By Adedapo Adesanya
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has revealed that current projections indicate that with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), economies on the continent will reach $3.3 trillion.
President of the bank, Mr Akinwumi Adesina, said at the African Leadership Persons of the Year Investiture Ceremonies and Awards Gala night held in Johannesburg, South Africa on Saturday, where he was honoured as the African of the Year that the size of business and consumer expenditures in Africa will rise to $5.6 trillion by 2025.
Mr Adesina explained that with the current trend in size of food and agriculture business alone will reach $1 trillion in 10 years, noting that the Africa of the 21st century was keenly aware of its place in the world and determined to be a global investment haven.
He added that the Africa of the 21st century was open for trade and Savvy investors knew that if they were not in Africa, they were not in business.
“Over the past four years, we have helped 18 million people obtain access to electricity, 141 million people to agricultural technologies for food security, 13 million people to finance through private sector investee companies.
“And 101 million people to improved transport services, and 60 million people to improved water and sanitation,” he said.
At the event, Mr Adesina expressed his delight at being honored as the African of the Year, saying he was humbled to be at the helm of an organisation that is making a tremendous difference across Africa, an organisation that was daily making prosperity a reality.
He dedicated the award to his wife, Grace, the Board, staff, and colleagues at the bank, his mother as well as “the young mothers, struggling to bring up a child, to the farmer in search of a better tomorrow, to the youth of Africa longing for a better future, and to Africa’s journalists who risk their lives in helping to tell Africa’s true story.”
Mr Adesina explained that primary focus of the African Development Bank is to light up and power Africa, to feed Africa, to industrialise Africa, to integrate Africa, and to improve the quality of life of the people of Africa. Five simple, strategic, and highly focused objectives.
“Africa does not need anyone to believe in her or to affirm her place and position in history. Africa will and must develop with pride. For right on the inside of us, as Africans, lies our greatest instrument of successes: confidence.” Mr Adesina said.
