Contributions of Dr. Sam Nujoma in Trade, Business Development Not Well Documented, Says NNCC

By: Michael Mike

The President of the Nigeria-Namibia Chamber of Commerce (NNCC), Mr. Ben Gbade Ojo has lamented that the contributions of the late Namibian President, Dr. Sam Nujoma to trade and business development have not been very adequately acknowledged nor documented as his exploits in politics.

Speaking at a memorial service for the late leader at the Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja, Ojo said: “Those of us in the business world will never forget the inspiration and drive that Dr. Nujoma brought to the development of business and intra-African trade.”

He added that: “I was specially blessed with the honour of having several memorable interactions with Dr. Nujoma and will never forget his fatherly concern and admonition for us to do everything possible to grow trade among African nations and African business entities. In his characteristic love for Africa’s development, Dr. Nujoma passionately pleaded and challenged us, as African businessmen and women, to work towards unlocking trade and investment opportunities among African nations.

“Dr. Nujoma saw trade as an important engine of economic growth and development in Africa and never ceased to emphasize that there are many regions and countries of the world that have been able to lift their people from poverty to prosperity through trade. In Africa however, he was saddened that trade has not served as a potent instrument for the achievement of rapid and sustainable economic growth and development.”

Ojo said: “Truly, currently, Intra-African trade (trade among African nations) stands at around 13% compared to approximately 60%, 40 %, 30% intra-regional trade that has been achieved by Europe, North America and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) respectively. Even if allowance is made for Africa’s unrecorded informal cross-border trade, the total level of intra-African trade is not likely to be more than 20%, which is still lower than that of other major regions of the world.”

He decried that: “That African countries do not trade much with each other has meant that they have been unable to fully harness the synergies and complementarities of their economies and take full advantage of the economies of scale and other benefits (such as income and employment generation) that greater market integration would have provided. There are cases where products and services could have been sourced competitively from other African countries but were procured from outside the continent.

“As Dr. Nujoma always taught us and as we learnt from him, enhancing intra-African trade presents a multitude of benefits. It fosters the evolution of regional value chains and catalyzes productivity and innovation. Intra-African trade also enhances economies of scale which means that as the scale of output goes up, average costs of production decline—at least up to a point.”

He added that: “While also supporting global trade, Dr. Nujoma was pained that Africa does the bulk of its trade with the outside world and the exports are heavily concentrated on primary commodities; and that the continent has been particularly vulnerable to external macroeconomic shocks and protectionist trade policies. He emphasized that boosting intra-African trade and deepening Africa’s market integration, by fostering competition among African countries would assist in enhancing their capacity and prepare them to compete more effectively on the global market.
And that is what Nigeria-Namibia Chamber of Commerce (NNCC), inspired by Dr. Nujoma, has painstakingly been promoting – boosting intra-African trade and deepening Africa’s market integration by fostering competition among African countries.”

The businessman said: “In my many cherished discussions with him, for he was my mentor, Dr. Nujoma saw Nigeria as a great African nation with potential for global leadership and remained beholden to Nigeria for Nigeria’s role in the liberation and independence of Namibia.

“Dr. Nujoma’s other passions were housing and educational development for Africans and he always challenged us to see all these necessities, these sustainable development goals achieved for the peoples of Africa.

“His passion for housing led to the development of the sprawling Dr. Sam Nujoma Housing Estate in Abuja and his love and advocacy for educational development inspired the founding of the African University of Science and Technology also in Abuja, Nigeria.”

Contributions of Dr. Sam Nujoma in Trade, Business Development Not Well Documented, Says NNCC