Reinventing Africa for the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century

Conclusion

Let me quickly conclude this talk.  Africa is behind on all indices of growth and development.  The continent is still heavily indebted, has more refugees than any other region, and has more of its peoples living in grinding poverty.  Educational structures and systems are dilapidated and outdated, the brain drain has not abated, and politics is still uncertain, unstable and violent.  Governments must invest in people to increase productivity, commitment to the state and creativity.  There is an urgent need to build new confidence in government, its institutions, agencies and agents.  The African state remains coup prone because democracy is not routinised or institutionalized and consolidated.  Crime infests the major cities; development planning still focuses on urban and elite-dominated areas while public policy is still exclusively an elite affair.  The cultural foundations of our communities have been badly eroded and public pronouncements on the eradication of poverty, empowerment of the people and social security mean little or nothing to the people: this has been the tradition since political independence.  Unemployment is a huge time-bomb that leaders are hoping would go away and HIV/AIDs are now a serious security matter.  Trade among African states is still less than 10%, commanding sectors are still dominated by foreign capital, agriculture remains largely the affair of the rural and aged, and capacity utilization is well below 40% at best.  In sum, weather we take the Physical Quality of Life Index, the Millennium Development Goals, or the other such globally accepted measurements, Africa lags behind.
However, there are some “Islands of Progress and Hope” in Africa.  There are some progressive and committed leaders.  They are few and you have to search hard to locate them.  The majority of the people, the victims of bad leadership and mis-governance are still committed to a just and democratic Africa.  The struggle for democracy and transformation is on and cannot be stopped.  As people in the communities and constituencies ask new questions and struggle for space on the political landscape, the leaders themselves are retreating and making concessions.  Civil society organizations cannot and must not give up.  The struggle to ensure and assure the opening of democratic spaces, the mobilization of the people, the reform and strengthening of institutions and structures of society must go on.  The struggle for the empowerment of the youth and women and the fight to eliminate corruption must continue.   The international community does not need to give aid to Africa.  What the continent needs is access to the markets, relevant technology, support for the process of transformation and empowerment of the people and their organizations.  President Obama says Africa does not need strongmen but strong institutions.  The truth is that we need both.  But we must be vigilant to ensure that the strongmen have vision, credibility, integrity, compassion, dignity, intellect, courage, and a passion for progress.  We must ensure that the institutions are transparent, accountable, democratic, people-focused and people-driven.  In this way, we can truly reinvent Africa for progress.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Lagos, July 22^nd, 2010