Coronavirus Must Not Kill Africa’s Agric-Business And Manufacturing Sector – Obasanjo

Ex Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has come out to warn African nations not to allow agric-business and manufacturing sectors to degenerate amid the pandemic.

He recently revealed this via his Special Assistant on Media Affairs, Kehinde Akinyemi, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, Africa should focus on using its self-resilience and finding home-grown solutions for the continent to bounce back from the socio-economic devastations caused by COVID-19.

He added that the pandemic must be taken as an opportunity to make sure that Africa is self-sufficient in staple and essential food items.

His words, “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.”

“Other sectors of the economy have been badly affected by COVID-19 in Africa. These include air travel, air transportation, hospitality, and tourism and we will have to see how the rest the world, where such sectors have equally been adversely affected, find solutions to manage the impact.”

“When looking at trade, it is important to be clear in our understanding that COVID-19 has only delayed, but not derailed, the operationalisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). We must desist from the view that the AfCFTA is now off-track due to COVID-19. This is especially so because the necessary arrangements including the setting up of the Secretariat and the appointment of key officials have been done.”

“However, we must be mindful of, and appreciate the fact that some aspects relating to the full operationalisation of AfCFTA require physical contacts, which cannot happen at this stage because of the measures put in place to deal with COVID-19.”

“While it is true that COVID-19 has opened up opportunities to use online platforms and modern technologies to communicate, when we are talking about matters of trade and movement of goods, there is a limit to what you can do. COVID-19 measures have put some restrictions on movement of goods and people, on physical and personal contact, and these have affected business transactions.”