A former Senior Special Adviser on Industrialisation to the President of the African Development Bank, Professor Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, has launched a new book urging African governments to make technological capability and manufacturing the cornerstone of economic transformation.
Titled The Quest for Industrialisation: Pioneering Technology Innovation and Industrial Development in Africa, the publication compiles decades of the scholar’s research, policy work and reflections on Africa’s development trajectory.
Describing the book as a deeply personal intellectual journey, Oyelaran-Oyeyinka said, “This book speaks to what I describe as my journey of Intellectual Discovery. The pursuit of knowledge is an endless search for meaning.”
Originally trained as a chemical engineer at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, he later earned a master’s degree at the University of Toronto. However, his academic focus shifted while preparing for his doctorate.
“My appetite for engineering was totally replaced by a curiosity to understand better the forces that drive economic growth and why there is so much inequality in society,” he stated, recalling how a lecture on technology transfer reshaped his career path. He eventually completed his PhD at the Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex, specialising in innovation systems and industrial development.
Throughout his career, Oyelaran-Oyeyinka has advised on industrial policy at high levels, including his role at the African Development Bank, where he contributed to shaping strategies for Africa’s industrial transformation.
In the book, he argues that Africa’s limited industrial capacity has exposed the continent to significant vulnerabilities, particularly during global crises.
“The cost to Africans of a weak industrial base manifested most severely during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he notes. “In the face of acute shortages of vaccines, African countries looked on helplessly while individuals in Western nations received multiple booster shots. It was not only about money.”
He cites the rapid development of mRNA vaccines by companies such as Pfizer as evidence that long-term investments in technology and innovation determine economic resilience. “History matters, and progress is path dependent,” he emphasises, stressing that industrial capabilities are built cumulatively over time.
The book also critiques Africa’s heavy reliance on crude oil and mineral exports, calling it an “unsustainable pathway.” According to him, “Resource dependence without the attendant technological base has been a race to the bottom of the wealth hierarchy.”
He argues that in countries such as Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, resource wealth has crowded out manufacturing growth. “For most African countries, the share of manufacturing to GDP and manufacturing exports to GDP have declined or stagnated. Clearly, therein is the root of the pervasive foreign exchange crisis that countries face,” he states.
Warning against premature deindustrialisation, Oyelaran-Oyeyinka maintains that structural transformation from low-technology economies to manufacturing-driven systems is essential for sustainable prosperity.
“The mastery of manufacturing provides the greatest opportunities for countries to engage in learning, innovation and manufacturing exports,” he argues, adding that industrialisation remains Africa’s “non-negotiable development imperative.”
Through the book, he hopes to reach a broader audience beyond academia. “My hope is that those who feel the pains of the poor but hope for an African renaissance would consider how its lessons and challenges continue to resonate even now.”
