Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Zimbabwe, Dr. Ayodele Odusola, yesterday, warned that there could not be sustainable future development financing in Africa without genuine structural economic transformation. Odusola stated this while presenting the first Faculty Distinguished Personality Lecture of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences of the University of Ibadan.

The lecture was titled, “The Future of Development Finance in Africa.”

Odusola said structural transformation was the engine of high-powered growth and propellant of decent job creation.

While stating that the opinions expressed in his lecture were strictly his and not that of UNDP, he insisted that African countries must brace up to rely on their own resources and private financing, which would be bolstered by innovative financing, genuine structural transformation, and good governance.

He maintained that Africa must tackle corruption, stop Illicit Financial flows (IFFs) and redundant waivers, and end being experts in primary commodities export, stating that this will give them more choices for development policies and results than before.

Odusola disclosed that the future of development finance in Africa called for a decolonised economic structure. He said a structure built on being a supplier of cheap raw materials, consumers of industrialised goods from the advanced countries, and destination of obsolete industrial equipment and technologies locked out Africa from being a major player in the global value chain.

Odusola stated, “Any financing architecture that continues to oil the extractive mechanism, without a genuine structural economic transformation anchored on food sovereignty, energy sovereignty, and technological sovereignty, will continue to create fiscal and debt traps, as well as low development equilibrium traps in Africa.

“The future of development finance, in its political, institutional, and technical dimensions, must be seen in the context of enhanced global coherence and evolving political will directed at bringing about change in the present international financial architecture.

“Africa needs to be focused on becoming a major player in the Global South by avoiding the diversionary tactics of emerging geo-politics. In this context, trade should not be viewed by its own sake but as an instrument of development finance.

“In this regard, relevant policies and regulations should be put in place for trade to become a stimulus for development finance in Africa. The AFREXIM Bank, the Trade Bank, and other pan-African trade institutions should work together for a results-oriented framework for Africa.”

Dean, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, University of Ibadan, Professor Abiodun Folawewo, in his remarks, stated that adequate financial resources were needed for the African continent’s aspiration of building the “Africa We Want” to be possible.

Folawewo said, “It is important to note that the future of development finance in Africa requires paradigm change from the existing practice by African leaders of ‘kneeling with cap in hand, begging and looking up to financial assistance from the developed world.’”

Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Kayode Adebowale, represented by Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic, Professor Aderonke Bayeroju, stated that one of the basic problems confronting many African countries was how to mobilise enough resources to address the development gaps in the face of fiscal constraints.

Bayeroju said the topic of the lecture was “relevant to the development challenges being faced by African countries, especially Nigeria”.

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