President Akufo-Addo says that given the vast natural resources bestowed upon Africa, the continent should not be battling poverty.
The President believes that Africa has the potential to be a global power house in the future with the capacity to feed billions of people across the globe should she take all the right initiatives.
To buttress his point, he listed the several resources Africa has been blessed with including oil, gas, minerals, ample sunlight, and 65% of arable land capable of feeding 9 billion people globally by 2030.
President Akufo-Addo was speaking at the second edition of the Africa Prosperity Dialogues in Peduase in the Eastern Region, on Thursday, January 25, 2024,.
“We all know that Africa is blessed, Africa is not a poor continent, in fact, she is too rich to be poor. A continent that has every natural resource imaginable; oil, gas, minerals and an abundance of sunlight.
We have some 65 per cent of all arable land available to feed 9 billion people globally by 2030 and our continent is filled with the most youthful population in the world –everything we need to transform Africa into a global powerhouse of the future,” he touted.
The president used the opportunity to encourage the private sector to use the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), to drive economic cooperation between African States as a measure against their European counterparts.
In his view, the free movement of people, goods, and services across the continent should be the primary focus to ensure the United Africa dream is achieved.
“I’m now encouraged that Africa now has a private sector that is ready, deliberate and eager to see that the 60-year-old dream of the United Africa manifests. The difference perhaps, of the then and today is that the focus is on an area where there can be no debate –economic integration.
“How we facilitate the free movement of people, goods and services across this vast and resourceful mass Africa is what we must devote our energies to.”