BEYOND RHETORICS: UNLOCKING THE POTENTIALS OF AFRICAN INDUSTRIALISATION

Abstract

Industrialisation is largely acknowledged as one of the drivers of development, economic progress and social welfare. In most African countries however, the drive towards industrialisation has largely been inchoate, and driven by rhetoric without commensurate proactive actions. Given the evidence of woeful state of industrialisation in Africa, the often trumpeted industrial policies do not seem propitious for the promotion of industrial activities. The paper rejects the official platitudes that have been mouthed by policy makers as based on a faulty premise. The paper appreciates the stumbling blocks and dilemmas that African countries face as global latecomers to contemporary industrialisation, but calls for a paradigm shift in policy, a comprehensive redesigning of industrial policies, emplacement of pragmatic enablers and systematic implementation of these policies, that will provide new options and route to industrialisation.