The President and Chairman, Africa Development Bank Group (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has stated that Africa must be in a hurry to develop giving all the potentials and natural resources that abound in the length and breadth of the continent.
With its enormous population and arable land,coupled with an array of mineral resources, Africa, Adesina explained, stands the chance to become the greatest continent in the world.
He made this known at the National Open University of Nigeria’s (NOUN) 14th Convocation Lecture he delivered on Friday, April 11, 2025 in Abuja, titled: " Advancing Africa's Positioning within Global Development and Geopolitical Dynamics."
While presenting the lecture, which took place at the headquarters of the university in Abuja, Adesina said Africa must overhaul its approach towards achieving fast-paced growth and development.
He said “The era of aid or free money is gone. African countries must now learn to develop via investment and discipline.
“Countries can no longer rely on aid for growth or count it as part of government revenue, as has been the case for decades.”
The former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development emphasised that more aggressive measures are needed for countries to expand domestic resources mobilization. This, he stated, needs to go beyond simply increasing taxes.
“Countries must have stricter and more transparent management and accountability over the vast natural resources on the continent,” he said.
The AfDB President lamented that Africa must stop exporting its raw materials and only to buy them back as finished products and by doing so, take away the added value chain that should create more employment for African youths and employment market.
The lecturer explained that over his 10 years as President of AfDB, "we have significantly strengthened, transformed and positioned the Bank to play a leadership role for Africa; and to do so on the global stage.
"We increased the general capital of the bank from $93 billion in 2015 to $318 billion today. Three years ago, the African Development Bank was ranked the best Multilateral Institution in the world,"
In order to facilitate the fast development of Africa and prepare her for the 4th Industrial Revolution, especially in fields such as Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Automation and Cloud Computing, which are revolutionising the world, the AfDB is working with the African Union to establish a $300 million Africa Education, Science and Technology Innovation Fund, explained the AfDB President.
The former minister said “the challenge facing many youths, a lot more in Africa, is the mismatch between the education they receive and the skills they need for the labour market.
He reminded the Nigeria youths that education is the most important thing in life.
Adesina commended NOUN for the great work they are doing and said he has great admiration for the University.
"Firstly, NOUN is the largest Open University in Africa. Secondly, NOUN is the second largest Open University in the world, that means NOUN gets a gold medal in Africa, and a silver medal in the world for its excellent work on open learning," he said.
In his opening remarks the Chairman of the occasion, Professor Atahiru Jega, Pro- Chancellor and Chairman of Council Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, praised Dr. Adesina for making Nigeria proud and bringing hope to Africa through his commendable policies.
On his part, NOUN Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olufemi Peters, said the university was proud to have the speaker as its Convocation Lecturer this year and commended Adesina for accepting to present the lecture.
After the lecture, Dr. Adesina performed the foundation-laying ceremony of the Regional Training and Research Institute for Distance and Open Learning (RETRIDOL) Building iat the headquarters of NOUN.
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