Africa at final threshold of development - LADOL

Abiola Seun |

The Managing Director, Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL) Free Zone, Dr. Amy Jadesimi has observed that the African continent is finally at the threshold of the final stage of globalization.

She noted that Africa has actually experienced the four broad, different ages of globalization, which also identified as Exploration, Exploitation, Expropriation and Exchange.

Amy Jadesimi made the remark while speaking as one of the five global leaders who spoke on the opening panel of the ongoing ‘Global Female Leaders Summit 2019’ (GFL) in Berlin, an Economic Forum for Female Executives, currently holding for the 6th time.

“The Era of Exchange based Globalization and trade is just beginning. To succeed it requires trade between equals, i.e. a level playing field through which all participants, from nation states to private companies, benefit.”

“For Exchange based Trade to be practically applicable countries and companies in Africa need to invest in and develop higher local capacity and quality within sustainable business models. This is already happening at companies such as LADOL and will lead to a significant increase in the global GDP, as well as decreases in inequality and increases prosperity,” she said.

In addition, Dr. Jadesimi stated that Sustainable Globalization requires the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and high income, low growth countries to recognise that current trade policies were not designed to lead to equality and prosperity for all. Now it is clear that our survival on this planet depends on our ability to decrease poverty and increase both the spread and size of global wealth dramatically. Therefore, institutions such as WTO need to promote and execute new policies for global trade.

“For example, rather than simply demand that countries immediately put in place new laws to protect Intellectual Property (IP) before wealthy countries will trade with them, the focus should shift to insisting that low income high growth countries develop home grown IP to support their own market to a level that makes them globally competitive and therefore better trading partners. Such countries will then naturally put in place laws to protect this “homegrown” and international IP, while also adding to global prosperity, creating thousands of jobs and new innovations that will move the whole world forward.”

“Zero sum game politics and trade policies are leading to global instability – collaboration is required on a fundamental level, particularly between governments and institutions to create new economy, sustainable technologies and business strategies”, she noted further, explaining that without radical reforms, the current global trade practices will further entrench a status quo that is undermining previous gains made through trade for high income countries. As well as increasing inequality across the world and making it harder for countries in Africa to lift their people out of poverty.

“The Nigerian government has taken real steps to support the indigenous private sector in Nigeria and allow it to operate, add value and grow – when our private sector is the same size as the public sector Nigeria we will be part of the G20.”

“Many positive lessons can be learnt from the formation and positive impact of the EU on its member states, including the fact that the EU protected its markets from non-EU countries until it had reached a certain level of industrialisation. AU is potentially one of the most important institutions we have to develop Africa, as long as look inward and develop African capacity for engineering, manufacturing and trading within the AU.” she said.