Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, has bemoaned the low level of intra-Africa trade despite the continent being endowed with natural resources and having a promising future.
According to him, African investors need to take the risk and invest in the continent to make it great.
Speaking at the Africa CEO Forum held in Kigali, Rwanda, Africa's richest CEO noted that the development of the continent was solely dependent on Africans and not foreigners.
He said African economies would witness a boost if there were free movement of goods and services, citing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as an example.
Aliko Dangote said, "Our focus is to make the regional markets all work; once they work, then we can now go to AfCFTA, but for AfCFTA also, we need to make sure that it works. We cannot have a very promising continent and our intra-trade is less than 16%."
"We, Africans, have to do it. If we are waiting for foreigners to come and develop Africa, it is not going to happen. So it can only happen by us Africans. We must risk our resources and make sure that we lead, then we have people who actually trust and believe in Africa to come and help us push to the next level," he added.
AfCFTA, one of the flagship projects of Agenda 2063, is a high-ambition trade agreement with a comprehensive scope that includes critical areas of Africa’s economy such as digital trade and investment protection, among other areas.
By eliminating barriers to trade in Africa, the objective of the free trade pact is to significantly boost intra-Africa trade, particularly trade in value-added production and trade across all sectors of Africa’s economy.
AfCFTA, which came into effect in January 2021, is the largest free trade area globally, covering 55 African countries with a combined population of 1.3 billion people and a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) exceeding $3.4 trillion.
The pact also seeks to help African economies build robust and more resilient economies to absorb any shock – internally or externally.
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