africa understood the need for unity and formed the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), but regretted that even after that step, several factors, especially misunderstanding of the international organisations that were not, ab initio, created or designed to favour Africa, have been working against the continent’s unity and well being.
Chief Obasanjo stressed that if Africa is waiting for anyone else from outside to come and help to get it out of where it is, then it is missing it, insisting that only when Global Africa closes ranks and begins to trade more among its members, armed with requisite information on demand and supply of goods and services, can it begin to overcome the obstacles on its way to development.
He identified some of these obstacles as visa issues, resulting in difficulty in moving from one country to the other to do business; transportation issues, especially in the area of shipping and air connectivity, as well as appropriate payment systems that do not have to rely on foreign currencies.
Chief Obasanjo admitted that the leaders of Global Africa countries, working with Afreximbank and other continental bodies like the African Union (AU), Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and AfCFTA have been doing a lot to address these issues, but pointed out that a lot more still needs to be done, especially using the vehicles of the IATF, AfCFTA and the recently introduced Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS).
While acknowledging that this year’s IATF has continued the tradition of every new one being better than its predecessor, with 48 countries participating, two others being represented, while 11 countries came from outside the continent, Obasanjo still agreed that Global Africa has lingering problems, including in the area of conflicts.
The former Nigerian military Head of State, who has been part of the resolution of several of the crises, noted that most of the conflicts in the continent were as a result of poor management of linguistic, religious, cultural and other forms of diversity, stressing that the solution to the issues was to manage diversity in such a way that no group feels excluded or shut out.
The well attended event was attended by many dignitaries, including the President and Chairman of the Board of Afreximbank, Professor Benedict Oramah and Mrs. Kanayo Awani, the Executive Vice President, Intra African Trade and Export Development.
The IATF 2025, which started on September 4 and will end on September 10, 2025, is being promoted by Afreximbank in collaboration with the African Union Commission and the AfCFTA Secretariat. Algeria is the host, “Gateway to New Opportunities” is the theme,
