Africa’s Future Lies in Its Youth, Empower Them to Thrive – Arunma Oteh

What are your key takeaways from the 32nd Afreximbank Annual Meetings in Abuja?

The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) Initiative is one example of how Afreximbank has distinguished itself. While its traditional role is being an import and export bank, so a trade bank, one of the things that Afreximbank has done is addressing the obstacles to trade on the African continent. Several of their initiatives have been game-changing, such as the PAPSS. The idea is to make sure that transactions in African currencies can be done more smoothly and cheaply. Transactions with foreign currencies are similar. The expectation is that about $5 billion could be saved through the initiative. Bringing Africa together and catalysing intra-African trade is very significant for me.

Also significant is the fact that the African Union had also said it wanted the Diaspora to be the sixth region of Africa. Under Prof. Benedict Oramah’s leadership, they have been able to make that a reality. Today, there are at least 10 of the Caribbean countries that are members, shareholders of the Afreximbank. The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System Initiative is also going to cover the Caribbean region. So, connecting Africa and the Caribbean region is phenomenal because these people feel the identity of being Africans or having their lineage to Africa. Beyond that, our private sector leaders, can also then do business in the Caribbean countries. This is an institution that thinks outside the box, focusing on how we can scale intra-African trade, and how it can support African entities to do more, whether small and medium-scale enterprises or large enterprises.

The (PAPSS) initiative really shows you what happens when a leader understands how to make a difference in his role. In the last 10 years, Prof. Oramah has led this organization in a way that is exemplary. As I said, they’ve been thinking outside the box, but they’ve also allowed Africa to take responsibility for its future. So, in my view, what they’ve done is empower African governments, businesses, and people to be in the driver’s seat. In his own remarks, he talked about Africa best practice, essentially, what works for Africa, because every nation, every continent has done what works for it.

The annual meetings particularly this 32nd annual meeting, is evidence of what the possibilities are. The support given to Nigeria and that other countries have received in various areas, the connections between the various regions are also very significant. This is exciting and inspiring. It’s also something others should emulate, because Africa needs the capital. Africa provides many opportunities. We have a lot of natural resources. 90% of the world’s platinum reserves are in Africa. 60- 70% of diamonds are cobalt is in Africa. So, it’s very important that we truly take the lead in driving the continent’s future.

About 60 or 70% of Africa’s population is below 30. So, it is extremely important to create an enabling environment to support young people so that they can unleash their potential, an environment that can build more businesses, and create more entrepreneurs. I’m also fascinated by the specialist hospital, the African Medical Centre of Excellence, which was launched recently in Nigeria, with the idea of having best practice to focus on very challenging diseases like cancer, heart diseases, and others.

He (Prof. Oramah) is a leader who thinks outside the box. He also has a cohesive team, a great board and shareholders who connect and align with his vision, and who have been extremely supportive over the last 10 years in enabling him to execute and deliver. So those are some of my takeaways. It has been absolutely amazing, and I’m glad that Nigeria hosted this 32nd annual meeting. I’m glad that the President, ministers, and others were very much involved and associated with this programme. And, of course, I’m very happy that Prof Oramah was conferred with one of the most important national honours, the GCON. It’s well-deserved for the great things that he has done.

What do you think will be the role of PAPSS in Africa having a single currency in the future?

I think that perhaps it is a precursor to us thinking of having a single currency. Why not? Scale is always important. I remember pre the European Monetary Union. if you went to Spain, you used Spanish peseta, you went to Germany, you used the Deutsche Mark and in France, you used French francs. But today people don’t even remember because everybody uses the Euro.

My own perspective is that the single currency is an outcome, because you need to think about harmonizing your country’s macroeconomic policies because it impacts inflation and other aspects. In Africa, in the French ECOWAS region, where they use the CFA, they’ve had to harmonize a lot of their macroeconomic policies. There are lots of things that needs to be done and what PAPSS can provide is that data and guidance towards that journey as to how we can get to a single currency.

During the meetings, you moderated the session on Charting the Path for Africa’s Economic Breakthrough Under Global Uncertainties. What do you think of Africa’s future?

My view, and it’s not an unrealistic view, is that this is Africa’s time. And the reason I say this is Africa’s time is that some of the basic building blocks that affect nations, issues around harmony, so the geopolitics the other countries are focusing on some of the internal challenges or some of the issues affecting the world.

And here we can focus on the fact that we have what I think is the greatest asset in the world, which is our young people. As I said earlier either 60-70% of Africans are under the age of 30. Young people are innovative, they’re creative, they can adopt technology very easily. So, what’s happening in the creative sector, in technology, the adoption in Africa can be fast if we focus on that. But there are things that we need to do that will support us claiming the century. And some of those things include building infrastructure in ways that makes it easy for people not to have to worry about providing their own power or water, which is still what we do in this country. And we have solar, hydro (power) and fossil fuel; we’ve got all that it takes. Governments should focus on providing an operating environment that allows people to do their best. If you just create the enabling environment, they’ll do their best.

I also think that a focus on education is absolutely important. During the session, the conversation that I had with Dr. (Kishore) Mahbubani, one of the things I wanted to talk to him about is the example he gave us to some of why China has done really well. And he gave data, and I’ll share that data with you later, around that China went from I think less than 20% in terms of people graduating from tertiary education to over 50%. And you can see the linkage between that and how well China has done. So, we need to go back to investing in the human capital sectors in health and education and we have the benefit of leveraging modern tools like AI and all of that to make sure that we reach as many places as possible. Prof. Mahbubani also talked about this issue Asia, and how they just tackled the rural areas, and ensured that things were available to every part of their society. I think our leaders need to be much more ambitious for the nation, for their countries.

Also, the cost of capital is a big issue. The capital markets is my area (of specialisation). I think that we need to focus on providing reasonable long-term capital. Every country that has developed, like the United State of America, has developed on the basis of long-term capital that is cheap. Developing our capital markets, developing our financial sector, is extremely important. I also think that some of what the business leaders like Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Mr Tony Elumelu said about the value of the private sector is extremely important; which is supporting the private sector so that they can excel. They know how to take and manage risk.

I think there’s work for Government to do. There’s also work for multilateral agencies like the Afreximbank to do. Partnerships are important. Since we have the African Finance Corporation and other agencies, like the African Development Bank, they can partner and scale the resources that they provide. There’s also work for private sector to do. But as I always say, I everything falls and rises on leadership. And we need to have the best leaders in the private and public sectors. And my best leaders are leaders who exhibit character, compassion, competence and courage.

Happy 60^th birthday once again. What are you most fulfilled about and what should we expect from you in the near future?

I’m grateful for the opportunity that God has given me to serve in various capacities. And in each of those capacities, my focus has always been, what difference can I make? I had a father who told us that to whom much is given, much is expected. The question I always ask myself when I was treasurer of the World Bank, is that, did I make an outsized difference? And there were a number of innovations that were made in my time.  One of them was related to making sure that if we ever had a pandemic like Ebola, that we would never have the reverse – the unfolding of the development gains, that people will not die. So, we set up the pandemic bond, a blockchain bond, for that purpose. We did all kinds of innovations that really made sure that I expanded the reach and support that the World Bank could provide. I am grateful also for my time as the head (Director General) of the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) in Nigeria.

For me, I grew up fortunate because, although my parents were civil servants, they invested some of their little income in the stock market. They were not experts, but they invested a Unilever, Nestle and others, and some of the dividends and capital gains paid for my education.

One of the things that I’ve been very clear about, and I continue to work on, is making sure that people understand that saving money investing is not something you do when you get rich; it’s something that you do all the time. So financial literacy is a big area for me. I’m hoping to set up a foundation this year that will focus on those kinds of issues, on technology, financial literacy and other areas. I’m also hoping to present my book in October. Watch the space and we’ll continue the conversation at that time.

What’s your word to young people in Africa who look up to you?

My word to them is: be the best version of yourself, and that best version of yourself is to be somebody of character. Don’t do what is exigent, do what is right. Focus on excellence. Excellence doesn’t know nations, tribes, or whether you’re a woman or a man. You have to be courageous, take risks when you’re younger because it gets more difficult as you get older. Make sure that you care for people, and that every time you do something, that you’re focused on the positive impact you may have on others.