The Trinidad-born Nobel Prize-winning British writer VS Naipaul's observation should serve as a reminder to many African societies who should know by now that history is usually hinged on creation.

 

Why then has industrialisation which should normally be the buzzword for Africa considering that the continent is rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources eluded us?

 

Africa's experience with industrialisation over the past forty years has been disappointing considering that as late as 2010, sub-Saharan Africa's average share of manufacturing value added in GDP was a paltry 10 per cent, unchanged from the 1970s.

 

At the high-level event on the operationalisation of the 2030 United Nations General Assembly agenda for Africa's industrialisation in New York recently, President Edgar Lungu, having already inspired UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon with the speech he delivered to Parliament on September 18, dissected Africa's economic malaise and offered a panacea based on industrialisation, which Zambia is implementing under the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).

 

"It is, therefore, an inevitable solution to bring about the much-needed structural economic transformation. Industrialisation-induced structural economic transformation will enable our countries to diversify their economy, raise productivity, create better jobs and increase their competitiveness in the global market," President Lungu said.

 

Mr Lungu noted the incongruity between development and gross domestic product, saying although Africa has recorded high gross domestic product growth rates and significant increase in total trade, the progress has had a limited impact on poverty reduction, livelihoods and access to economic and social opportunities.

 

Some scholars have noted that industrialisation, which is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one involving the extensive re-organisation of an economy for the purpose of manufacturing, is what has marked the yawning gap between the developed west and developing countries in Africa.

 

The latter process bears a remarkable impact on a country leading to industrial workers' incomes rising, markets for consumer goods and services of all kinds expanding providing a further stimulus to industrial investment and economic growth.

Source : allafrica.com