Guardian

IT is a big annual interface between (first world) Japan and third world, Africa. In a sense, that old Asian tiger is in some kind of alliance with the countries mostly in the south of the hemisphere, to see if there can be some coaching on how to exit underdevelopment.

African leaders take pride in attending. This year’s event had as much as 52 African countries, the United Nations Agencies as well as so-called development partners in attendance. Japan has even tried to give it a near global ownership as it is currently now co-organised by the United Nations  (UN), World Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as well as the African Union Commission (AUC).

Nigeria’s delegation led by vice president Nnamadi Sambo and consisting of ministers led by foreign affairs minister, ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru sought to build on the gains of the last convergence, when Nigeria laboured to convey to the summiteers that the domestic environment was conducive for foreign investments.

Can Nigeria start counting gains? Not so early. What should be of concern is whether the human development indices coming out from Nigeria (and most African countries who like to make the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) another form of World Economic Forum), point to something positive on account of these exchanges, TICAD in TICAD out!

Development cannot be measured by the amount of grants received by countries who would rather like to appear beggarly to certain other countries all of the time.

And so it happened last week that the fifth TICAD held this time in Yokohama, with leaders from Africa and other parts of the globe brainstorming essentially on how the rest of the industrialized world could help Africa boost its social and economic development through the good old route-industrialisation.

Patron host Japan again did as many from Africa had expected. The country committed over $32 billion into Africa’s transformation for the coming five years, apparently the biggest amount of money the country has ever contributed to the continent since TICAD’s birth over 20 years ago.

Leaders from Africa and other parts of the world discussed how Japan and the rest of the industrial world could help the continent boost its social and economic development through industrialization. What characterised the conference were the impassioned calls by delegates for a new form of economic interaction between Africa and Japan, away from aid and just mere trade, to help the continent industrialise. In other words, the assembly was prevailed upon to recommend new modalities of ensuring that Africa industrialises after failure by aid and trade to do so.

Before Nigeria opened up on what she has been doing back home and what she needs from the organ, Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete painted what looked like a rough outline of the current realities on ground in his country, as well as in many African states telling the conference that more trust in public-private partnerships was needed and that it was high time Japanese investors capitalised on the fact that Africa’s business environment is improving.

“Many African countries have put in place measures to fight corruption, security has improved and conflict within and between countries is relatively down. The continent is much more secure for our people and for investors,” he said. But that was not the only assurance intended to lure Japanese businesses to “extend their wings” into Tanzania and the rest of Africa.

The African people have for decades got acquainted with and consumed a wide range of Japanese goods, notably automobiles, farm equipment and electronics. But irritatingly, there is still not a match in investment activities, nor some reciprocity in terms of goods of equivalent value being exported from the continent to Japan.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who is current chairman of the AU and doubled as TICAD co-chair, hammered this point home when he declared that the continent already has an industrialisation blueprint seeking to cast away the image of Africa as a commodity exporter and importer of finished goods.

Pointedly, he explained that there is now some level of unease revolving around the fact that while Africa is looking forward to seeing effective transformation of its economy into manufacturing with the backing of TICAD, “little has been done towards realising that noble goal”

Investing in agriculture and infrastructure appeared to be Nigeria’s mantra in Yokohama. Calling for increased trade ties between Japan and Africa to sustain economic development and growth,  Sambo noted that if Africa was to sustain her recent economic development, the expansion of trade within the continent and with the rest of the world, including Japan, was critical.

He said “While the value of total two-way trade between Japan and ASEAN countries was over $205 billion (about N31.98 trn) in 2012, trade between Japan and Africa was a paltry $29 billion (about N4.52 trn) in the same period...to enhance the level of trade between Africa and Japan, therefore, there is an urgent need to promote private sector interface between Japan and Africa under TICAD.”

Stressing that it is a momentous period for African citizens, Sambo heaped customary praise on Japan for the country’s commitment to Africa and went on to ask Japan under TICAD to sustain her partnership with the African continent by addressing Africa’s infrastructure and employment deficit.

He said this could be done through increased investment, repositioning of agriculture as a business enterprise, youth and women empowerment as well as human capital development.

He added that it could be achieved by engaging and interacting with Africa’ s private sector through purposeful trade missions to the continent.

“We believe that addressing the infrastructure gaps, including sustained private investment in infrastructural development will unleash the potentials for future growth of the continent and contribute to the mutual benefits of the TICAD aspirations. Skills acquisition and transfer of technology were essential avenues to create jobs for Africa’s teeming population and also fast-track the transition from informal to formal economic environment”

When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe responded to Nigeria’s submissions, he stressed that Japan will continue to support Africa, while focusing on partnership between the public and private sectors. The submission made by Nigeria had hinged on the fact that the country is currently putting enormous efforts in developments in the fields of electricity, transport, health and ICT. Apart from pledging to cooperate in promoting investment from Japanese companies, Prime Minister Abe maintained that Japan commends efforts made by the Government of Nigeria towards the eradication of polio.

What should Nigeria be doing at such gatherings? International relations expert Dr. Nwangu Okeimiri said in an interview with the Guardian that the TICAD business has also been “infested by too much talk”

“Nobody has said anything about transfer of technology. And this has been a major expectation for us. Also, there is technological wealth hidden in Africa. Countries should go there and put specific challenges on the table.”

Zimbabwean President, old man Robert Mugabe also showed up in Yokohama, saying that foreign firms operating on the continent are not willing to pass on to African countries the technology and expertise that would facilitate the process, thereby, thwarting Africa’s move towards industrialisation.

Observers think that the most touching observation came from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank President Kim Yong Jim, who both submitted that it was appalling seeing that Africa’s growth has been more impressive for years now and yet poverty is still prevalent.

Although the Yokohama Declaration 2013 and Action Plan 2013-2017 came with many sound resolutions on how African development can be fostered with foreign intervention, what happens in the next three years in the cooperation between Africa and Japan would determine the relevance of TICAD.