(AfDB)-African leaders, experts, the African Development Bank and development partners have called for urgent reforms to strengthen governance, deepen regional integration, and drive inclusive growth across the continent.

Opening the Nigerian Economic Society’s (NES) 66th Annual Conference in Abuja on Tuesday, Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima stated that Nigeria’s youthful population — on average aged 16.9 years — could either drive prosperity or deepen poverty depending on policy choices.

The 2025 NES conference has drawn more than 2,500 delegates from 22 African countries, including economists, policymakers, academics, and international partners. Discussions are focusing on structural vulnerabilities amid global disruptions ranging from climate change and geopolitical tensions to debt sustainability and demographic pressures.

Comparing India’s $100 billion annual outsourcing industry with Nigeria’s peak oil revenues of $25 billion in 2011, the vice-president urged diversification into knowledge-based sectors.

“Africa’s 1.5 billion people should represent a formidable economic force, yet the continent accounts for just 16 percent of global trade,” Shettima said. “We slept through the first three industrial revolutions. Now in the fourth, Africa stands at a crossroads.”

The continent’s failure to marry politics with sound economic management has left it trailing in global trade and industrial progress, Shettima said, addressing the theme “Rethinking Africa’s Development: Pathways to Economic Transformation and Social Inclusion in a Changing Global Economic Landscape.”

Shettima elaborated on the Nigerian government’s removal of fuel subsidies, exchange rate unification, and tax reforms, conceding the hardship of inflation and high living costs but stressing that investor confidence was returning.

“These are tough times, but the recovery will be permanent,” he said, crediting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration with showing political will to confront long-ignored structural weaknesses.

Nigeria’s Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, underscored the continent’s financing challenges, noting that individual countries in Europe and Asia carry larger debt markets than Africa as a whole. He called for greater access to capital and more investment in social inclusion and infrastructure.

“Our experience over the past two years shows that bold, even risky, reforms are necessary,” he said. “To reach Nigeria’s goal of a $1 trillion economy by 2030, and to lift Africa as a whole, we must embrace paradigm-shifting policies at all levels.”

In his goodwill message at the opening session of the event, the Director of the African Development Institute at the African Development Bank, Eric Ogunleye, reaffirmed the African Development Bank’s commitment to supporting Africa’s wider development agenda.

He highlighted initiatives such as the Strategic Framework on Key Actions to Achieve Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development, the Public Service Delivery Index, and specialized training platforms, including the Public Finance Management Academy for Africa and the Macroeconomic Policy Management Academy for Africa.

“These tools are available at no cost to member countries and are designed to accelerate structural transformation and inclusive growth,” he told delegates.

Speaking later on “Rethinking Governance Models in Africa for Sustainable Economic Growth” during a plenary panel session, Ogunleye said governance and leadership remain decisive in separating successful economies from struggling ones.

“Governance is not just an end in itself; it is an economic imperative,” he said. “Where governance is weak, whether overly centralized, fragmented, or reactive, countries fail to respond effectively to shocks.”

Other panelists stressed that Africa’s transformation depends on deeper regional integration. Wale Ogunkola of the University of Ibadan argued that the African Continental Free Trade Area must go beyond tariff reduction to build value chains, boost infrastructure, and integrate services into manufacturing.

 “If you don’t produce, what are you going to trade?” he asked, calling for stronger private sector involvement.