AFRICA ON THE BRINK OF GREATNESS SAY EXPERTS

AFRICA ON THE BRINK OF GREATNESS SAY EXPERTS

BY ABDULMUMINI ADEKU.AFRICA CAN ACHIEVE GREATNESS SAYS EXPERTS

The African continent is on the verge of greatness if only it taps into all of its potentials without looking back.

Experts from the Nigerian Institute For International Affairs in Lagos ,Nigeria while discussing the future of the continents economic potentials in a discourse facilitated by The Difference Newspaper in Lagos titled:  Economic Hurdles on the path of African Integration ,said that if Africa pulls its weight as expected it could provide leadership in the various strata of the global village.

In his presentations , Founder and Chief Executive officer of the Sunbird African Media Limited,owners of The Difference Newspapers ,Mr Richard Mammah said that if a  case study was built from the Lee Kwan Yoo story that led to the rise of Modern day Singapore from an ordinary shipping and fishing village then there was hope after all.

The Media captain picked holes in several signed treaties among member nations in the sub region as it was increasingly becoming difficult for people from Ghana to just come to live in Nigeria unlike the way things are done in the European Union.

He assured all at the gathering that a lot of Nigerians do not know anything about the African Day celebrations  but that his outfit will continue to drive  it as it was in line with the group’s philosophies.

In his own contributions at the event ,Dr Joshua Yinka Bolarinwa noted with nostalgia how the pictures of African  starving children shocked the rest of the civilized world in the 1980’s despite the lofty potentials of the continent and its people around the world.

Bolarinwa who is also a university don,noted that there have being at least 38 developmental initiatives in Africa with three main ones standing out as the New Partnership on African Development [N.E.P.A.D}setting the current national agenda all over Africa.

He gave a background of how the Lagos  Plan of Action for Development was signed in 1980 as African leaders increasingly grew impatient  with the stunted growth of African nations as compared to others around the world.

He took the gathering through research studies undertaken by the Economic Commission for Africa in Monrovia,Liberia to fashion out  a blueprint for the continent.

He picked factors like food security, industrialization as things that Africa leadership harped on in the Lagos Plan initiative with the Bretton  Woods Institution castigating their actions thus setting  the continent backward.

He lamented the fact that African nations always wanted to be spoon fed and wondered why on earth nations in Africa will ask China to give them security to take guard at a building that nation donated in Ethiopia instead of thinking of handling things themselves.

According to Bolarinwa ,the African Economic community’s master plan was to help coordinate all the regional economic communities.

He noted that a lot of the regional economic blocks were splited in phases and all of this were to have being completed in 34 years

Bolarinwa told the gathering of the dangers of right of entry using Aflao borders  a s a case study saying that the continent has only achieved cooperation rather than the popularly touted integration.

He took a swipe on free trade in the sub region and across the face of Africa  saying that ECOWAS member nations do not trade amongst themselves as they do with their E.U.partners .

In his own contributions,Mr Shorkdan Wapmuk  said that Africans were full of great hope at independence but rather unfortunately all of this expectations sadly have not been met.

He lamented the fact that a lot of nations were now being ravaged by various types of diseases with little to combat it.

Wapmuk whose doctorate degree was inview also added that the issues of terrorism and kidnappings aside from several other vices was also given a nation like Nigeria and even many other African nations a bad name.