‘Adopt industrialisation to improve living standards’

African leaders have been urged to adopt industrialisation to foster transformation and improve living standards of their people.

According to the Commissioner for the Economic Affairs of the African Union Commission (AUC), Dr Anthony Mothae Maruping, industrialisation was the core of the transformation that the continent had always longed for.

“We’re tired of raw materials being repatriated by foreigners every now and then, which go a long way to affect the economies of the various African countries. Our leaders must therefore sit up and act swiftly,” he said.

Dr Maruping was speaking at the opening ceremony of the fourth Congress of African Economists in Accra.

The three-day programme, on the theme: “Industrial policy and economic performance in Africa,” would discuss how to develop the capacities and skills for Africa’s industrial policy and structural transformation and the needed institutional and regulatory framework for industrial policy in Afr