Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has called for urgent reforms to the global financial architecture, saying Africa continues to face structural barriers that limit access to affordable capital and long-term industrial growth.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, Mr Oyedele said African economies are still burdened by what he described as a “prejudice premium” that inflates borrowing costs and discourages long-term investment into the continent.
In a post shared on his official X handle on Wednesday, he said the current international financial system constrains Africa’s industrialisation ambitions through high borrowing costs, restrictive financing terms, limited access to long-term capital, and inadequate funding for productivity and value addition.
Beyond global reforms, the minister stressed the need for African countries to strengthen domestic systems by improving governance, ensuring policy stability, enforcing contracts, and deepening regional integration.
He warned that fragmented markets across the continent weaken competitiveness in a global economy that increasingly rewards scale and integration.
