Africa Must Rise By Building, Not Borrowing, Says Shettima At World Economic Forum

Vice President Kashim Shettima has advocated for homegrown solutions to Africa’s economic problems, emphasising innovative approaches for growth, development and prosperity on the continent.

He noted that it is only by building domestic productive capacity that African nations can convert their population and natural talents into real, resilient wealth, just as he said instead of expecting prosperity to be parachuted in, “it must be homegrown and earned.”

Shettima who stated this on Thursday during the High-level Accra Reset Initiative meeting held on the margins of the ongoing 2026 World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in a statement by his spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha observed that Africa was no longer the periphery but the pulse of the world’s demographic and economic future.

Citing Nigeria where the Dangote Refinery is gradually turning the nation into a major exporter of fuel as an instance, Senator Shettima pointed out that Africa can only rise when countries on the continent build.

He said, “Africa cannot rise on applause alone. We rise when we build. After decades as a net importer of value, Nigeria is on the verge of becoming a net exporter of refined fuel, powered by Africa’s largest refinery in Lagos, Nigeria: the Dangote Refinery.

“This is what happens when African capital meets industrial ambition. This implies that Nations move from price takers to value makers when production is matched with infrastructure and policy clarity. Even as manufacturing’s share of Africa’s GDP fell from 16 percent in 1980 to under 10 percent by 2016, we chose not to retreat but to leapfrog.”

Underscoring the benefits of modular factories, artificial intelligence, and robotics, the Vice President noted that “Africa can industrialize faster in the twenty first century than ever before,” just as he said the era when the continent is “known only for what it digs or grows” is now giving way for the era when Africa is known for what it builds.