Former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has advised African countries to give adequate attention to the business of agriculture and manufacturing as concerted efforts are being made to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
He observed that the two sectors were important areas which by and large have not been severely impacted upon by the disease.
This was contained in this week’s issue of ACCORD 2021 series of the COVID-19 Conflict and Resilience Monitor, which featured the former Nigerian President
In a release by his Special Assistant on Media Affairs, Kehinde Akinyemi, Obasanjo, in his submission, made a case for Africa’s self-resilience and finding home-grown solutions for the continent to bounce back in particular from the socio-economic devastations caused by COVID-19.
The two-paged paper titled; Deepening Africa’s Continental Trade & Economic RELATIONS Amid Covid-19 reads: “COVID-19 is a pandemic whose effect has not been limited to Africa alone.
The pandemic first emerged in China, the epicentre then shifted to Europe, and then to North and South America. If these regions of the world that have been heavily infected and affected by COVID-19, are able to implement measures to bounce back then we in Africa must do the same by learning from their experience and by devising our own home-grown solutions.
“There are many lessons that Africa must draw from the other regions in terms of how they have handled the pandemic, and then together with our own efforts, we can seek ways to advance the various frameworks for the continent’s socio-economic development and overall security and general progress.
“I believe that the most important aspect for Africa are the areas that we must not allow to degenerate and these are agri-business and manufacturing, which by and large have not been severely impacted upon by COVID-19. We must take advantage in parts of Africa, which enjoy good rainfalls, to ensure that we do not relax in our efforts to sustain our agri-business.
“Indeed, Africa must take seriously these two sectors, ensuring that they are not heavily affected by COVID-19, because they are very central to the continent’s efforts to bounce back from this pandemic.
“In other words, we must be able to feed ourselves, and this pandemic must be taken as an opportunity to make sure that Africa is self-sufficient in staple and essential food items. Africa should save $44 billion being spent on importation of food annually. I believe that the one major lesson that COVID-19 has taught us is that we should be self-reliant in food and nutrition and in essential agribusiness implements and domestic appliances, he said.
Obasanjo noted that other sectors of the economy have been badly affected by COVID-19 in Africa. These include air travel, air transportation, hospitality, and tourism.
He urged African countries to observe and imbibe the solutions being applied by other developed countries in resuscitating these affected sectors.
