PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, JUNE 10, 2013
The Page 4 Report Harnessing the gains of AU @50 By Sani Adamu
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he message today is: Africa must declare an end to the era of selfinflicted wars, conflicts and usher in an era of transformation, peace, stability and sustainable development. ``For too long, Africa has been the victim of external domination, exploitation and manipulation; Africa must rediscover itself. ``In this regard, we must first take definite steps to implement all the frameworks aimed at curtailing the proliferation of small arms and light weapons on our continent. ``These are weapons used in the prosecution of deadly conflicts, acts of terror, arm robbery, piracy and all sort of crimes. ``For Africa to be free, its leaders must commit themselves to deepening democracy and the rule of law to allow for democracy to flourish. ``We must end the culture of abuse of power and impunity; we must embrace the culture of acceptability, equity and justice; we must also respect the wishes of our people when they express them democratically, freely and openly. ``For Pan-Africanism to endure and African Renaissance to occur, a peaceful Africa must learn some lessons from its ancient past as the cradle of human civilisation. ``However, in the past 50 years, the world has moved very fast, driven by high level technology and sciences; Africa must be part of that movement.’’ These were the words of President Goodluck Jonathan when he spoke at the debate on Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance organised to herald the start of the 50th anniversary of the African Union (AU) recently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. However, 50 years down the line, many Africans continue to express divergent opinions as to whether or not the aspirations of the founding fathers of the regional body have been met. There is no gainsaying the fact that Africa is still bedevilled by serious poverty indices and food crises. For instance, it is estimated that the current food imports of Africa, which stand at 50 billion U.S. dollars, would rise to about 150 billion dollars by 2030. Also, trade among the member nations currently stands at six per cent, while imports from China dominate the market. Infrastructure development is another vexing issue in most of the countries. However, while it is obvious that not all the aspirations of the founding fathers of the continental body had been met, observers, nonetheless, insist that significant progress has been made in efforts to develop Africa. Prof. Monday Mangvwat, the former Vice-Chancellor of University of Jos, is one of those who believe that the AU has not done badly in its 50 years of existence. ``In 1963 when the OAU was formed and declared, only 32 countries were independent; today, there are 53 independent African countries. ``It is a good score. We may not have reached such a perfect union, the kind that Kwame Nkrumah and others envisaged -which entails a continental government; continental army, a continental judiciary and all that. ``But we have established institutions along the line and they are joining hands
A U Chairperson, Dr Nkosazana Zuma to do certain things that are of common benefit to the continent. ``We also have some regional groups such as ECOWAS, East African Community and Southern African Development Community (SADC). These are organisations offering regional and continental services,’’ he said. Mangvwat expressed the hope that Africa would be able to achieve all its development and integration aspirations within the next 50 years. ``I am hoping that by then, through the workings of the committees and African institutions that have been established, the African population would have fused into one, such that I can move to Ethiopia without a visa. ``Unless there is some tragedy; in the next 50 years, the bond of union would be far better than what it is today,’’ he added. Sharing similar sentiments, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwurili, noted that the AU had transformed progressively into a virile and responsive regional outfit in spite of all odds. ``Indeed, as a continental organisation, the AU has provided an effective platform for its member states to adopt coordinated positions on matters of common interests, while presenting and defending them at international fora,’’ she said. However, some development economists say that although Africa has been able to achieve a significant growth in its GDP in the last 50 years, such growth has yet to impact positively on the lives of the citizens of many African countries. Former Nigeria’s President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, echoed a similar viewpoint. Obasanjo urged economists and development experts to address the lopsided Africa GDP growth which failed to add value to the lives of Africans. The ex-president made the remark, while commenting on the recent Africa’s
five per cent GDP growth rate which placed the continent among the fastest growing global economies. Obasanjo was one of the members of the AU roundtable panel on the UNDP Rise of the South 2013 Report codenamed ``The African Renaissance in the context of the Rise of the South’’. He stressed it was quite worrisome that the Africa’s GDP growth rate of about five per cent annually had not reflected in an improvement of the people’s wellbeing. He urged the UN development agencies, economic experts and governments of African nations to address the situation decisively before it became a serious setback to the continent’s development. Going from the general to the specifics, Obasanjo noted that Nigeria had recorded a seven per cent GDP growth over the last decade, especially in the oil and gas, telecommunications, banking and financial sectors, among others. ``But we need a kind of growth that would reflect on the lives of the people and the environment in terms of enhanced water supply to the villages, electricity and other infrastructure. That is the kind of growth we want. ``The economists should strive to change the current situation, where the GDP is growing while the people continue to suffer,’’ he said. Obasanjo urged the UNDP to reflect on the impact of Africa’s GDP growth on the people’s wellbeing and look into how to ensure that it was in agreement with the development of the common man in the rural areas. Sharing similar sentiments, former Ghanaian President John Kufuor underscored the need for good leadership, prudence in governance and people’s participation in governance in efforts to engender sustainable growth which would impact positively on the lives of Africans. Kufuor particularly urged African leaders to address the continent’s
demographic advantage before it became a catastrophe, adding: ``We must also reduce dependency on foreign funding for our development projects so as to sustain our continent’s growth.’’ In spite of the AU’s story in the last 50 years, the World Banks’ statistics reveal that Africa is still groaning under the yoke of hunger, poverty and diseases, especially HIV and AIDS. This, perhaps, explains the decision of Nigeria to host a Special Summit of AU Heads of State and Government, tagged Abuja+12 Special Summit in July. The Abuja+Summit is to evolve strategies that will intensify efforts to implement the programmes of the Action Committee of AIDS Watch Africa (AWA). President Jonathan agreed to host the conference during the meeting of Heads of State and Government of Action Committee of AIDS Watch Africa, held on the sidelines of the just concluded AU Summit in Addis Ababa. As part of efforts to deal with the security challenges facing the region via the application of African solutions to African problems, the African leaders resolved to set up a military rapid-reaction force. However, plans for the establishment an African Standby Force have been on the drawing board for more than a decade. Military experts say that the force would be deployed very rapidly to effectively respond to emergency situations across the continent, in line with the framework of the African Peace and Security Architecture. All the same, analysts insist that for Africa to extricate itself from the yoke of cynicism and fatalism, it must renew its vision of Pan-Africanism, while promoting the ideals of African Renaissance. ``Africa must build confidence in itself, in its ability and obligation to be the driver of its own destiny,’’ says one the analysts. Source: NAN