Vice President Senator Kashim Shettima has called for homegrown solutions to Africa’s economic challenges, urging nations on the continent to build domestic productive capacity to create sustainable wealth.

Speaking on Thursday at the High-level Accra Reset Initiative meeting, held on the margins of the 2026 World Economic Forum (WEF), Shettima emphasised that prosperity cannot be parachuted in; it must be earned.

“Africa cannot rise on applause alone. We rise when we build,” he said, citing Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery as a case study of industrial ambition turning the country from a net importer of refined fuel into a future net exporter. “When production is matched with infrastructure and policy clarity, nations move from price takers to value makers,” he added.

Shettima highlighted the role of modern technology, including modular factories, artificial intelligence, and robotics, in accelerating Africa’s industrialisation. He stressed that the continent’s growth depends on allowing skills and ideas to flow freely, recalling that Africans abroad remitted about $95 billion in 2024, more than 5% of GDP.

“We are championing free movement across Africa because mobility is a competitive advantage in a world where human capital is the most precious resource,” he noted.

The Vice President also outlined Nigeria’s efforts in health-industrial capacity, referencing the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PUHVAC), which aims to expand local production of medicines and vaccines and strengthen quality systems.

Shettima described the Accra Reset Initiative as a call for African nations to shift from dependency to dignity, from aid to investment, and from rhetoric to results. “If we answer this call, the world will witness an African boom built not on commodity cycles, but on innovation, industry, and interdependence,” he said.

Other leaders at the forum echoed the call for African-led solutions. President John Mahama of Ghana criticised the transactional nature of Africa’s relations with the global north, noting that unilateral interests have trapped the continent in cycles of conflict and poverty.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo stressed that sovereignty is about discipline, coordination, and execution, not symbolic gestures, and warned that African countries unprepared for negotiation risk becoming “bargaining chips” in a changing global order.

Former Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo added that the forum seeks to galvanise African governments to rethink economic strategies and tackle the continent’s development challenges.

The meeting reinforced a shared vision for African-led growth, industrialisation, and economic self-reliance, reflecting a shift from dependency to locally-driven prosperity.