Adesina urges African nations to end raw material exports, embrace industrialisation

The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has renewed his call for African countries to break free from the entrenched cycle of poverty by shifting away from the export of raw materials and prioritizing industrialisation and value addition.

In a strongly worded post shared on Thursday via his official X (formerly Twitter) account, Adesina described the continent’s continued export of unprocessed commodities as a major factor behind its persistent economic stagnation.

“Africa must end the exports of its raw materials. The export of raw materials is the door to poverty. The export of value-added products is the highway to wealth. And Africa is tired of being poor,” Adesina stated.

Despite being richly endowed with abundant natural resources — from oil and gas to rare minerals and vast agricultural produce — Africa remains under-industrialized.

According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative and other multilateral sources, the continent accounts for less than 2 percent of global manufacturing output and contributes under 3 percent to world trade.

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For Adesina, this reality represents more than an economic shortfall; it is a strategic failure that must be urgently corrected.

Over the years, he has consistently advocated for policies that focus on agro-industrialisation, enhanced regional integration, and massive infrastructure development as critical pathways to Africa’s sustainable economic transformation.

Under his leadership, the AfDB has been pivotal in supporting initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), designed to boost intra-African trade, drive industrial growth, and reposition Africa as a manufacturing powerhouse on the global stage.

Beyond industrialisation, Dr. Adesina has also drawn attention to the global inequities in financial support for Africa. He recently criticized the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) following the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw Africa receive only $33 billion—or 4.5 percent—of the $650 billion distributed globally, despite the continent’s economic vulnerability.

In response, the AfDB, in partnership with the African Union, has led efforts to rechannel unused SDRs from wealthier nations to African economies.

A newly endorsed framework, developed in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and approved by the IMF Board, aims to leverage AfDB’s AAA credit rating to optimize Africa’s access to global liquidity and drive economic resilience.

Dr. Adesina’s renewed push for value addition and equitable financial treatment underlines a broader vision: transforming Africa from a raw material supplier into a global center of industrial and economic power.