Why Africa must transit from aspiration to implementation, by legal expert Omorogbe
A legal scholar and energy expert, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, SAN, has underscored that the highly anticipated “African Century” will only be realised when the continent transitions from aspiration to implementation.
A legal scholar and energy expert, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, SAN, has underscored that the highly anticipated "African Century" will only be realised when the continent transitions from aspiration to implementation.
He spoke while delivering a presentation titled: "The Power of Union: Nigeria, Integrated Markets and the African Century" as part of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) Foreign Policy Lecture Series.
The lecture was attended by eminent personalities, including a distinguished Nigerian diplomat and global statesman who served as the third Commonwealth Secretary-General (1990–2000), Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Prof. Adele Jinadu, Senator Daisy Danjuma, the Consul-General of the UAE, HE Salem Aljaberi, Prof. Femi Otubanjo, who chaired the lecture, and Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Prof. Eghosa Emmanuel Osaghae.
Prof. Omorogbe noted that the African Century is the possibility of converting the continent's population, resources, markets, and creativity into economic power and shared prosperity.
However, she warned that this is neither a prophecy nor a guaranteed fact, but rather a challenge to ensure Africa's time is not wasted.
To spearhead this continental transformation, Prof. Omorogbe asserted that Nigeria must move beyond relying on its size and potential, which do not automatically equate to leadership or strategy. She outlined five pivotal roles Nigeria must embrace to become a true continental anchor and they include: Nigeria must produce for Africa, rather than merely consuming from the world; the nation must utilise gas, power, refining, LPG, petrochemicals, and renewables as strategic continental instruments; Nigeria should use its continental banking footprints and hosted institutions to finance integration; the country must shape contracts, standards, arbitration, investment rules, and energy regulation across the continent and Nigerian foreign policy must shift from liberation diplomacy to implementation-driven integration diplomacy.
Praising the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as a vehicle for structural transformation, Prof. Omorogbe stressed that it is about much more than just selling goods across borders; it is about creating a market that supports industrialisation and value chains.
She highlighted energy as the ultimate engine of this integration, reminding policymakers that "trade agreements do not power factories" and "tariff schedules do not refrigerate food". Addressing Nigeria's domestic challenges, she pointed out the paradox of a resource-rich nation where roughly four in 10 Nigerians still lacked access to electricity in 2023, emphasising that development is a pipe-dream without affordable energy.
The don emphasised that a country cannot successfully export integration if it has not built integration at home.
Prof. Omorogbe called for urgent domestic reforms to combat insecurity, high logistics costs, port congestion, and unreliable electricity.
To move from declarations to delivery, she presented a 10-point action agenda for Nigeria, which includes making the AfCFTA a national strategy, rather than just a trade agreement or a single ministry's file; aligning gas, power, renewables, and refining with a regional energy diplomacy strategy; pursuing electricity reform with regional ambition to ensure state markets strengthen the national system; modernising ports and borders and integrating payment systems to facilitate local-currency trade as a foundation of commercial integration.
"The African Century will not arrive because we have declared it.
"Nigeria needs to move from size to strategy, from potential to productivity, from declarations to delivery, and from national ambition to continental purpose," Prof. Omorogbe declared.
