ABUJA, Nigeria, September 13, 2025/APO Group: There is a need for urgent reforms aimed at buttressing governance, deepening regional integration, and striving for inclusive growth across the African continent. This was urged by several African leaders, experts, and the African Development Bank during the Nigerian Economic Society’s (NES) 66th Annual Conference in Abuja.
Unveiling the conference, Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima emphasised that the country’s youth, with an average age of 16.9, could either drive or deepen poverty depending on policy choices.
The 2025 NES conference, which attracted more than 2,500 delegates from 22 African countries, including economists, policymakers, academics, and international partners, saw discussions taking place on structural vulnerabilities amid global disruptions ranging from climate change and geopolitical tensions to debt sustainability and demographic pressures.
A comparison was also made to India’s USD 100 billion annual outsourcing industry, with Nigeria’s peak oil revenues accounting for USD 25 billion in 2011, the Vice President called for the diversification into knowledge-based sectors.
“Africa’s 1.5 billion people should represent a formidable economic force, yet the continent accounts for just 16 percent of global trade,” Shettima commented. “We slept through the first three industrial revolutions. Now in the fourth, Africa stands at a crossroads.”
The continent’s failure to marry politics with sound economic management has left it trailing in global trade and industrial progress, Shettima underlined while addressing the theme “Rethinking Africa’s Development: Pathways to Economic Transformation and Social Inclusion in a Changing Global Economic Landscape.”
He elaborated on the Nigerian government’s removal of fuel subsidies, exchange rate unification, and tax reforms, conceding the hardship of inflation and high living costs but stressing that investor confidence was returning.
“These are tough times, but the recovery will be permanent,” he said, crediting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration with showing political will to confront long-ignored structural weaknesses.
On the other hand, Nigeria’s Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, underscored the continent’s financing challenges, noting that individual countries in Europe and Asia carry larger debt markets than Africa as a whole. He called for greater access to capital and more investment in social inclusion and infrastructure.
“Our experience over the past two years shows that bold, even risky, reforms are necessary,” he said. “To reach Nigeria’s goal of a $1 trillion economy by 2030, and to lift Africa as a whole, we must embrace paradigm-shifting policies at all levels.”
In his goodwill message at the opening session of the event, the Director of the African Development Institute at the African Development Bank, Eric Ogunleye, reaffirmed the African Development Bank’s commitment to supporting Africa’s wider development agenda.
He highlighted several initiatives, such as the Strategic Framework on Key Actions to Achieve Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development, the Public Service Delivery Index, and specialized training platforms, including the Public Finance Management Academy for Africa and the Macroeconomic Policy Management Academy for Africa.
“These tools are available at no cost to member countries and are designed to accelerate structural transformation and inclusive growth,” he told delegates.
Speaking on “Rethinking Governance Models in Africa for Sustainable Economic Growth” during a plenary panel session, Ogunleye said governance and leadership remain decisive in separating successful economies from struggling ones.
Several panelists, such as Wale Ogunkola of the University of Ibadan, argued that the African Continental Free Trade Area must go beyond tariff reduction to build value chains, boost infrastructure, and integrate services into manufacturing.
