Barbara Bako and Leah Katung-Babatunde, Abuja
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has warned that the continent’s leading economies often referred to as its lions are stagnating and once they don’t move, the continent will lag.
Speaking at the 32nd Annual Meetings of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in Abuja, Obasanjo said the metaphor of Africa’s lions once symbolic of an accelerating economic renaissance has faded in the face of stunted political and economic progress.
He argued that the continent’s progress hinges on a few key countries: “There are countries in Africa that must make it collectively for Africa to be able to make it together. I am not talking of any African country not being a quarter, but I am talking of lions and corps… what countries will we have as lions? I would say about six or seven of them.”
Obasanjo identified Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Africa, Kenya, and Senegal as critical to Africa’s collective advancement. “They are either you regard them as lions by virtue of their population or by virtue of their economic strength,” he explained.
However, he warned that these countries are not fulfilling their roles: “Economically, Nigeria is not moving as it should be moving. But over the last three or so decades, we are taking a step forward, one step aside, and maybe one or two steps backward.”
“And then you can say that for Ethiopia… not where it should be, not what it should be doing, both politically and economically. You can say that for DRC… it’s not moving how it should be moving, both politically and economically.”
“Economically, we cannot say most of these lions in Africa are moving as they should move. Now, that is the situation. The lions are there, they are not moving as they should move, and they have to move as they should move before we get Africa, where they are, a continent moving as we expect it to move,” he said.
On addressing the situation, Obasanjo stressed the importance of informed leadership. “I believe we could begin with knowledge. Knowledge. How much of the world do our leaders understand? The world we live in, how does it work? What makes it tick? What do we expect out of it? What can we get out of it? What does the world owe us as Africans? We need to know this.”
He called for policies rooted in reality rather than dependency: “We have lived too long on aid… This aid, the way that Africa should be expected, I don’t believe so.”
The former president commended the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), saying, “I think people have got it right, and I hope we continue to build on it… I believe we have got it right.”
While criticising Africa’s system of governance, particularly its adoption of Western democracy, he said, “Western liberal democracy, which we inherited because from our colonial mother, need to be internalized and interrogated. Because even for them, it’s no longer deliberate… In most African countries, opposition is enemy. Where do you talk of loyal enemy?”
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