Nigeria, April 28 -- Across Africa today, a quiet tragedy plays out every day. It is not the scarcity of resources or even a lack of ambition that holds us back. It is the deeper, more corrosive failure to fully believe in ourselves - to trust what Africa can produce, to invest in what Africans can create, and to trade first and foremost with one another.

Throughout the continent, the evidence is striking. Angola, for instance, imports $500 million worth of beef every year, even as Namibia - right next door - produces EU-grade beef at lower cost. Malawi purchases $48 million worth of maize every year, while Tanzania, a few hundred kilometres away, exports maize at nearly half that price. Zambia imports 360 million litres of fuel annually...