Business
Covid-19: Obasanjo cautions against allowing agro-business, manufacturing to suffer
Kunle Idowu
Former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has advised African countries against allowing agrio-business and manufacturing sectors to degenerate in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said the two sectors are important areas which are yet to be severely impacted upon by the disease.
Chief Obasanjo said these when he featured in this week’s issue of ACCORD 2021 series of the COVID-19 Conflict and Resilience Monitor.
The former President, in his submission, made a case for Africa’s self-resilience and finding home-grown solutions for the continent to bounce back from the socio-economic devastations caused by COVID-19.
His two-page paper titled; Deepening Africa’s Continental Trade & Economic RELATIONS Amid Covid-19 reads: “COVID-19 is a pandemic whose effect has not been limited to Africa alone.”
He posited that If regions of the world that have been heavily infected and affected by COVID-19, were 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 solution
“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 “Obasanjo said, stressing” 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,” noted.
Obasanjo insisted that Africa must take the two sectors seriously, and ensure 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” the former President added.
He noticed that other sectors of the economy such as, air travel, air transportation, hospitality, and tourism had been adversely affe ted by Covid 19 saying, “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,” Obasanjo added.
He said Africa 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,” he posited
The former President said these barriers were put in place in order to make sure that there was no transmission of people who are affected and who may carry COVID-19 from one place to another, stressing, “I also believe that, at times, delays may even allow you to be extra careful and therefore better prepared when you are launching something like the AfCFTA.
“So, this delay may actually give us an opportunity to do the extra hard work that requires some time so that when we eventually go into operation we are battle-ready, and do so in full force. I genuinely believe that nothing will happen that would derail the full implementation of AfCFTA, if anything, Africa must use this situation to fully prepare itself for the operationalisation once most of these restrictions are lifted.”
Obasanjo observed that various parts of Africa were starting to open up to allow the movement of people and goods by sea, road, and air, saying, “this rekindles our hope that we will indeed see the implementation of our commitments to strengthen intra-African trade through the eventual full operationalisation of the AfCFTA. I see COVID-19 as an impetus rather than a hindrance.”