According to a Save the Children research, Sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, pays back about $13.5 billion in debt annually.

African countries lose US$50 billion to illegal financial flows, according to the 2015 High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa.

The mega-oil refinery in Nigeria and the new refinery in Ghana are two notable examples of value addition in the area.

As external borrowing grows more expensive and conditions increase, the continent's most viable route out of the debt burden is mobilising domestic resources.