Sudanese Economist says at current pace, Africa may not achieve the MDGs, even in 100 years

Addis Ababa, 3 April 2007: A Sudanese economist participating in the ECA's Conference of Ministers, Dr. Wani Tombe Lako , said in Addis Ababa on Friday that at the current pace, it was unrealistic for African countries to imagine that they could achieve the MDGs, “even in 100 years”.

In an interview with the Information and Communication Service of ECA, Dr. Lako said that poverty and hunger in Africa might double by 2015 and that until “we change people's thinking; the thinking of ministers and decision makers, nothing will progress”.

He said most African countries had not made progress in gender equality and women's empowerment, and that Africans were still living “in an ocean of poverty”

“Social transformation and attitudinal change take a long time,” said Dr. Lako, adding that it took Europe over 1000 years to influence European thinking and to be where they are now”.

He called for a redefinition of Africa's indicators of growth. “We should be modest and define our growth based on what happens to human person in Africa and to human development index like primary education, child mortality. Conversion to money should be secondary,” he said.

He said while conferences were good for budgets, employing more staff and increasing income, they were not good for human development.

He called on African countries to put more premium on identifying the causes of rural poverty rather than talking about Growth Domestic Product (GDP).

‘We talk of water and sanitation problem in our continent while we only use four per cent of our water due to inappropriate allocation of contracts to dubious firms, corruption and selfishness,” he said.