Babacar Ndiaye Lecture 2021 | Importance Of Science, Technology And Innovation In Transformation Of African Economies Under The AfCFTA
The Babacar Ndiaye Lecture was part of a series of lectures that have taken place since 2017, that honour the founding role that the late Dr. Babacar Ndiaye played in the establishment of Afreximbank. Dr. Babacar Ndiaye was the president of the African Development Bank from 1985 to 1995 and he is credited with being a forefather of Africa's economic growth and ideological progress.
The Babacar Ndiaye Lecture is an annual event that is held on the sidelines of the World Bank meetings that acts as a nexus for Afreximbank shareholders, partners and professionals, along with existing and potential clients spanning all industries. The event provides an opportunity for the African Diaspora, policymakers, professionals in the development community, as well as investors interested in business opportunities in Africa to all connect and interact with one another.
The Youth Café was privileged to have been invited to take part in this year’s Babacar Ndiaye Lecture, which took place virtually on Wednesday, 20 October 2021 at 4:00 p.m. Nairobi Time. This year's keynote lecture was under the theme "The importance of science, technology and innovation in the transformation of African economies under the AfCFTA" and was delivered by Prof. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, first female President of Mauritius and 2007 laureate of the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards.
To start off the event, the Moderator Mr. Godfrey Mutizwa, Business Journalist and Editor in Chief CNBC Africa introduced South African poet and writer, Ms. Lebo Mashile to open the lecture with her poem. The evocative poem touched on various themes of African history and the continent’s interaction with the rest of the world. Answering the fundamental question: who are we? She reminded us that “we are the first people of the planet, on the African continent” and that “being African is an applied science of humanity, we have been evolving since our first steps from the sea. Every tool we have made, every dream we have prayed; is technology.”
Mr. Mutizwa later gave the floor to Professor Benedict Oramah, the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank to introduce the lecture. In his address Professor Oramah noted that although the majority of the African states gained independence six decades ago, Africa has failed to achieve economic emancipation. Professor Oramah said that the failure of Africa to secure Covid-19-related equipment such as face masks and ventilators shows that the continent must start manufacturing its own technological goods.
“While the The African Continental Free Trade Area was a necessary condition for the transformation of African economies, it was not a sufficient one, especially in a world where trade has been largely driven by manufactured goods with increasing technological content.”
Among the set of constraints undermining the capacity of the The African Continental Free Trade Area to deliver on its full potential none was as critical as closing the region’s scientific and technological gap. He stressed the need to foster the collaboration between research and industry to further enhance the growth and development impact of scientific discovery across the region.
“The most competitive countries in the world are also the ones leading in ICT, innovation, scientific research and development. Africa cannot be kept at the back of the queue.”
Mr. Mutizwa then introduced the keynote speaker Prof. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim who went straight to the point and stated that Africa is starting with a considerable deficit in spite of its natural advantage and huge asset endowment. She laid bare a raft of statistics that showed that Africa is falling well behind the rest of the world in science, technology, and innovation (STI). Africa only produces 3% of global GDP, accounts for less than 3% of global trade, carries 25% of global disease burden, is responsible for only 2% of the world’s research output and 1% of research spending. Dr Gurib-Fakim questioned:
“How can a continent with the largest share of arable land, a continent with the youngest population, a continent that has fueled all of the world’s industrial revolution, a continent that has helped drive the mobile phone industry, a continent that is at the cusp of supporting the world’s energy transition to greener technology with a large store of rare earth deposits accept such dismal statistics?”
She stated that our challenges are fundamental and structural. She said that; “The deficit of investment in science and technology and absence of economic and scientific infrastructure has undermined the process of economic transformation both at the structural level and at the sectoral level. The consequences of that deficit have been significant and include continued reliance on the colonial development model of resource extraction largely responsible for the debilitating poverty trap and aid dependence trap.”
She noted that Africa’s failure to advance in science and technology has been compounded by the fragmentation of its markets. She praised the establishment of The African Continental Free Trade Area for overcoming this hurdle and creating the largest single market in the world by membership. However, the economic transformation anticipated by the free-trade market hinges on Africa “closing its scientific and technological gap with the rest of the world” and “sustainably producing the right set of skills to expand both extra and intra African trade.”
Professor Gurib-Fakim illustrated how the manufacturing industry is instrumental in facilitating industrialization and driving sustainable growth and development. She said that “the key boon of manufacturing is that it absorbs large swathes of workers and places them into productive and decent paying jobs”. Countries such as Germany, Japan and Singapore are examples of how industrialisation can generate rapid structural change, drive development and alleviate poverty and unemployment among the youth and women in Africa.
She reminded the audience that the increasing role of technology that was permeating all sectors and industries and driving growth was irreversible. She praised Africa’s successes in particular financial services and mobile money, giving the example of M-Pesa which has been adopted in the rest of Africa after being created in Kenya. She equally praised Afreximbank’s Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) which is set to facilitate payments for cross-border trade in African currencies and assuage the liquidity constraints.
In her closing remarks she noted that the challenge for ambitious initiatives is to spread investments worthy ideas more widely across the continent in various industries and sectors so that the process of economic transformation is broad based and catalyzing greater collaboration will hold the keys to success.
Professor Sarah Anyang Agbor, Commissioner of Human Resources, Science and Technology at the African Union Commission (AUC) in her remarks as a guest speaker explained how the African Union Commission has set in place its Science, Technology, and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024 (STISA-2024) that aims to promote the building and upgrading of research institutions and accelerate the transition of African countries to innovation-led and knowledge-based economies. This strategy has been set up within the African Union’s (AU) Agenda 2063 on its goal for inclusive and sustainable development.
To close off the lecture, Dr. Hippolyte Fofack, Afreximbank’s Chief Economist, echoed Professor Oramah’s statements that “Africa was the epicenter of and the birthplace of astronomy and mathematics”. He referenced the Dogon community in Mali who for centuries had the most advanced and accurate knowledge of astronomy and planetary movement such as Sirius B, long before it was discovered by Western astronomers in 1970. He notes that “Africa’s current scientific and technological gap with the rest of the world was a historical anomaly”.
The Youth Café works with young men and women around Africa as a trailblazer in advancing youth-led approaches toward achieving sustainable development, social equity, innovative solutions, community resilience and transformative change.
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