The flagbearer for the National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama has called on African leaders to explore several opportunities that will make the continent self-reliant.
Mahama said this while answering questions in a panel discussion during the 2nd edition of the Afro-heritage Conference and Awards in Lagos, Nigeria, on Saturday April 13.
According to the former President, there are many many opportunities that African leaders can take advantage of in order to be self-reliant.
“I think we must be more self-reliant as a continent, there are many opportunities that we can take advantage of. I was looking at a figure that we will give in our budget statements which is Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“The question we must ask ourselves is, what percentage of that GDP is indigenous? What percentage of that GDP is African? when we mark that percentage which is called the Gross National Product, not Gross Domestic Product, we will be able to see how well our people are doing and what the progress is,” The flagbearer said.
Concerns regarding African governments’ targeting of companies owned by their political rivals were also voiced by Mr. Mahama.
He claimed that governments targeting companies founded by their political rivals is a contributing factor in the lack of wealthy African companies.
He has therefore pleaded with the African government to refrain from taking actions that might bankrupt companies.
“We must not be afraid for our business people to succeed, we must not be afraid to have rich Africans.
“Governments must not come and think that because some other governments created this business, then we must kill it. That’s part of the problem that we have. We must believe in ourselves, in adversity comes opportunities,” he added.