The African Economic Congress (AEC) has urged African Governments to invest in home-made products as a means of fast-tracking development as post COVID-19 strategy to recovery.
The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AEC, Mrs Nancy Nnaji said this in a statement in Abuja on Monday.
Nnaji said this suggestion was part of recommendations of various speakers at the just concluded 2nd Edition of the annual conference.
The meeting had the theme: “Post COVID-19: Africa in the New Economic Order”.
She said the conference had also recommended that Africans should prioritise research as a tool for sustainable development on the continent.
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According to her, Africa is advised to move for self-reliance in the coming years, by harnessing and leveraging its abundant resources both human and materials to drive economic transformation.
She said the meeting noted that agricultural sector is key to Africa’s economic transformation and by developing it; abundant resources could be provided to finance the 2063 African Union agenda to curb unemployment, food shortage, malnutrition and extreme poverty.
The founder stated that “Africans are also enjoined to be educated on the technical know-how to improve agriculture on the continent.
“Governments must increase the yearly allocated budget for agriculture and promote private sector engagement to avoid inadequate funding.
“To increase the level of value addition of food exports, there must be an investment in innovation and technology around local processing and infrastructure building.
“There is need for digital literacy skills, critical thinking skills, technical skills, soft skills, entrepreneurial skills, and certification programmes should be incorporated into the learning curriculum in all levels of education to produce self-reliant and employable graduates,” she added.
Nnaji also added that the conference advised on the need to improve broadband connectivity to support interactive online learning and teaching.