Economic commentator Dipo Baruwa has asserted that Africa lacks the necessary collective conviction and coordination required to drive its own developmental agendas. He argued that while external actors frequently arrive with prepared strategies for the continent, Africa remains unable to assert its own direction.
According to Baruwa, the continent suffers from a deficit in three critical areas: collective conviction, effective coordination, and sustained implementation. This deficiency, he noted, has created a vacuum that allows external powers to advance their own agendas across the continent.
Writing in an opinion piece for Premium Times Nigeria, the commentator suggested that the inability to execute internal plans has left African nations vulnerable to foreign-imposed economic and political priorities.
The gap between policy and implementation
Baruwa’s observations point to a recurring theme in African political economy, where high-level strategic frameworks often fail to translate into tangible results on the ground. He posited that the continent’s current position is characterised by a reactive rather than proactive stance toward global engagement.
The core of the issue, he explained, is not necessarily a lack of ideas or frameworks, but a failure in the machinery of execution. Without a unified sense of purpose—what he termed “collective conviction”—the various initiatives launched by African states and regional blocs often lack the momentum needed to withstand global pressures.
This lack of coordination frequently results in fragmented responses to global economic shifts. While organisations such as the African Union attempt to implement frameworks like Agenda 2063, the disparity between continental policy and national-level implementation remains a significant hurdle to African agency.
The consequence of this trend is a landscape where external stakeholders—ranging from global superpowers to international financial institutions—continue to shape the continent’s economic trajectory. Baruwa suggested that as long as Africa fails to synchronise its efforts, it will continue to be a recipient of external plans rather than an architect of its own future.
The primary question facing African leadership remains whether the continent can move beyond theoretical planning to establish the institutional coordination and political will necessary to command its own economic destiny.
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