Blair: Governance, not aid, is Africa’s current challenge

Africa has made real economic progress in recent years — so much so that governance, not aid, is now the challenge, said former British Prime Minister Tony Blair at a May 21 lecture at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. “What is going to make a real difference is the ability of governments in developing countries to get things done,” he said.

James A. Baker III, honorary chair of the Baker Institute, introduced Blair as “one of the most impressive public figures of our time.”

In 2008 Blair founded the Africa Governance Initiative (AGI), which currently works in seven African nations. AGI teams work shoulder to shoulder with the nations’ presidents and local residents “to help the governments prioritize, get the right policy and get the right personnel in the right places,” Blair said.

The organization’s work in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Guinea, Malawi and South Sudan focuses on three main areas: electricity, infrastructure and quality private-sector investment. Everything is possible with electricity, but very little can be done without it, Blair noted. Infrastructure is crucial because although Africa has great agricultural potential, the food is wasted: Roads leading to ports and markets don’t exist. Quality private investment is needed in an environment where private funding can randomly arrive from sometimes-dubious sources. “If you get these three things right, everything else is manageable,” Blair said.

AGI’s work in Africa is not just a solid moral cause, he added. “It’s also an act of enlightened self-interest.”

“I don’t know what will happen to the continent of Africa over the next [several decades], but I do know the population will double,” Blair said. “Whether the countries are on their feet with functioning economies is not going to be an issue simply for them, but an issue for us also.”

Blair’s address was part of the Shell Distinguished Lecture Series, a Baker Institute program that reflects Baker’s vision and Shell’s commitment to defining the role of statesmanship, integrity and bold leadership in meeting the challenges of the 21st century.