Railroads

Don’t Believe U.S. Propaganda Maligning China: Global Times Interviews Freeman In Beijing

Lawrence , , , , , , ,
The view of Beijing’s Central Business District Photo: VCGEditor’s

Trust what you see in China with your own eyes, not rumors: US political economic analyst

By Peng Xunwen, He Jianing and Xiong Jixin from People’s Daily

Trust what you see in China with your own eyes, not rumors: US political economic analyst

August 17, 2026

Editor’s Note: For years, the US has viewed China as a rival in Africa and sought to cast a shadow over China-Africa cooperation with misleading narratives such as the “China shock.” Against this backdrop, the overseas edition of the People’s Daily (PD) interviewed Lawrence Freeman (Freeman), an American international affairs expert, political economic analyst for Africa, who recently traveled across multiple Chinese cities with his wife. With 30 years of experience on the African continent, Freeman calls for abandoning Cold War thinking and zero-sum competition, stresses the importance of China-US cooperation in advancing global development, and shares his perspective on how the American public should view China.

PD: The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has provided substantial support to Africa’s infrastructure development and economic and social progress. As an expert on African issues, what tangible changes do you believe the BRI has brought to African nations?

Freeman: Africa has long been plagued by a huge infrastructure gap. China has offered tremendous assistance to a great many African countries through the BRI. For decades, I have been deeply involved in work related to the development of Africa. The Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway was constructed by China, and the Port of Djibouti was built with Chinese aid. Without China’s participation, Africa’s development would likely not have advanced so rapidly. China has extended credit support to Africa and built a large number of hospitals, schools, roads, ports, airports, railways and power plants. While Africa’s demand remains huge, China’s contributions are highly commendable.

The BRI enlightens us that mutual benefit and win-win cooperation is the right path forward. More than 370 years ago, the Peace of Westphalia established the principles of equality and sovereignty. In the course of history that followed, sovereign equality has evolved into the most important norm governing state-to-state relations. The prosperity and development of all countries are in the fundamental interests of the US itself. As other countries grow their economies, they will create more economic and trade opportunities for the US. We should break free from outdated, rigid and backward mindsets, discard the logic of win-lose, confrontation and conquest versus subjugation, and embrace a higher vision of development, replacing mutual confrontation with common development. Photo: He Jianing/People's Daily

Lawrence Freeman  Photo: He Jianing/People’s Daily

PD: China has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. It has also rolled out poverty reduction programs in Africa through cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and other channels. What lessons can Africa draw from China’s poverty reduction model and practices?

Freeman: From what I have learned about China’s development journey, a key driver of its rapid growth is large-scale infrastructure investment. China’s high-speed railway network now exceeds 50,000 kilometers in operation, surpassing the combined total of all other countries in the world. China has built a vast number of new energy power stations, including thermal power, nuclear power and other types.

China has a clear, complete path to poverty alleviation and development: It boasts the world’s largest and fast-growing manufacturing sector; its shipbuilding industry leads the globe, and it is also at the forefront of space exploration. Large-scale infrastructure development, emphasis on scientific and technological R&D and the rapid expansion of manufacturing are core factors behind economic growth and poverty eradication. China’s poverty reduction practices have proven practical and effective. All the African countries I work with are eager to learn from China’s experience and fully master this development model. I believe Africa can fully draw on China’s successful experience.

PD: Today, humanity faces multiple global challenges, including climate change, regional conflicts, poverty and public health crises. In your view, how can international cooperation help tackle these problems?

Freeman: The Western world is currently in the grip of a severe crisis, lacking long-term development visions and blueprints. China has put forward the vision of a community with a shared future for humanity, calling for attention to the common interests of all people, which is of great significance. Mankind needs to establish a new development paradigm centered on development, which is also the direction of my long-term research. The world is never a zero-sum game; the essence of human development is pioneering and progress-driven. 

All countries take the well-being of their people as their fundamental goal. To achieve this, we must first meet people’s basic material needs – housing, employment, electricity, sound infrastructure – so that everyone can live a decent and meaningful life. Only when people have sufficient leisure time can creativity be cultivated. For instance, China produced great philosopher Confucius, and the West had Socrates and Plato. But, weighed down by the pressures of daily life, few people study these classics today, leading to biased perceptions and the conflicts that follow.

Most conflicts in today’s world are rooted in poverty. When people cannot live stable, dignified lives, strife and plunder emerge. If the US, China and all countries work together to build a new development paradigm and steadily raise living standards across the globe, most causes of war will disappear. If the whole world can eliminate absolute poverty as China has done, the lives of all humanity will be fundamentally transformed for the better.

PD: China-US relations are among the most important bilateral relations in the world. This year, the two sides jointly set a new orientation for China-US relations: building a “constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability.” How do you interpret this positioning?

Freeman: The Chinese government has stressed that the “constructive strategic stability” should be a positive stability with cooperation as the mainstay, a sound stability with moderate competition, a constant stability with manageable differences and an enduring stability with promises of peace. Previous US policies toward China, however, were imbued with the dangerous zero-sum game mindset, which I believe lacks careful consideration. The US should take the initiative to identify areas for China-US cooperation. As the world’s two largest economies, China and the US can carry out joint cooperation projects that benefit the people of both countries and all nations around the world.

We met senior citizens singing and dancing in a Shanghai park in morning.

PD: What areas of cooperation between China and the US do you think have the most promising prospects for tangible implementation?

Freeman: The first is research and development of controlled nuclear fusion energy. China is a global leader in nuclear fusion, having achieved stable plasma operation for over 1,000 seconds. The US shelved its nuclear fusion programs decades ago, but nuclear fusion represents the future of energy development, delivering far higher energy output than existing nuclear fission power plants of the same scale. It is still not too late for China and the US to collaborate in this field.

The second is space exploration. The US has spent an extremely long time preparing for its return to the Moon. China has already achieved a soft landing of a probe on the far side of the Moon. Human civilization advances through scientific exploration. Space exploration benefits all of humanity, and the two sides have every reason to cooperate in this area.

The third is joint efforts to eliminate poverty and famine in Africa. If China and the US work together to boost Africa’s development and raise local living standards, the continent will become a global economic and trade hub, benefiting the entire world.

PD: You and your wife have recently visited many cities across China. What are your impressions of the Chinese people and Chinese society?

Freeman: There is one moment that sticks in my mind: I once met a little boy, and I said “Nihao” to him. He immediately replied “Hello.” We chatted freely in English the whole time, and the passersby around us were all delighted. It was such a warm, charming scene – an elderly American chatting effortlessly with a young Chinese boy.

While I was attending conferences, my wife took the subway alone to visit aquariums and museums. Friends back home were all shocked and asked me: Are you sure it’s safe for her to go out by herself? My wife and I felt perfectly safe throughout our stay in China. I think more ordinary Americans should set aside their prejudices and come to China to experience it for themselves. Trust what you see with your own eyes, not rumors.

PD: How has public opinion in the US and China toward each other changed over the years?

Freeman: Today, as China’s comprehensive strength grows steadily, the Chinese people can see the fruits of development with their own eyes and feel progress across all areas firsthand. As a result, more young Chinese people no longer look up to foreign countries as they once did; instead, they view them on an equal footing.

Held back by weaknesses in basic education and a lack of global perspective, American society does not have an objective understanding of China. Many Americans fear China for no reason and always ask me strange questions: “Aren’t you afraid to go to China?” I am puzzled: “What’s there to be afraid of?” This is the misunderstanding and prejudice born out of ignorance about China. In recent years, with China relaxing its visa policies and lowering the threshold for long-term visas, it has become easier for many Americans to visit China, which is a great opportunity to enhance mutual understanding.

Read below my earlier posts:

Freeman Tells Xinhua: Xi-Trump Summit Should Focus on Economic Cooperation

Xinhua Publishes Freeman’s Critique of the Post World War II “Rules Based Order”

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, also publishes on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World, and on X @lkfreemansafrica

We Can Eliminate Poverty & Hunger in Africa in One Generation With A “Credit Bank”

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April 10, 2026-Lawrence Freeman speaking at a forum sponsored by “Watch Democracy Grow,” at the National Press Club in Washington DC.

April 20, 2026

Watch my presentation in which I presented a brief overview of the necessity for the long overdue industrialization of Africa. This would require massive investments in infrastructure, especially in the manufacturing sector. Colonialism, neocolonialism, and the inadequacy l of the global financial institutions, have deprived Africa of these basic elementary building blocks for a developing economy.

I have discussed for many years the necessity of having an institution dedicated to issuing credit for infrastructure. In consultation with my African friends and colleagues we understand the need for the creation of an African infrastructure Development Bank. This institution would have only one lending purpose: providing long-term, low-interest credits for infrastructure. It would be prohibited from paying other outstanding debts or other expenses unrelated to this single objective. The need for such a credit bank is that there are no other financial institutions that will fund long-term investments in infrastructure. The private sector is not capable of making such investments. Although they can make significant contributions to the process of expanding the productive capacity of African economies. Historically, economic development has taken place with state-led industrialization. This has been the case in Europe, Asia, and the United States. The contributions of Alexander Hamilton and Sun Yat sun are exemplary.

Public or government backed credits can be allocated for low interest-rates for long-term loans necessary for infrastructure, particularly in the energy and transportation sectors.

I know that without this credit generating  institution of development credits, African nations will not be capable of providing for the daily needs of its citizens. President Franklin Roosevelt understood this. That is why he advocated at the Bretton Woods Conference in July 1944, for the creation of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Sadly, his policies died with him on April 12, 1945. Read: Franklin Roosevelt Intended to Industrialize the ‘Global South’: The Case of Ethiopia

Let me be absolutely clear. Without such a credit bank providing investments in essential, elementary infrastructure, Africa will not become industrialized. Thus, abandoning African nations to be plagued with the failure of abject poverty. However, with such a properly administered credit institution, we can eliminate hunger and poverty in African nations in one generation.

Read below, my previous articles on this topic:

Presidents Roosevelt and Xi Would Have Agreed on Developing the Global South

A Hamiltonian Development Policy for Africa Is A Necessity

For the Development of Africa: Know and Apply Franklin Roosevelt’s Credit Policy

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, also publishes on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World, and on X @lkfreemansafrica

Build Bering Strait Tunnel: Outflank The Diseased Geopolitical ‘Zero-Sum’ Ideology

Lawrence , , , , , , , ,

December 6, 2025

I concur in all essential aspects of the analysis presented by my colleague Matt Ehret in the video above, and his article below, (mathewehret.substack.com).

My brief introductory remarks:

It is imperative that civilization mature to full adulthood and finally move beyond the anti-human ‘zero-sum’ ideology that has dominated geopolitical thinking for decades. We do not live in a perpetual Hobbesian war against all! We are not beasts. We are not governed by power or might. We are a noble species uniquely endowed with the power of creativity, which no other creature or machine possesses. All nations and people, guided by reason and goodwill, must join forces to create a new paradigm of development for the future of the human race. It is in the vested self-interest of each nation to ensure the progress of every other nation. Not containment, not hegemony, but material advancement of the conditions of life for every country.

Ehret’s historical and comprehensive presentations on the great infrastructure project, the Bering Strait Tunnel, is illustrative of the principle of common shared interest for humankind. All but a tiny number of Americans, among others, know that our finest president, Abraham Lincoln, advocated for this project over 160 years ago, in collaboration with Russia. In recent times, the construction of the Bering Strait Tunnel has been supported in various ways by Presidents Xie Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump. If the three leading powers of the world would unite for the completion of this vital section of the World Land-bridge, it would be transformative for civilization for many decades to come.

Will we, citizens of the world, have the fortitude and vision to demand that our leaders act with such purpose? Only if we free ourselves from the disease of a ‘zero-sum’ mind-set.

Bering Strait Tunnel/Landbridge connecting two hemispheres

Matt Ehret writes:

I sincerely believe that humanity has reached a dramatic crossroads in our collective evolution, and the choices that we make (or fail to make) in the coming months will affect not only the lives of our children and grandchildren but the lives of countless future generations for centuries to come.

Certainly, the danger of chaos and unbounded thermonuclear war has never been greater. But inversely, the potential to apply the fruits of human ingenuity to the cause of protecting our species, ending world hunger and expanding our consciousness into the cosmos has also never been greater. As such, the opportunity to recapture the dream of a world of win-win cooperation driven by scientific, artistic and technological progress is so important. And nowhere is this opportunity as immediately ripe and nowhere are the historical precedents as powerful as they are in the great Arctic frontier.

While some war mongers envision long-range missiles across the Arctic — and Golden Domes expanding the NATO-led Full Spectrum dominance agenda into the Arctic, other, more constructive ideas, provide a happier solution for US-Russian friendship and peace for the entire world.

Not only did Presidents Putin and Trump most recently share a dialogue around cooperation in Alaska, where only 4 miles separate Russian and American territories via the Big and Little Diomede Islands in the middle of the Bering Strait, but additionally, the Polar Silk Road led by China has emerged as a great force of Eurasian and world economic collaboration since it was first announced in 2018.

Trump’s repeated message that the “USA, Russia and China together could solve the world’s problems” admittedly still remains only words, but it is the absolutely correct line of thinking, if only concrete policies can be built accordingly.

Many people do not realize this, but President Putin in fact called for the construction of the Bering Strait rail connection in 2008, and again in 2011, in both cases offering to pay $60 billion to start this project, representing 2/3 of the estimated cost. In both instances, his offers met deaf ears among George Bush and Barack Obama. In 2014, China’s major news platform China Daily and Beijing Times gave an official endorsement of this initiative.

And in 2020, President Trump gave executive support for a long overdue railway connecting the lower 48 states to Alaska via Alberta.

President Abraham Lincoln and Russian Czar Alexander II

But even here, these modern calls for arctic development did not emerge out of a vacuum. In December 1864, President Abraham Lincoln delivered a State of the Nation address to Congress outlining federal support for extending telegraph lines through the Bering Strait, stating:

“The proposed overland telegraph between America and Europe, by the way of Bering’s Straits and Asiatic Russia, which was sanctioned by Congress at the last session, has been undertaken, under very favorable circumstance… Assurances have been received from most of the South American States of their high appreciation of the enterprise, and their readiness to cooperate in constructing lines tributary to that world-encircling communication.”

Russian Alaska would be sold to the USA in only three years later explicitly around the notion of facilitating this program.

The USA had just suffered a grave civil war and had much reason to trust Czar Alexander II’s Russia, which had intervened to protect the Union against the aggressive intervention by English and French imperial powers supporting secession. In 1863, Czar Alexander II sent Russian battleships to NY and San Francisco as a message of solidarity with Lincoln and a threat to imperial forces of Europe.

Describing his motive for sending the Russian fleet to America, Czar Alexander II said:

“In the Autumn of 1862, the governments of France and Great Britain proposed to Russia, in a formal but not in an official way, the joint recognition by European powers of the independence of the Confederate States of America. My immediate answer was: ‘I will not cooperate in such action; and I will not acquiesce. On the contrary, I shall accept the recognition of the independence of the Confederate States by France and Great Britain as a casus belli for Russia. And in order that the governments of France and Great Britain may understand that this is no idle threat, I will send a Pacific fleet to San Francisco and an Atlantic fleet to New York… All this I did because of love for my own dear Russia… I acted thus because I understood that Russia would have a more serious task to perform if the American Republic, with advanced industrial development, were broken up and Great Britain should be left in control of most branches of modern industrial development.’”

This fact has been literally erased from American history books, but it is better understood in Russia, which has today a statue featuring the two martyred patriots and great emancipators: Czar Alexander II and Lincoln holding hands in Moscow.

In 1890, Lincoln’s friend and first governor of Colorado, William Gilpin published his book “The Cosmopolitan Railway,” outlining his dream of a world of rail networks, industrial progress and cooperation.

Echoing the win-win philosophy of Xi Jinping’s New Silk Road today, William Gilpin stated:

“The cosmopolitan railway will make the whole world one community. It will reduce the separate nations to families of our great nation… From extended intercommunication will arise a wider intercourse of human ideas and as the result, logical and philosophical reciprocities, which will become the germs for innumerable new developments; for in the track of intercommunication, enterprise and invention invariably follow, and whatever facilitates one stimulates every other agency of progress.”

Gilpin noted the common cultural and geographic properties of both American and Russian societies with Russia’s Manifest Destiny calling forth a pioneering spirit to “go east,” while America’s Manifest Destiny envisioned a westward expansion. Gilpin wrote: “It is a simple and plain proposition that Russia and the United States, each having broad, uninhabited areas and limitless undeveloped resources, would by the expenditure of 2 or 3 hundred millions apiece for a highway of the nations threw their now waste places, add a hundredfold to their wealth and power and influence.”

In 1905, Czar Nicholas II following the sage advice of Sergey Witte, gave national support to the Bering Strait tunnel and funded a team of American engineers to carry out feasibility studies. Again, Russia had good reason to trust the USA as the Trans Siberian railway built between 1890 to 1905 benefited immensely through Baldwin Locomotives made in Philadelphia and the support of hundreds of American technicians and engineers.

Sadly, history unfolded in another direction from the beautiful vision laid out by Czar Alexander II, Abraham Lincoln, William Gilpin and Czar Nicholas II. An age of bankers wars, anarchist assassinations, and economic turmoil disrupted this new age of progress and cooperation among civilizational states.

Despite small valiant efforts by patriots such as President Franklin Roosevelt, Vice President Henry Wallace and President John F Kennedy to revive the spirit of Lincoln and Czar Alexander, the enemies of humanity kept the world subdued into a trap of Game Theory, Mutually Assured Destruction, Exploitation and zero sum logic.

Today’s Belt and Road Initiative and the strategic alliance established between Russia, China and Iran have re-awoken the forgotten vision of a world of cooperating sovereign nation states.

Hopefully, the current systemic breakdown crisis finds a population and a leadership capable of recognizing its historic responsibilities and a moral sensibility, capable of throwing out the old world thinking of Empire in favor of a new paradigm, more befitting of a species destined to explore the universe, create, love and problem solve together.

Watch: The-arctic-in-grand-strategy

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, also publishes on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World, and on X @lkfreemansafrica

Africa Determining Its Own Future in a New Multipolar World

Lawrence , , , , , , , , ,

October 23, 2025

Watch the podcast above hosted by Matthew Ehret, risingtidefoundation.net, scholar, Dr. Uchenna Ekwo, and Lawrence Freeman for a discussion of Africa’s future in a multi-polar world, conducted on October 5, 2025,

The future for Africa lies in the new dynamic of the Global South and the expansion of the BRICS. For the majority of the past century, Western nations have primarily seen Africa as a looting ground to extract natural resources, in particular fossil fuels-hydrocarbons. In the existing non-reversible multipolar world, there are now new possibilities for real economic growth, driven by investments in infrastructure, especially electricity and expansion of rail lines.

The current ruling political financial elites, presently referred to as the “rules-based international order,” are declining in their hegemony over the planet. They have lost their dominance over Africa and their policy to counter China in Africa. There policies advocated by both Democrat and Republican administrations, have failed, and will continue to fail. Presently, Ethiopia, Egypt, and South Africa are full members of the BRICS, and Nigeria Uganda and Algeria are partners of the BRICS. The BRICS, the leading institution of the Global South, whose membership of African nations will likely increase in the future.

These global tectonic shifts towards new institutions in a changing multi-polar world, offer Africa a unique opportunity to increase African agency in determining their own future. There are many good proposals for Africa’s future, such as the African Union ”Agenda 2063,” and the “African Continental Free Trade Area” agreement. However, these policies will not succeed unless there is a massive expansion of investment in critical areas of hard infrastructure, most especially electricity, and rail lines across the continent.

Democracy, peace, and prosperity will only be aspirational unless the type of infrastructure programs that I discuss in the podcast above, are implemented in a concerted way by the nations of Africa. The reality is that the development of Africa, the building of a manufacturing sector and industry, and expansion of agriculture, which will lead to an increased standard of living for the population, is the only pathway forward to achieving peace, stability, and prosperity. Policies emanating from the West have for decades either not understood this principle of physical economy or opposed it. The former is gross ignorance; the latter is pure evil. In either case, the reality, evident by their refusal to fund infrastructure projects is; the West has not supported development, i.e., true economic growth for Africa (and other underdeveloped nations).

When President Franklin Roosevelt died, so did his intention to have the “International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) to become a financial institution to provide low interest capital for developing sector nations. I have proposed the creation of an “Africa Infrastructure Development Bank,” to provide long term, low interest credit for construction of vital infrastructure projects on the African continent. Such a new credit lending institution would be coherent with the calls by the Global South for a new financial architecture that would correspond to the multi-polar world’s commitment to create a new paradigm for economic growth.

Read below my earlier posst on this topic.

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, also publishes on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World, and on X @lfreemansafrica

Leaders Emphasize Rail & Electricity is Pathway to Industrialization of Nigeria

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Proposed Africa Integrated High Speed Rail (HSR) Network

October 9, 2025

This is my second post on the 2nd International Railway Conference held in Abuja, Nigeria, September 15-16, 2025. My presentation, Railroad Expansion Imperative, Not Optional, For the Future of Nigeria and Africa was delivered on the second day of the conference. I discussed the significance of this conference from the perspective of my profession, physical economy.

On the first day of the conference, Minister of Transportation, Sen. Said Ahmed Alkaliin, and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, (Gas), Rt. Hon Ekperikpe Ekpo, PhD, addressed the gathering of over 1,000 attendees. They highlighted the necessity for Nigeria to expand its railway system, and utilize its abundant gas reserves to industrialize Nigeria, the most populace nation in Africa. Their presentations are excerpted below.

As a physical economist, I have emphasized for decades the importance of infrastructure, in particular, energy and rail transportation. These are the two most critical categories of hard infrastructure essential for African nations to become  industrialized, replete with advanced agricultural and manufacturing sectors.

Both ministers appropriately underscored at this conference, Nigeria’s intention to use its energy resources and its expanding rail system, including a high speed rail line, to achieve  industrialization. As a result, Nigeria will become a pivotal nation in West Africa and advance, The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Vice President of Nigeria, Sen. Kashim Shettima-(3rd from left), Minister of Transportation, Sen. Said Ahmed Alkali-(3rd from right), with other dignitaries attending the conference.

Excerpts from Min. of Transportation

Today we meet not only to review progress, but to re-imagine the railway as a cornerstone of Nigeria’s transportation which is recognized as enabler of economic growth across jurisdictions.

This Conference seeks to assemble railway experts, industry players, and other stakeholders to share knowledge and experience across jurisdictions on emerging trends, funding opportunities, and prospects of railway services as catalyst for national development. This discussion will maximize the potential of the railway sub-sector as viable option for boosting commerce through geographical mobility and general economic growth through connectivity and collaborations.

I am glad to inform you that the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration has accorded special priority to transportation in recognition of the above reality credited to transportation as gateway to the nation’s economy.

In this regard, I have considered it most expedient to highlight few key achievements by the Ministry under this Administration to expand the scope of discussions during technical sections and attract useful output to enhance the transport sector, thus:

  • Facilitate accelerated execution of the 203km Kaduna-Kano on going rail modernization project from 15% at the inception of the Administration to 53%; and the 387 km Kano–Maradi, with extension to Dutse from 5% to 60%.
  • While the Kaduna-Kano project will be ready for completion and commissioning by December 2026, the Kano-Maradi project will reach Katsina by December this year and be ready for completion and commissioning by March 2027.
  • Successful completion of rehabilitation of Lagos-Kano Old Narrow Gauge for freight of goods from the seaports to connect to Dala Inland Dry Port to put it to use.
  • Attracted foreign investors for the construction of high speed rail from Abuja-Lagos, Abuja-Kano, and Abuja-Port Harcourt, to boost nation’s infrastructural development and revenue generation profile.

Lawrence Freeman with Minister Uba Maihari Ahmadu, Ministry of Regional Development, discussing economic development plans for North East Nigeria

Make the Railway an Economic Tool, Not Just an Asset: The focus must shift from construction alone to ensuring rail corridors serve agriculture, industry, mining, and commerce.

Around the world, railways have always been more than a transport mode. They are nation builders and Engines of Economic Transformation: In Europe, railways enabled industrial revolution. In China, they powered urbanization and export growth. In Africa, railways are emerging as the backbone of regional integration.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presents an enormous opportunity. But without efficient logistics, our businesses cannot compete. That is why Nigeria’s Kano–Maradi corridor is more than a railway project, it is a gateway to West Africa’s markets, opening access for Nigerian goods into Niger Republic and beyond.

As we modernize our railways, we are also positioning Nigeria as a logistics hub for West and Central Africa.

Let us envision a Nigeria where:

Our ports are seamlessly connected to factories by rail; Our highways are relieved of endless trucks; Our youth are employed building and running trains; Our neighbors see Nigeria as the hub of African rail logistics.

This is not a dream. It is a future within our grasp if we work together. Ladies and Gentlemen, the railway is the track of Nigeria’s future linking our economy, uniting our people, and securing our place in Africa and the world.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, (Gas), Rt. Hon Ekperikpe Ekpo, PhD

Excerpts from Min. Petroleum Resources, (Gas)

This conference is historic, not only because it brings together some of the brightest minds in infrastructure and transportation, but also because it unveils Africa’s most ambitious rail project: a 4,000 kilometer high-speed rail network capable of reaching speeds of up to 350 kilometers per hour. This bold initiative will redefine connectivity across Nigeria and Africa, opening new frontiers for trade, investment, and industrial growth.

Nigeria’s story of development is incomplete without acknowledging her natural endowments. With over 209 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves and a potential upside of more than 600 trillion cubic feet, Nigeria is rightly positioned as the Gas Capital of Africa, and among the top ten globally.

For decades, our economy relied on crude oil as its mainstay, while gas resources were underutilized. Gas has been repositioned as the centerpiece of Nigeria’s economic strategy — transforming it from a by-product of oil into the foundation of our industrial and economic future.

Gas is more than an energy resource; it is the engine of industrialization. It powers manufacturing, fertilizer production, petrochemicals, power generation, and clean cooking. Importantly, it also provides a sustainable and affordable energy solution for capital-intensive infrastructure like railways.

British built, old narrow gauge railway system now being refurbished.

High-speed rail requires clean, reliable, and cost-effective power. Nigeria’s abundant gas resources provide that strategic solution. By expanding gas-powered electricity and fueling logistics, industries along rail corridors — including fertilizer plants, petrochemicals, material production, and compressed natural gas hubs can flourish. This will transform rail-connected cities into vibrant centers of industry, commerce, and competitiveness, while strengthening Nigeria’s role under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

These opportunities align perfectly with the Renewed Hope Agenda, which prioritizes industrialization, job creation, poverty reduction, sustainable development, and infrastructure expansion.

As Nigeria leads Africa in pioneering high-speed rail, we must remember that the true engine of this transformation is energy. With our vast natural gas reserves, Nigeria can power her railways, light up industries, create new jobs, and unlock fresh opportunities for her people. This is not just about energy transition — it is about building a bridge to Nigeria’s industrial and economic prosperity.

Let us, therefore, embrace the synergy between energy and infrastructure. With visionary leadership and unwavering commitment, we can transform Nigeria into a hub of innovation, productivity, and inclusive growth.

May this conference mark the beginning of a new chapter for railway development and economic transformation in Nigeria and across Africa.

(all emphasis added)

Read below my earlier posts on this topic:

The African Integrated High Speed Rail Network-(AIHSRN) Will Revolutionize Africa’s Economies

Nigeria Expands Railroads and Strives for Self Sufficiency in Rice

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, also publishes on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World, and on X @lfreemansafrica

Railroad Expansion Imperative, Not Optional, For the Future of Nigeria and Africa

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October 1, 2025–celebrating the 65th anniversary of Nigeria’s liberation from British colonialism

Below are edited remarks by Lawrence Freeman, addressing the second day of “2nd International Railway Conference and Expo 2025.” More posts will be published on this website highlighting presentations on railway development in Nigeria, by Ministers of Transportation, Petroleum Resources, the Vice President of Nigeria, and others.

Welcome ladies and gentlemen. All protocols observed.

I want to thank the Ministry of Transportation for this opportunity to speak to you today on this critical topic.

I.  Let me introduce myself

I am not new to Nigeria. I first arrived in Africa at the Lagos airport in June 1994, at the invitation of a friend of mine from Kaduna. Over the last 31 years I have been here many times, maybe  15 or 16 visits. I spoke at the Second Economic Summit in Abuja in 1995. I met Professor Sam Aluko, a great economist. I also became acquainted with then General Buhari, who was head of the Petroleum Trust Fund under General Abacha. For several decades I advocated a program to transform Nigeria and a substantial portion of Africa with a great water infrastructure project called, Transaqua. It would transport water via a 2,400 kilometer canal from the Congo River to recharge Lake Chad. In the course of this I met the Executive Director of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, Engineer Sanusi Abdullahi, and we collaborated with the former minister of water and resources, Suleiman Adamu. I discussed this proposal  with President Buhari several times, which he supported. We organized a conference in Abuja in 2018, a three day International Conference to Save lake Chad, and plans were made to implement this recharging of the shrinking lake. Unfortunately, it never happened, but as you can see, I have a long personal history with Nigeria.

This conference on railway development for Nigeria is of extreme importance. Railways and electricity are the two essential categories of hard infrastructure necessary for economic growth. Investment in railways for Nigeria is imperative. Africa needs an additional 100,000 kilometers of rail lines connecting all the major cities, ports, and manufacturing centers across the continent. The nations of Africa also require over 1,000 gigawatts of additional electricity to power their industrial economies. These two categories of infrastructure are not optional. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will not reach its full potential without massive investments in these two essential categories of hard infrastructure.

Lawrence Freeman addressing the 2nd International Railway Conference. Abuja, Nigeria, September 15-16. 2025

III.  Infrastructure and Physical Economy

What do I mean by physical economy? Let us look at the economy independent of monetary values. Let us look at the physical economy as a living, willfully expanding dynamic process, which serves to increase the standard of living of the population. In physical economy we are measuring physical inputs and outputs of physical goods, per capita and per square kilometer. How do we make sure that the output in physical wealth is greater than the input? By increasing the productive powers of our workforce. We measure the effects of the “increasing powers of labor” of our economy by the improvement of the material quality of life of our citizens. This will also result in extending the longevity of life, and the ability to expand the number of people sustained by that society while simultaneously improving their standard of living.

Infrastructure is an intervention into the environment. It is an intervention to alter-improve nature for the benefit of humankind. We do not measure the success of infrastructure merely on the basis of immediate financial return of that particular investment. But more importantly we measure the effects of infrastructure on the profitability of the entire economy.

Infrastructure properly understood is a precondition for the successful continuous economic growth from the present into the future. Infrastructure transmits value through the technological inherent design of the infrastructure itself. Whole economies rest on an integrated infrastructure platform. That is: water, rail, roads, energy, etc., make up a platform which is the foundation of an economy. Therefore, the quality and density of infrastructure determine the productivity of the economy. Every worker and every farmer become more productive by the density of infrastructure in the surrounding economy. .

For example. The completion of the proposed multiple East-West and North-South railroads connecting Africa, which was earlier discussed by Rowland Ataguba, would have a transformative effect on the entire continent; all the nations in Africa would benefit. Another example to look at is the recently inaugurated Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which I recently visited in May of this year, and is now complete. It has the capacity to generate 5,150 megawatts of power and actually prevent flooding and severe drought on the Nile. It benefits not just the Horn of Africa, but the nations of the Nile Basin, and East Africa as well.

The proposal of building 4,000 kilometers of High Speed Rail in Nigeria, which was discussed yesterday at this conference, would also be transformative by introducing an advanced technology of transportation into the economy. These types of physical infrastructure interventions on the African continent typify what is required.

Lawrence Freeman with the Minister of Transportation, Sen. Said Ahmed Alkail, host of the conference

IV. Density of Rail

In physical economy we examine rail density: the total kilometers (kms) of rail lines divided by the land area involved, measured in square kilometers (km2). For historical reasons I compare Nigeria with the United Kingdom, which is behind other European nations in infrastructure.

Nigeria has 3,798 kms of rail lines across a land area of 932,768 km2, yielding a real density of only 4.1 kms of rail per 1,000 km2 of land. The United Kingdom has 16,430 kms of rail lines across a land area 244,376 km2, yielding a rail density of 67 kms of rail per 1,000 km2 of land. As you can see, rail density per area in the United Kingdom is 15 times greater than Nigeria. The African Union estimates that rail density in Africa is only 2.5 kms per 1,000 km2. While globally, the average is 23 kms per 1,000 km2, rail density in some nations of Europe have five times that average.

Now let us examine another key measurement in physical economy; rail density per capita. That is the length of rail lines divided by the number of people inhabiting that land area.

Here we divide the same 3,789 kms of rail lines by the Nigerian population of approximately 237 million people. The per capita rail density in Nigeria  is .016 kms rail lines per person. When we look at the United Kingdom with 16,430 kms of rail lines divided by their population of 66.3 million people, their per capita rail density is .24 kms per person. Rail density per capita in the United Kingdom is 15 times greater than Nigeria.

Proposal to build in Nigeria 4,000 kilometers of High Speed Rail-(215 miles per hour).

V.  Density of Electricity

We will now examine another essential area of infrastructure from the standpoint of physical economy.

Per capita consumption of electricity is measured in kilowatt hours, with a kilowatt equal to 1,000 watts. The average Nigerian has 142 kWh-142,000 watts of electricity available during the entire year, which is less than 20 watts of electricity per hour, per person. The United Kingdom generates 4,135 kWh per capita, which is 472 watts per person. The discrepancy with the United States is even greater, with the United States generating 12,747 kWh per capita, which yields 1,455 watts per person every hour of the year.

Examining density of electricity per area, Nigeria generates .015 megawatts (million watts) per 1,000 km2 of land area, compared to .67 megawatts per 1,000 km2 of area for the United Kingdom–44 times greater.

Artist rendition of the newly inaugurated, Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam

VI.  Reality and Optimism

It is estimated that worldwide, 692 million people live in extreme poverty–less than $2.15 per day. In sub-Saharan Africa it is estimated that 464 million people live in extreme poverty. It is reported that Nigeria has 129 million people living in extreme poverty, which is 19% of the world total.

However, the good news is that humankind has already proven that it  knows how to eliminate extreme poverty. China has lifted over 700 million people out of poverty. How did they do this? By having a focused policy of building infrastructure and expanding the manufacturing sector. This is a great accomplishment coming from an agrarian based economy that was severely underdeveloped two generations ago. Therefore, I can say with confidence that we can eliminate poverty in Africa, if we apply today, known methods of physical economics.

There is a scientific basis for optimism in Nigeria and Africa. This is based on my understanding of this secret of true economic wealth. All economic value springs from the mind of human beings. It is not the wealth under the ground. It is not physical labor. Scientific discoveries of the physical processes of the universe lead to advancements in technology which is the basis for scientifically driven economic progress. The source of all discoveries is the human creative mind. Therefore, it is not a curse to have a large expansion of population in the African continent, projected to be 2.5 billion by 2050, with Nigeria over 400 million. It can potentially be a blessing, provided we make the right economic policy decisions today.

All these new potentially creative minds can make discoveries, which  lead to an advancement of civilization. To make that possible we have to provide a rising material standard of living so that these youth have the quality of life, and the leisure time to concentrate on developing their uniquely human creative spirit. This is the secret to all real economic wealth and the secret to understanding physical economy.

With the rise of the global South and the expansion of the BRICS that  has 10 members, including South Africa, Egypt, and Ethiopia, and 10 partners including Nigeria, Uganda, and Algeria, there is a new dynamic for Africa and the world. The majority of the world living in the Global South has an opportunity to create a new paradigm, one that is not based on exploitation, dominance, or mere monetary values, but one committed to the advancement of the material conditions of life for all human beings on this planet. This is the future I see, which all of us can work together to create.

Thank you very much for listening to me today. I hope I provided some useful ideas that will advance infrastructure led growth and a prosperous Nigeria.

Read my recent post: Grand Renaissance Dam: A great Achievement for Ethiopia, Africa, and the Global South

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, also publishes on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World, and on X @lkfreemansafrica

Ending The Legacy of Colonialism: Eliminate Poverty With The Industrialization of Africa

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Watch my interview (click on above) from August 23, with podcaster Amanda Akalonu, host of The Amanda Show, from Nigeria.

August 25, 2025

Many western historians, and analysts, when discussing contemporary Africa, overlook the long waves of history that have contributed to the challenges facing nations in the continent of Africa, including poverty. There is no way of ignoring the effects of over half a millennium of forced deportations, slavery, oppression, and manipulation against the African people.

In truth, poverty in Africa today has its roots in the early 1400s, when the Portuguese forced over two hundred Nigerians into slavery. For the next 600 years slavery ripped apart the culture and identity of African societies. This was followed by the notorious Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, which divided the continent according to the imperial wishes of the European colonizers. The liberation movements of the 1960s did not completely achieve the freedom they fought for. In addition to coups and assassinations directed by the Western financial-political oligarchy, the newly independent African nations, fell under the control of the Western financial institutions and their commodity conglomerates. Through their actual “debt-trap” and the imposition of the infamous structural adjustment programs, they controlled the economies of these nations, preventing them from achieving economic sovereignty. China’s emergence as a friend and investor in the last twenty-five years has brought a new potential for development.

The elimination of poverty and hunger in Africa, which is eminently feasible within a generation, requires:

  1. Massive investments in hard infrastructure, particularly electricity and a high-speed transcontinental railroad system
  2. Prioritizing the expansion of its miniscule manufacturing sector
  3. Modernizing its agricultural sector with increased mechanization and the application of irrigation
  4. Bringing into existence Industrialized economies

In my interview, we discussed in particular, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and China’s input. We also identified the failure of the foreign policy of the Wests’ rules-based order to understand the essential need of physical economic development for Africa.

Read below my earlier posts on pverty in Africa:

Energy Poverty Is Killing Africans & Preventing Industrialization

My Thoughts: Poverty & Ethnicity Kill Democracy in Africa

Africa’s ‘poverty trap’ more dangerous than so-called debt trap

To Prevent More Coups Like Niger: Eliminate Poverty in Africa

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, also publishes on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World, and on X @lkfreemansafrica

Lawrence Freeman: Why The “Rules-Based International Order” Has Failed and Will Always Fail: The Case of Africa

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Please watch my one hour fifteen minute presentation in the video above. (May 5). It will be of benefit to you and your nation.

June 5, 2024

This is a strategic presentation that you will not hear from anyone else. It contains epistemological concepts that are necessary for one to understand, if one wants to become a competent strategic thinker. With a grounding in these rudimentary but essential ideas  that I discussed, we are equipped to help Africa realize its potential in becoming an economic giant within the first half of this century.

After discussing some of the dynamics in Africa today, I delved into the main subject, which is poorly understood, even by most of my friends and colleagues. However, absorbing and spreading this knowledge may determine the future existence of the human race.

Only when we understand why the so called rules-based international order must fail, can we dedicate ourselves with new vigor to create a superior paradigm that will portend a better future for humans living today and our progeny.

At the core of the deficiency in the thinking process of the Western elites-the political financial oligarchy, is their failure to understand the unique characteristic of what makes us human. Endowed by the Creator, we humans, and we alone of all species, and unlike all machines, and all computer programs, possess the power of creative mentation. In other words, the mental power to hypothesize, as brilliantly and beautifully elaborated by Plato in his dialogues and by Socrates. With this power, which exists in all human beings as a potential to be developed, there are no limits to the expansion of the human race and the transformation of our physical universe. Thus, people and nations are not fixed. All societies and cultures, if they are human, embody a civilization of creative transformers. All people of all nations share this exclusive common feature, which universally binds us together in our quest for a better shared future.

Those in power in the West, their schools, colleges, institutions, and values, not only fail to understand this fundamental principle of human existence, but actually deploy to suppress it.

Our global society should be organized on these principles of human  creative enhancement, not a fixed set of rules established by the bankrupt Western invention of a so called rules-based international order .

I hope you learn from, and enjoy my presentation in the video above.

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog:  lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, and also publishing on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World.”

African Leaders Speak Out for Physical Economic Growth at World Bank Forum

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Watch Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni’s at the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) summit, April 29 in Nairobi, Kenya

May 22, 2024

African leaders are displaying signs of resistance to simply taking orders from the Western controlled international financial system and their so called rules-based order. Their opposition to the diktats from the  political-financial oligarchy has been demonstrated on two crucial fronts: energy and manufacturing.

Increasingly, African leaders are resisting demands from “developed” nations, whose populations have already 100% access to electricity, that less developed nations can only use so called renewables. The “advanced sector” threatens nations whose populations are literally dying from the lack of electricity, that they will not receive funds for investment in fossil fuel production. In other words, they insist African nations endowed with vast hydrocarbon natural resources should be prevented from utilizing these resources to produce electricity, which is necessary to improve the lives of their people. Under the cover of their duplicitous concern for the environment, the West is willing to have millions of Africans die with their deceitful cries to “save the planet.“ The two-faced nature of the rules-based order and their financial intuitions is demonstrated by their lack of support for major hydro-power projects in Africa. The United States and Europe have not supported the Grand Renaissance Dam (Ethiopia-5,150 MW), the Grand Inga (Democratic Republic of the Congo-40-50,000 MW), of the multination water project, Transaqua.

South African Mineral Resources and Energy Minister, Gwede Mantashe

Read the courageous analysis by South African Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe: South Africa Energy Minister Rejects Western Dictates & Hypocrisy Against Africa’s Use of Energy Resources

Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, Tanzanian President, and Samia Suluhu Hassan, speaking at the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) summit (April 29th, Nairobi, Kenya) spoke for the necessity to fund manufacturing and infrastructure in Africa. (See below) It is imperative to end the Wests’ singular focus on extractive industries to loot Africa’s valuable resources. Numerous African leaders are correctly demanding that none of their critical minerals should leave their nations in its raw form. Instead, they insist these minerals must be transformed into products for trade and consumption by a growing indigenous manufacturing sector.

Read the remarks by Naledi Pandor, South African Minister of International relations,  at the Ministerial meeting of the Bi-National Commission of South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, last year. South African Minister Pandor Articulates Principles of Development for Africa

South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Grace Naledi Pandor

Edited excerpts below from the address by Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, to the International Development Association (IDA) summit April 29 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Borrowing for what? capacity building. Imagine! Seminars, they call you in a hotel, you eat chapati, mandazi, they say that is capacity building…it should be on the ground not just in seminars. So, if you are serious, I need to hear about the low cost funding for manufacturing, not for stories…for manufacturing,” he remarked.

The crisis Africa is in today is because of philosophical, ideological, strategic economic mistakes, which we have been talking about since the 1960s.

Our populations are increasing, but our economies are stunted. The IDA should tell us why they are funding the modern slavery of Africans, and we should address issues like why Africa is producing what it does not consume and consuming what it does not produce. ,The crisis Africa is in today is because of philosophical, ideological, strategic economic mistakes, which we have been talking about since the 1960s.

I was very happy the president of the World Bank talking about prosperity instead of profiteering, his own words. The problem has been the World Bank people and other groups talking of sustainable development. I have seen that those words sustainable development.

I’m not going to be 80 years old I’ve never seen sustainable pregnancy that the woman is pregnant this year the pregnancy continues the next year three years four years. It never happens in life pregnancy develops sustainably. The baby is growing bigger and bigger but at some stage one static growth must be transformed into qualitative change, the pregnancy must become a baby. I would even ask you to change those words in your documents. Africa does not need sustainable; you could call the sustainable under development. Africa needed this social economic transformation. The pregnancy must become a baby, the baby must grow and grow, and become a teenager. The teenager must grow. That is what happens in life. You cannot have quantitative growth and think you are doing anything.

So, if you are serious, I need to hear about the low- cost funding for manufacturing, not for stories … for manufacturing. The main reason why there is no growth is because the growth factors are not funded, they are not even under understood; those who want to help Africa should fund our transport systems, electricity, raw material processing, and import substitution.

Our populations are increasing, but our economies are stunted. The IDA should tell us why they are funding the modern slavery of Africans, and we should address issues like why Africa is producing what it does not consume and consuming what it does not produce.

I banned the export of minerals from Uganda. No export of minerals from Uganda if it is not processed here. You wait until I go away you can steal the minerals but not now. I ban this export of unprocessed minerals. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni

Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan in Muscat, Oman on June 14, 2022. (courtesy of theeastafrican.co.ke)

Museveni was seconded by Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan,  who has fought for infrastructure development in her own nation. She said:

Considering the challenges related to present projected debt levels, we strongly believe that IDA should focus more on providing concessional loans such as 50-year credit loans. These facilities will provide more fiscal space for African countries to address competing development needs. (Emphasis added)

She is correct in identifying the need for long-term ,low interest loans to maximize investment in infrastructure and manufacturing. Infrastructure Progress in Tanzania

Watch Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni’s 30 minute speech at the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) summit, April 29 in Nairobi, Kenya

Courtesy of PD Lawton: africanagenda.net/musevenis-aptly-describes-sustainable-development-and-says-fund-the-railways-instead

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog:  lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, and also publishing on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World.”

African Nations Must Proceed With Needed Industrialization

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Image: proposed layout of the industrial park

October 28, 2023

My colleague, PD Lawton, presents a thorough report on the creation of an industrial park in South Africa that will benefit the entire region-(read below). This directed economic development coupled with a comprehensive trans-continental rail transportation network and accessible electricity will transform the African continent. This is the method to end poverty and hunger across Africa.

Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ) is a proposed industrial park in South Africa, designated with tax incentives as a special economic zone (SEZ). It is an initiative of the Limpopo Province provincial government and the flagship project of the SADC Industrialization Strategy in conjunction with  the African Union Agenda 2063. The aim is to promote industrialization through mineral beneficiation and value addition in agriculture and mineral resources. The manufacturing sector will produce processed metals such as steel, petro-chemicals and plastic production (processing of oil) as well as OEM`s (original equipment manufacturing) which is producing component parts for other industry sectors. Petro chemicals are needed to produce fertilizers. In 2022, South Africa imported US$1.51 billion worth of fertilizer. The security of food supply depends on synthetic fertilizer.

This economic hub is vital for a number of critically important reasons. It will serve as a catalyst for economic growth for the entire SADC region .Achieving of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on poverty reduction cannot be achieved without African economies manufacturing on an industrial scale including in that processing of agricultural products and processing of mineral resources which is known as mineral beneficiation.”

The African Free Trade Agreement inaugurated in January 2021,remains theoretical without operational SEZs in every region and connected by modernized high tech integrated infrastructure as epitomized by the African Integrated High Speed Railway Network which has been designed to connect economic corridors across the continent  by high speed electrified railway.

Read the entire article.

Musina- Makhado: Economic Integration and Mineral Beneficiation for SADC

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is also the creator of the blog:  lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com