African governments must ensure transparency and accountability in the management of natural resources, including oil, to generate revenue for growth through diversifying economies, a United Nations official told delegates at an industrial policy conference in Ghana today.
โAfrican leaders must have bold visions and good planning,โ Kandeh K. Yumkella, the Director-General of the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), told delegates attending the two-day conference in Accra entitled โCompetitiveness and Diversification: Strategic Challenges in a Petroleum-Rich Economy.โ
โAmbition is the catalyst that can propel African leaders to bring about structural changes and create wealth and opportunities for decent jobs on a sustainable basis, as well as the right infrastructure, and add value to natural resources,โ said Mr. Yumkella.
He called for a bold development agenda in Africa in the next 20 years to restructure and diversify economies beyond dependence on oil and gas, to avoid the so-called โDutch disease.โ
The โDutch diseaseโ or the โresource curseโ refers to increasing dependency on the exploitation of natural resources at the expense of developing a manufacturing sector.
Africa countries โmust make sure the new wealth does not destroy the old one. Africa must develop manufacturing to become competitive on a global scale,โ said Mr. Yumkella.
At a meeting with the President of Ghana, John Atta Mills, Mr. Yumkella urged the West African country to become โa modelโ for the sub-region. โA stable democracy coupled with the oil find could turn the country into an economic powerhouse,โ he said.
Industrialization policy, he added, should include agribusiness and agro-industries as extra engines of economic growth.