{"id":73737,"date":"2020-05-29T17:11:42","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T16:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=73737"},"modified":"2020-05-29T17:11:42","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T16:11:42","slug":"post-coronavirus-africas-manufacturing-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/post-coronavirus-africas-manufacturing-moment\/","title":{"rendered":"POST-CORONAVIRUS, AFRICA’S MANUFACTURING MOMENT"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
BY MUHAMMADU BUHARI, PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA<\/div>\n
\n
\nAcross the world, as countries and economies slowly reopen, Africa lags
\nbehind. We were last to experience the coronavirus\u2014and we expect to be
\nthe final continent to flatten the curve.<\/p>\n

Some may say it is too early, that the crisis still too deep and the
\nrecovery too distant to dwell upon the future. But that is wrong. In
\ntimes of global crisis it is critical to think of the life after, and
\nhow\u2014through adversity\u2014we can refashion the world around us.<\/p>\n

In this new, post-coronavirus age, Nigeria\u2014and Africa, more broadly\u2014wish
\nto benefit the world, not be a drag on its resources or seemingly
\nforever in need of aid. At last, after years of poor governance, we have
\nthe people, the purpose and the political will for this to change.<\/p>\n

What we need now is for the vision of others to match our own. And
\nAfrica is positioned to play a critical role in the remolding of a
\npost-coronavirus world that centers around manufacturing.<\/p>\n

Of course, for many lost decades, Africa’s manufacturing moment has been
\non the launch pad, but never leaving it. But this time, I am convinced,
\nit can be different.<\/p>\n

In our lifetime, we have seen the West transform to a service-based
\neconomy, with much of its factory production relocated primarily to
\nAsia. This has led to the creation of home-grown consumer goods from
\ncountries such as South Korea and China that are enjoyed around the
\nglobe as widely as are their Western equivalents.<\/p>\n

It is simply untrue that jobs that build the goods of today, once
\ndeparted from the West to Asia, can never return. Indeed, we see already
\nfrom “onshoring” trends that this is not the case. Factors of labor
\ncost, transportation, location and availability of natural and energy
\nresources will always come into play.<\/p>\n

What is true is that no country or continent has a permanent monopoly on
\nmanufacturing jobs. Indeed, we see how Asian nations are themselves now
\noffshoring manufacturing to their neighbors and, increasingly, to
\nAfrica.<\/p>\n

My continent is positioned to seize the opportunity from these trends
\nand, in turn, benefit the world. Our young population is increasingly
\nwell educated; governance reform, while not universal, is growing in
\nstrength in most African countries such as my own, where our sustained
\nactions against the seemingly perennial scourge of corruption and
\nmalfeasance are well-recognized; and the energy, infrastructure and key
\nnatural resources needed to power and supply large-scale manufacturing
\nfacilities are in place.<\/p>\n

In Nigeria, a major global oil producer, we have finally established our
\nfirst private oil refinery\u2014which is also one of the largest in the
\nworld. The Mambilla power plant, finally unlocked for completion after a
\nsuccessful decision by the International Court of Arbitration in Paris
\nearlier this year removed impediments, will electrify the homes of some
\n10 million of our people.<\/p>\n

And we can now move forward with road, rail and power station
\nconstruction\u2014in part, under own resources\u2014thanks to close to a billion
\ndollars of funds stolen from the people of Nigeria under a previous,
\nundemocratic junta in the 1990s that have now been returned to our
\ncountry from the U.S., U.K. and Switzerland.<\/p>\n

That these friendly nations agreed to return these funds after so long
\nis testament to the fact that, thanks to our governance reforms, Nigeria
\nis rightly seen as an increasingly stable and beneficial place to
\ntransact and invest. It is much the same across the continent, with
\nsub-saharan Africa now outpacing Asia, Europe and North America by some
\nmeasures in terms of foreign direct investment inflows-to-GDP, perhaps
\nfor the very first time.<\/p>\n

While that is good news for over one billion Africans, the greatest
\nbenefit to those who look to our continent as the brightest global
\nmanufacturing location is that we are not, and do not seek, to engage in
\ngeopolitical competition.<\/p>\n

That is not to say that African countries do not have interests or
\npreferences. Nigeria already has, and seeks to deepen further, our
\nrelations with other Commonwealth countries\u2014particularly in the
\ninterests of trade. And the African Continental Free Trade Area
\nAgreement, which I signed for Nigeria last year, seeks to bind our
\ncontinent in mutual growth together for the first time.<\/p>\n

We hold shared values in democracy, freedoms of speech and religion with
\nthe Western world\u2014and admiration and determination to learn and follow
\nthe rapid economic growth and poverty reduction that has occurred across
\nAsia.<\/p>\n

But ultimately, Africa is an opportunity for all and a threat to no one.
\nThere will be no African armies or aircraft carriers in the future,
\nroaming the sands of faraway lands or the straits of foreign seas. We do
\nnot seek to grow our manufacturing capabilities in order to grant
\nourselves a seat at the table of some new great geopolitical game\u2014but
\nmerely to play our part as partners in development.<\/p>\n

Muhammadu Buhari is President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY MUHAMMADU BUHARI, PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA Across the world, as countries and economies slowly reopen, Africa lags behind. 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