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The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Resident Representative in Zimbabwe Ayodele Odusola says for Africa to achieve sustainable development it must restructure its economic systems.
He said this at the inaugural Faculty Distinguished Personality Lecture hosted by the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences University of Ibadan on Tuesday.
Odusola said:“African countries must rely on their own resources and private financing, which will be bolstered by innovative financing, genuine structural transformation, and good governance.
This will give them more choices for development policies and results than before.”
He emphasised the need for African countries to tackle corruption, eliminate illicit financial flows (IFFs), and shift from dependence on exporting primary commodities.
According to him, Africa’s current economic structure – characterized by supplying cheap raw materials, consuming industrial goods from advanced economies, and importing obsolete technology – has hindered the continent’s role in global value chains.
Odusola said: “The future of development finance in Africa demands a decolonised economic structure.
“Without genuine structural transformation focused on food, energy, and technological sovereignty, the continent will remain trapped in fiscal and debt cycles, unable to achieve meaningful development.”
