Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu has proposed “near-shoring” to boost Africa’s economic growth and reduce migration.
Near-shoring involves taking technology and industrialisation closer to raw materials in Africa, creating value-added products and jobs for African youths.
Kalu, who spoke at an Online Roundtable titled “EU-African relations: An African perspective” in Brussels, Belgium, on Tuesday, said that near-shoring will be mutually beneficial to Europe and Africa if they partner.
Kalu’s call for investment in Africa, however, comes as the continent seeks to harness the potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to promote intra-African trade and economic growth.
It will be recalled that the Deputy Speaker, who chairs the Monetary and Financial Affairs Community of the Pan African Parliament (PAP), is leading the delegation of the African parliamentary body to the European Union (EU) Parliament in Belgium.
He emphasised that while the raw materials are domiciled in Africa, European technology and expertise in the new partnership will process them, thereby creating value-added products and jobs for African youths.
The approach, the Deputy Speaker said, would reduce migration and promote economic growth and development in Africa, noting that African youths are seeking opportunities.
Kalu highlighted the demographic advantage of Africa, stressing that the continent is projected to have 42% of the world’s youth population in the next five years.
Citing examples of how near-shoring could work, the Deputy Speaker said that Africa could become a manufacturer of batteries and chocolate rather than exporting the raw materials to be processed and shipped back to Africa at high value for the European continent.
He said: “Let me go to some of the issues you raised about the youths, the challenges and the future for Africa. The truth is that I am happy that Europe now knows we are your neighbours, and that what affects our continent affects your continent, and that you have not leveraged the strength of Africa over the years. And what are those strengths?
“It is projected through statistics that in the next five years, Africa will have 42% of the youth globally resident in Africa. What are you doing with that? Europe does not have that and cannot boast about it. What are we doing with that manpower? It is also a known fact that the European continent has an abundance of technology and funds, while Africa does not have that. But what we have that you don’t have are natural and mineral resources.
“The question becomes, in this partnership, are we leveraging our strengths? We should ensure that if we want to face the challenges we have encountered over the years, one of them being migration, we have to look at the strategy known as near-shoring. Near-shoring is where you take technology and industrialisation closer to raw materials.
“What African youths are looking for. They are running for an opportunity. African youths are looking for opportunities, and these opportunities are found in Europe. That is why they are coming there. And the question is, is there any way to reverse that? What mechanism can we use to reverse that?
“The mechanism we can use to reverse that is to take the technology and industrialisation closer to raw materials, create those opportunities around Africa, keep them in Africa, and have a win-win situation. So, it means that little minds in Africa will no longer be known for little mining only, but Africa will now be known for battery manufacturers.
“Now, cocoa farms in Africa will no longer be known for being cocoa farms, but they will be known as producers of chocolate. So, the whole nine yards of the production there in Africa will keep Africans within Africa, and then, you have a single market system here in Europe, we are now to set up the African Free Trade Agreement Area (AfCFTA).
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