Bukola Saraki, a former president of the Nigerian Senate, has called on African countries to take advantage of the United States’ withdrawal from international development aid as a chance to restructure their ties with donor states.
According to Naija News, Saraki made the request at a panel discussion titled “Global Partnerships Without U.S. Leadership” during the Global Strategic Advisory Group (GSAG) meeting, which took place at Villa La Collina on the shores of Lake Como.
He cautioned that it would be a lost chance to merely try to plug the funding gap left by Washington.
He urged the continent to create a development architecture that is more successful and sustainable than the one it will replace, saying that “the challenge is not simply how to fill the gap left by a retreating United States.”
Saraki cited data from UNAIDS and the African Development Bank, pointing out that if funding gaps continue, up to 6.3 million more HIV infections could occur over the next five years. Additionally, developing nations face an annual financing shortfall of between $15 billion and $18 billion as a direct result of the US aid cuts.
He said that civil society organizations that supported development delivery had lost support virtually overnight and that health supply chains had been disrupted.
Regarding trade, he criticized the continent’s ongoing reliance on exports of raw materials, pointing out that Nigeria supplies about 40% of the world’s raw shea nuts but only holds about 1% of the global market for shea products, while Africa produces more than 70% of the world’s cocoa but accounts for less than 5% of the $130 billion global chocolate market.
He also cited the difference in price between imported aluminum and exported bauxite as an illustration of value lost as a result of inadequate local processing.
The former Senate President was equally critical of the continent’s poor domestic revenue generation, pointing out that Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio is among the lowest in the world for an economy of its size at about 6%, while the OECD average is 34% and the Sub-Saharan African average is about 15.6%.
He described the opposition he saw at the time and recalled his own Senate experience advocating for transparent budget hearings and analysis of rising government revenues.
Saraki turned to Europe, stating that rather than merely asking the bloc to replace USAID assistance, he was urging them to adopt a “transformation model” based on long-term institutional partnerships, trade, and investment rather than short development project cycles.
He demanded that the EU-African trade arrangements be changed since, according to him, they now permit African raw resources to enter European markets while maintaining restrictions on African manufactured goods.
He did not spare African nations however, calling on them to safeguard democratic institutions, expedite the mobilization of domestic resources, and fully implement the African Continental Free Trade Area.
