Africa has about 12% of the world’s oil reserves, 42% of its gold, 80%–90% of chromium and platinum group metals, and 60% of arable land in addition to vast timber resources.¹⁾

Africa’s over-reliance on imports of food staples and agricultural inputs, it said.

As part of those reforms, Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer, plans to scrap an old scheme by which it swaps its crude for gasoline imports. Nigeria for years sold the gasoline, bought at the open market price, to its population at a discount, and the government paid the difference.

The subsidy costs about $10 billion last year. The last time the government tried to end the scheme, the move led to protests. Nigeria needs imports because it lacks the refinery capacity necessary to meet domestic demand.

The head of Nigeria's state oil firm NNPC, Mele Kyari, said earlier this month it was ending the swaps - known as Direct Purchase Direct Sale (DSDP) - after years of criticism by civil society groups including the Nigerian Extractive Transparency Initiative for a lack of transparency and corruption.

Nigeria used to produce 1.8 million barrels per day of crude but output has fallen in recent years to as little as 1.1 million during due to lack of investment.

In a country where most businesspeople looked for short-term profits, it was a blessing “that we have someone like Dangote who is willing to spend billions of his own money on long-term projects”.