President John Dramani Mahama has called on Africa Leaders to move beyond exporting raw materials and focus on producing finished goods.
Speaking at the Africa Prosperity Dialogues 2025 in Accra, President Mahama emphasized the need for value addition to enhance Africa’s share of global trade and create sustainable jobs, highlighting on some rich resources such as Ghanaian cocoa, Nigerian oil, Zambian copper, and Botswanan diamonds.
“Africa must move beyond exporting raw materials to producing finished goods. Whether it is cocoa in Ghana, oil in Nigeria, copper in Zambia, or diamonds in Botswana, we must process and add value to our natural resources”.
He underscored the importance of indigenous ownership of natural resources and leveraging capital and technology to boost utilization.
“We must ensure indigenous ownership of our natural resources. Capital and technology are at our disposal to boost our involvement in utilizing our natural resources”.
President Mahama urged governments to collaborate with the private sector to drive industrialization through several key initiatives such as :
1. Special Economic Zones (SEZs) that encourage manufacturing and innovation.
2. Access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are the backbone of our economies.
3. Investment in technical and vocational education to equip our youth with the skills needed for the industries of the future.
