Opinions

A pilot trading scheme under AfCFTA rules commenced in July, which involves Rwanda, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, and Tanzania. A successful pilot would be the biggest assurance yet that AfCFTA will work.     Is Africa’s historic free trade agreement stuck or sailing? When trading under the Africa Continental…

Thanks to the increasing legitimacy of the church among the general population in Africa, the AU should leverage the church’s influence in promoting various policy and institutional initiatives, argues Carole Obure.   In the wake of the Protestant Reformation of the 1500s, evolving European societies wrestled with determining exactly what…

Can Africa learn the lessons of history and work with a much wider range of multilateral partners to help it tackle the challenges of 2023 differently and better?     It is unusual to start off a forecast for the New Year with a reference to nearly 40 years ago,…

The AfCFTA faces challenges, but energy and optimism can carry it through.     The energy and optimism of those working in and around the AfCFTA may be the major reason the AfCFTA stands out from past regional efforts. This seems to mix a revolutionary mentality – “we’re making history”…

Achieving Industrialization in Africa is long overdue! Hence, putting in place all necessary strategies to ensure the continent’s speedy industrialization will help Africa effectively harness its vast natural and mineral resources for the benefit of its over 1.2 billion citizens.     Africa is potentially the world’s richest continent, hence…

Africa is rich! The continent is rich in natural resources – from arable land to renewable energy sources and tropical forests to wildlife.     Most of all, it is rich in human resources: Africa is home to the world’s youngest population and will be home to, at least, a…

The 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP27) is currently underway in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, with an estimated 5,000 delegates in attendance, including 120 world leaders, climate activists, and youth representatives.     For the 27th time, world leaders at COP27 are sharing more plans towards mitigating climate…

Part of my nation is underwater. Seasonal flooding is normal in Nigeria, but not like this. Thirty-four of the country’s 36 states have been affected. More than 1.4 million people have been displaced.   Together with drought-driven famine in the Horn of Africa, cascading wildfires across the North and wave upon wave of intensifying…

Industrial policy is the most important of all economic policies because it is the only one that can bring coherence across the many disparate sets of economic policies that governments have.     Earlier this month, the Secretary General of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, His Excellency…

Will the single market be realized fast enough to withstand the global storms where powerful societies are devising ways, covert and overt, to devour others?     Imagine a big plane with hundreds of passengers racing on the tarmac readying to take off. But towards the end of the runway,…