The President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, says Africa’s development can no longer hinge on free money and donor aid, considering the latest dynamics in international geopolitics.
Dr. Adesina says the era of “free money” is over, and hence, leaders on the continent must depart from the old development models where the West played a very integral role.
The President of AfDB made this bold call when he delivered a lecture at the 14th Convocation Ceremony of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in Abuja last week.
Speaking on the theme, “Advancing Africa’s Positioning within Global Development and Geopolitical Dynamics,” Dr. Adesina did not mince words as he critiqued Africa’s longstanding reliance on development aid as a pillar of national budgets and economic planning.
He says the recent discontinuation of USAID and the imposition of reciprocal tariffs by the US government to trading partners is a wake-up call, signalling that the continent must now shift from dependency on aid to self-driven investment and economic discipline.
“The recent dismantling of the official development aid agency in the US, and similar anti-aid measures in other parts of Europe, means that the old development models that Africa has always relied on will no longer work,” he said.
“The era of aid or free money is gone. African countries must now learn to develop via investment discipline. Countries can no longer rely on aid for growth or count it as part of government revenue, as has been the case for decades. Benevolence is not an asset class.”
He is convinced that with the right policies and investments, Africa can chart its own path to socio-economic development and wean itself from the era of dependency.
The President of AfDB’s declaration comes at a time when there has been a significant cut back in aid to less developed economies. He believes African leaders must take greater fiscal responsibility across the continent.
With this cutback in funding support and unfavourable global geopolitics, he wants a seismic shift in the development discourse. A trajectory that urges African nations to take ownership of their destinies and build resilient economies rooted in productivity, innovation, and private sector growth.
This new wave echoes past efforts by some African nations to chart a more independent path. Notably, Ghana launched the “Ghana Beyond Aid” agenda under the previous administration, aiming to wean the country off foreign assistance and build a self-reliant economy.
However, the bold initiative struggled to gain traction, with successive economic challenges and fiscal imbalances forcing the government to continue seeking donor support and, more recently, an IMF bailout. The failure to fully implement the agenda underscores the difficulty many African nations face in transitioning from aid dependency to economic sovereignty.
It is quite unclear how African leaders will embrace this new call amid the development in international geopolitics and the cutback in aid.
