Addis Ababa, October 25, 2026 (FMC) — Former African leaders and senior officials have identified faster continental integration, greater investment in technological capabilities and stronger African institutions as essential to advancing the continent’s economic sovereignty, collective security and global influence.
The assessment came during a high-level panel at the 12th Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa in Bahir Dar, where former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and Namibia’s National Planning Commission Director-General Kaire Mbuende discussed pathways to Africa’s geopolitical and economic transformation.
Hailemariam emphasized that delays in implementing existing continental agreements leave African countries vulnerable to external pressures and proxy conflicts, stressing the need to translate commitments into tangible action.
“For us African integration is all about an economic shield,” he said, stressing that closer economic cooperation would strengthen the continent’s ability to withstand external pressures.
“We cannot shield ourselves from the pressure that’s coming from outside if we don’t integrate. Second, our integration is geopolitical power. That’s why I say accelerated integration is essential and critical for us,” he added.
Addressing competition over Africa’s critical minerals and resources needed for the energy transition, which he described as “opportunity minerals,” Hailemariam warned that rivalry over these strategic assets could fuel instability unless African countries coordinate their resource policies and strengthen cooperation among producers. He cited the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as an example of the risks facing resource-rich regions.
He also expressed concern over delays in implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), arguing that political commitments must be matched by concrete delivery. Drawing on his role as chair of TradeMark Africa, he challenged governments to move beyond signing agreements to realizing their intended benefits.
“There is political will in terms of signing treaties, but there is no political will in terms of delivering them,” he stated.
Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan stressed that Africa cannot achieve genuine economic independence while relying heavily on foreign technology, expertise and industrial inputs.
Illustrating the challenge, Jonathan said that even relatively minor technical repairs to infrastructure could require imported components and foreign specialists, leaving African economies dependent on external capabilities.
“What is there for Africa is to consume the products, and that is not industrialization,” he said.
“We can’t talk about economic sovereignty without mentioning technological sovereignty,” he added.
Jonathan pointed to the experiences of India, South Korea and Singapore, emphasizing the role of research-intensive universities in developing domestic expertise, driving innovation and supporting industrial growth.
He highlighted the need for African governments to invest strategically in specialized higher education and research institutions capable of producing the knowledge, technologies and skilled professionals needed to support homegrown industries. He also cautioned against borrowing primarily to finance consumption, advocating greater investment in productive assets, research and domestic capacity building.
Namibia’s National Planning Commission Director-General Kaire Mbuende stressed that Africa’s collective strength depends on strong national institutions, effective regional cooperation and capable continent-wide organizations.
“There cannot be a strong Africa without strong African countries, without strong regions, and without a strong continent-wide organization,” Mbuende said.
He described economic sovereignty as the ability to control and use natural resources for the benefit of African populations through industrialization, poverty reduction and job creation.
“Economic sovereignty is first of all a question of control over our natural resources to use them for the benefit of our people through industrialization, reducing poverty, and ending unemployment,” he stated.
Mbuende also emphasized stronger domestic capacity and resource mobilization, renewed efforts to achieve the objectives of the Abuja Treaty and the strengthening of long-proposed continental institutions.
He further underscored the need for reforms to global governance and closer cooperation among countries of the Global South to secure fairer financing conditions, noting concerns over the high borrowing costs faced by African countries despite their relatively low default rates.
The panelists emphasized that Africa’s economic transformation depends on turning existing agreements, natural resources and development strategies into tangible results through faster implementation, technological investment, stronger institutions and coordinated management of the continent’s resources.