How Inter-parliamentary synergies can sustain Africa amidst global economic challenges – Kalu

By Christiana Ekpa

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu on Monday said that for Africa to overcome global economic challenges, the continent needs to reduce dependency on the global north, utilize foreign exchange judiciously, and implement robust industrial policies.
To achieve this, he said that the continent should ride on the crest of the current global economic volatility to attain the inherent economic sovereignty.
Kalu stated this while delivering a paper on Parliamentary Spotlight, at the 2024 Africa Economic Summit, themed: “Africa: Riding the Crest of Global Economic and Political Volatility” in Abuja.
Represented by the House Spokesperson, Hon. Akin Rotimi Jr, the Deputy Speaker explained that the parliamentary spotlight explores how African nations, through their parliaments, can craft legislative solutions to navigate the current global complexities.
He opined that in the face of intensifying global economic and political volatility, Africa must strive for a fairer and less exploitative international order and harness its own legislative prowess to ensure the continent’s prosperity, sovereignty, and economic resilience.
Referencing Morocco’s industrial policy, Kalu said that the country has shifted to focus on integrating into global value chains (GVCs) and gaining a competitive advantage in the automotive sector.
He described it as a good industrial policy, saying that the Nigerian parliament will look into specific lawmaking approaches that can be adopted by the respective parliaments of African countries, including the African Union’s Pan-African Parliament.
Kalu said, “Countries reliant on imports from the global North face significant pressure to acquire large amounts of foreign currency to finance these imports. This often necessitates focusing on producing exports for Western markets or accruing external debt. However, the disparity in value between African exports and Western goods results in substantial net transfers of goods from Africa to the West (Europe & North America). This dynamic urgently needs to be addressed. This pattern of dependency on material and technical resources is further exacerbated by the “transfer problem,” where African countries must continually earn foreign currency to facilitate these transactions.