Chairman, Board of Directors and Advisory Board, Africa Private Sector Summit (APSS), Prof Kingsley Moghalu, has said Africa’s 2024 elections remain opportunity for the continent to produce leaders that could foster enabling business environment.
The economist, in a statement, yesterday in Lagos, made the observation in Accra, Ghana. He said: “The year 2024 will be the year of elections around the world. No less than 50 countries will hold ballot contests.
“In Africa, 15 countries, from Senegal in February to South Africa in December, will hold elections that will determine the destinies of 300 million people.
“We, in the APSS, urge all African leaders and aspiring leaders to make democracy a true opportunity for prosperity for the continent’s 1.3 billion people.”
Speaking further on APSS and the Private Sector Bill of Rights, Moghalu, a former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stressed the need to leverage the private sector’s ability to drive trade and investment on the continent.
The don continued: “This is why we are advocating the adoption of a Charter on Private Sector Bill of Rights (PSBoR) that facilitates the emergence of an enabling environment for trade and investment in Africa.
“This is an accompanying instrument to the existing Regional Economic Commissions (RECs) and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) protocols by governments of all African countries and the African Union.
“This will contribute to actualising the vision of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 – the Africa we want, thus creating prosperity for Africans through intra-African trade.”
According to him, considering the potential of the AfCFTA (which has been ratified by 47 African countries as of December 2023) to lift 30 million people out of poverty and boost the continent’s income by $450 billion by 2035, the APSS believes that businesses and the private sector, as the primary drivers of wealth creation, needs to be empowered.
He said businesses must be enabled with a supportive environment to get on with this natural task. Moghalu noted that the primary purpose of every government in developing countries should be to lift the quality of life. He said this could be achieved by enabling optimal conversion of natural resources for a marked increase in their productive wealth.
The chairman said PSBoR outlined 24 specific rights that all governments in Africa should adopt to support businesses.These rights, he added, include peace, security and stability for a productive business environment and a functional legal system that guarantees sanctity of contracts and timely resolution of commercial and trade disputes.
“Efficient and fair tax rules that avoid multiple taxation, as well as equal treatment and equal opportunity for market competition.
“Consultation with the private sector on policy, laws and regulation prior to enactment, timely and efficient processing of imports and cargoes as well as a functional educational system that meets the skill-set demands of the private sector.”
He hinted that APSS was working along with partners, including the Pan-African Chamber of Commerce (PACCI), with support of the AfCFTA secretariat and Africa Business Council (AfBC) to achieve the goal.
Moghalu said the move was to actualise adoption of the Private Sector Bill of Rights by the Heads of State and Government of the African Union in 2025.
