By Juliet Umeh

Former President of the African Export-Import Bank, Afreximbank, Prof. Benedict Oramah, has urged African governments and businesses to pursue a development model rooted in the continent’s priorities, realities and ambitions.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of African Energy Week 2026 in Cape Town, South Africa, Oramah said Africa should not simply adopt international models, but should shape policies that respond to its own needs.

He said: “African best practice has nothing to do with international best practice. If they find themselves in alignment, so be it. But we cannot follow international best practice.

“We must follow our own best practice that is rooted in our priorities, our realities and our ambitions.”

Oramah said the shift away from globalisation presented an opportunity for Africa to attract manufacturing and create more value at home, but warned that the continent would need to act collectively to benefit.

“There is no continent more prepared for friendshoring and nearshoring than Africa today. That is where manufacturing can happen,” he said.

He said the global economy had been shaped after the Second World War by institutions and agreements that formed the foundations of globalisation. However, he said, globalisation had been practised “in an incomplete way”, easing the movement of goods and capital while restricting the movement of people.

“Instead of labour moving from the labour-abundant economies of Asia and Africa to countries that had the capital stock to manufacture, capital followed high returns to those economies to establish industries,” he said.

Oramah said the growth of manufacturing in Asia and its decline in the United States and Europe contributed to economic discontent and a backlash against globalisation.

He said Africa was better placed today than it had been in the 1990s, when fragmented markets and weaker financial institutions constrained the continent’s ability to respond to changes in the global economy.

“Today, all of that has changed, African multilateral financial institutions now had an asset base of more than $100 billion, the African Continental Free Trade Area had been signed and African-owned commercial banks had grown.

“But we have to seize the moment. If we don’t do something, if we don’t realise that we must all, whether in government or banking, regard ourselves as economic freedom fighters, just like our fathers regarded themselves as political freedom fighters, then we will not take it together.”

He urged African countries to look beyond national borders and work together to advance their economic interests.

“We must forget our borders; the effort would require capital and a shared commitment to Africa’s development. Commercial banks to take a stronger role in financing development, saying they should help create capital for businesses and industries while remaining profitable.

“Every commercial bank should not see itself as just a commercial bank. They have to start development commercial banking to do those things that will bring development. You cannot be talking of commercial banking where there is no capital. You have to help create capital in an innovative way that enables you still to make profit for your stakeholders.”