AFRICA FOR AFRICANS
As Africans, if we are looking for well established continental institutions that bind our 54 countries together, we should look no further.
There is the African Union (AU) (pictured here) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. There is the AU Parliament in Johannesburg, South Africa. African Development Bank (AfDB) is in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) is in Cairo, Egypt. The newly established African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat is in Accra, Ghana. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.
Yet Africans today (from Algeria to Burundi, from Nigeria to Botswana, from South Africa to Burkina Faso, and From DR Congo to Mauritania) buy too little from themselves and sell too little to themselves.
Why?
May be we should start by understanding ourselves better in order to substantially increase the African cross-border trade being championed today AfCFTA Secretariat and Afreximbank (through its subsidiary, Pan African Payment and Settlement System, PAPSS).
Though Africa is seen principally as the home of Black people, it is also the major home of Arabs. There are more Arabs on our continent than there are in the Middle East. Ten out of the 22 Arab countries in the world are on our continent. The three most populous Arab countries in the world today are in Africa: Egypt, Algeria and Sudan. Africa is also a home of Europeans, especially in South Africa. If we treat White South Africa (with a population of 4.6million) as a country of its own, it would be the 30th most populous among the 51 countries of the entire Europe. And the island country of Mauritius (a bonafide member of AU) is peopled mainly by Indians (about 70%). The diversity of races and tribes on our continent is rich and truly amazing.
As we keep this conversation on AFRICA FOR AFRICANS on, take a look at what PAPSS already has in place since September 2021: www.papss.com. Look also at what Ecobank Group rolled out in June 2023: www.tradehub.ecobank.com.