At 2026 World Economic Forum, Shettima Canvasses Homegrown Solutions To Africa’s Economic Challenges

* Wants continent to shift from import dependency to local production, from aid to investment

* Says with Dangote Refinery, Nigeria is on the verge of becoming net exporter of fuel

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

Vice-President Kashim Shettima has canvassed for homegrown solutions to Africa’s economic problems, emphasizing innovative approaches for growth, development and prosperity on the continent.

According to him, it is only by building domestic productive capacity that African nations can convert their population and natural talents into real, resilient wealth, adding that instead of expecting prosperity to be parachuted in, “it must be homegrown and earned”.

The vice-president, who stated this on Thursday during the High-level Accra Reset Initiative meeting held on the margins of the ongoing 2026 World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, observed that Africa was no longer the periphery but the pulse of the world’s demographic and economic future.

Citing Nigeria, where the Dangote Refinery is gradually turning the nation into a major exporter of fuel as an instance, Shettima pointed out that Africa can only rise when countries on the continent build.

His words: “Africa cannot rise on applause alone. We rise when we build. After decades as a net importer of value, Nigeria is on the verge of becoming a net exporter of refined fuel, powered by Africa’s largest refinery in Lagos, Nigeria: the Dangote Refinery.

“This is what happens when African capital meets industrial ambition. This implies that nations move from price takers to value makers when production is matched with infrastructure and policy clarity. Even as manufacturing’s share of Africa’s GDP fell from 16 per cent in 1980 to under 10 per cent by 2016, we chose not to retreat but to leapfrog.”

Underscoring the benefits of modular factories, artificial intelligence, and robotics, the vice-president noted that: “Africa can industrialize faster in the twenty first century than ever before,” just as he said the era when the continent is “known only for what it digs or grows” is now giving way for the era when Africa is known for what it builds.

Shettima stated that while Africa’s future “depends on letting skills travel, return and multiply”, prosperity will move at the speed of people.

He recalled that: “In 2024 alone, Africans abroad sent home about $95 billion, more than 5 per cent of our GDP and roughly equal to total foreign direct investment.

“That is not charity. This is why we are also championing free movement across Africa because mobility is a competitive advantage in a world where human capital is the most precious resource. Let skills and ideas flow as freely as goods and capital, and prosperity will follow.”

Relying further on the Nigerian situation, the vice-president maintained that the experience had been shaped by a simple lesson, that “prosperity is not imported; it is built”, adding that the nation has “seen the prosperity paradox up close”.

“Markets and talent exist, yet resilience remains thin until demand is translated into domestic capability. This means firms that produce, meet standards, and compete globally. Wealth given from outside is fragile. Wealth created from within is enduring.

“Nigeria’s own market of over 200 million people has taught us that latent demand means little unless we cultivate local supply. Only by building domestic productive capacity can we convert our population and natural endowments into real, resilient wealth. Prosperity cannot be parachuted in – it must be homegrown and earned,” Shettima said.

He welcomed the vision of the Accra Reset, describing the initiative as a bold reimagining of Africa’s shared future built through African-led cooperation, and rooted in sovereignty and self-definition.

On what Nigeria is bringing to the discussion at the Accra Reset, Shettima said: “In the realm of health-industrial capability, we have begun treating health security not only as a social obligation but as an industrial value chain. This  spans manufacturing, diagnostics, logistics, standards and procurement.

“Through the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PUHVAC), inaugurated in October 2023, we are coordinating reforms and investment to expand local production and strengthen quality systems. This approach resonates with a broader African aspiration: building our own vaccine and medicine capacity to secure what I call health sovereignty.”

The vice-president further described the Accra Reset Initiative as a call to action as well as a call to reset the mindset of the African nation “from dependency to dignity, from aid to investment, from rhetoric to results”.

“It is a call to prosper together. And I am confident that if we answer this call, the world will witness an African boom built not on the sands of commodity cycles, but on the bedrock of innovation, industry, and interdependence,” he further stated.

Earlier, President John Mahama of Ghana, who applauded the commitment and presence of Vice-President Shettima and other leaders at the forum, decried the existing relationship between African countries and the global north, noting that bilateral relations among nations have become transactional at the detriment of Africa’s genuine transformation.

According to him, many states and non-state actors are acting unilaterally in pursuing their own national agenda and parochial interests, hence Africa remains trapped in cycles of conflict and multidimensional poverty, striving on handouts and humanitarian assistance from the developed world.

He said the introduction of the Accra Reset Initiative at the last United Nations General Assembly in New York was not another declaration or a wish list, but a practical answer to a question millions of young Africans are asking about the continent’s future and response in changing global order.

Urging synergy and cooperation among African leaders, Mahama said: “Though no specific name has been coined for the new global system that will emerge, Africa intends to be at the table in determining what that new global order will look like.”

On his part, former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, dwelled on what Africa requires to take its rightful place in the comity of nations given the “new age of disruption, uncertainty and unpredictability”.

He warned that: “As the world is reorganising, with supply chains withdrawn, security and economics fused, and the old development architecture struggling, countries that are not organised for negotiation and execution do not merely fall behind; they become bargaining chips.

“The Accra Reset Initiative has come to inspire leaders to stop complaining about the system that has changed or is changing, and to build a way through it.”

On the marginalisation of Africa in value addition and technology, Obasanjo said: “Let us be clear: sovereignty is not a flag to be waved about at international forums. It is discipline and the ability to make choices and carry them through.

“Sovereignty is also the ability to negotiate firmly, coordinate regionally, mobilise capital, incentivises, resources and implement at a scale that will lead to sustainable development.  If you cannot coordinate, you will be divided.”

Speaking in the same vein, former Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo noted that the essence of the forum is to galvanise support for governments in Africa to rethink their strategies for transforming economies and address the numerous challenges confronting the continent.