By CECILIA OLOGUNAGBA
WASHINGTON D.C- Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo on Tuesday called on all African leaders to stop begging for aid and allow the continent assume its rightful position in the world.
Akufo-Addo who made the call at the ongoing 3-day U.S.- African Leaders Summit said countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, others have what it takes to make the continent great.
He said that it was high time African leaders stop begging the developed world and concentrate on spending African money on the continent.
According to him, when Africa does the right thing they won’t need to ask for respect from anyone as it will naturally come.
“Africans are more resilient outside the continent than inside.
“We must bear in mind that to the outside world, nothing like Nigeria, Ghana or Kenya, we are simply Africans. Our destiny as people depend on each other.’’
The Ghanian leader urged those in position of leadership in Africa to take responsibility of making the continent attractive to its people by providing quality education and skills that run modern economy.
“We must work together to change Africa’s narrative which is characterized by disease, hunger, poverty and illegal migration.
“No matter where you come from, as long as you are black, you are African. We must make Africa conducive for progress and prosperity.”
He insisted that the time to make change is now as the leaders of the African continent have run out of excuses.
“We have the manpower, we should have political will, it is time to make Africa work.
“If we stop begging and spend Africa’s money inside the continent, Africa will not need to ask for respect from any one, we will get the respect we deserve.
“If we make it prosperous as it should be, respect will follow,.” Akufo-Addo added.
Meanwhile, the President of Niger Republic, Mohamed Bazoum, at a session on Peace, Security and Governance spoke on the collaboration with Nigeria on combating the scourge of Boko Haram in the West Africa region.
“To fight against this cross-border phenomenon, Niger and its neighboring countries, in particular Nigeria and Chad, set up a mixed force which makes it possible to combat these armed groups,’’ he said.
According to him, the phenomenon which is also linked to pastoralism and climate change, has considerable impact on the development of terrorism.
“Because most of the young people who join terrorist groups come from pastoral backgrounds.
“The scarcity of resources forces them to look for other means of subsistence, and the easiest remains the integration of armed groups.’’
Earlier in his remarks, U.S Secretary of State, Antony Blinken said the summit would look at the importance of the diaspora to the past, present and future of African nations and the United States.
He said that the U.S was committed to ensuring that young people continue to bring their talents and hard work to benefit people across the continent and his country.
“We’ve got a number of programmes that are doing just that, programmes like the Young African Leaders Initiative and through our economic development programmes, like the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs.
“Since its inception in 2019, that programme has provided more than 5,400 women throughout Africa with the training and the networks that they need to start and to scale small businesses.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Muhammadu Buhari is among 50 African leaders attending the 3-day Summit, which will end on Thursday. (NAN)
