IATF2025: Obasanjo urges Africa to avoid IMF dependence – advocates push for unity, self-reliance
Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo has urged African nations to stop depending on global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and instead unite to drive their own development.
Speaking during a fireside chat at the 4th Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) in Algiers yesterday, the former president who chairs the IATF2025 Advisory Council, said Africa must harness its collective strength to overcome “the shame and indignity caused by slavery, slave trade, colonialism, and new coloniality.”
“Global Africa is shaking the world,” he said, stressing that unity both on the continent and within the African diaspora was the only path to lasting independence.
He argued that the IMF, United Nations and World Health Organisation were created before most African states gained independence and therefore “were not designed for Africa’s benefit.”
“Relying on them to resolve our challenges is a misunderstanding of their inherent structure and purpose,” he said.
He recalled an encounter at an Interaction Council meeting of former heads of government, where he had complained that global economic systems were biased against Africa. One member bluntly told him: “You have to understand we devise capitalism for ourselves, not for you.”
“This confirms that everything on the economic ground is weighted against us,” Obasanjo said.
The former president also pressed for concrete measures to deepen intra-African trade and reduce reliance on external partners.
These included visa-on-arrival policies for business travellers, an African Union passport, wider adoption of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), and the development of coastal shipping routes.
“Africa can’t outsource its development,” he warned adding that with its resources, people and growing influence, the continent had “everything needed to lead the world as a race” if it remained united.
FROM DAVID ADADEVOH, ALGIERS
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