President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has issued a rallying call for Africa to pivot from decades of aid dependency and embrace a new era of self-reliance, while declaring that the era of free money is gone.
Speaking at the 14th Convocation Ceremony of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in Abuja on Friday, Adesina delivered a lecture titled “Advancing Africa’s Positioning within Global Development and Geopolitical Dynamics,” in which he urged the continent to reimagine its path to development in light of shifting global realities.
“The era of aid or free money is gone. Benevolence is not an asset class. African countries must now learn to develop via investment discipline. The old development models will no longer work,” Adesina declared.
Adesina highlighted several global developments reshaping the aid landscape, including the dismantling of the U.S. development aid agency and the rise of anti-aid sentiment across Europe.
He called on African leaders to build resilient economies based on trade, industrialization, and natural resource transformation.
He also stressed the urgent need to fully implement the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to boost intra-African trade.
“Produce local, buy local, trade more locally,” he charged.
Despite painting a stark picture of Africa’s current vulnerabilities, including restrictive immigration policies, undervaluation of natural capital, and the impacts of global tariff wars, Adesina positioned these as opportunities for Africa to assert itself in global economic dynamics.
“Forty-seven out of 54 African countries have been placed under higher U.S. tariffs. This will reduce exports, shrink foreign exchange earnings, weaken currencies, and drive up inflation,” he warned.
