The former President of Tanzania, Dr. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, has described Sunday’s massacre at St. Philip’s Catholic Church, Amakwa-Ozubulu in Anambra State, as sickening.
He declared that the killing of innocent worshippers during early morning mass, would send a wrong signal to investors.
Kikwete, an economist, who stated these yesterday as the keynote speaker at the opening of the annual conference of the African Bar Association (AFBA) at Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, explained why most African countries are poor.
The conference, with the theme: “Dissecting the Legal and Regulatory Framework for Doing Business in Africa,” was also attended by Governor Nyesom Wike, and his counterpart in Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, both lawyers.
The ex-Tanzanian president said: “Legacies of colonial exploitation still linger on in Africa. Economies of African countries were designed to meet the needs of the colonial masters. Most products of Africa are still being exported raw.
“Africans must take share of the blame for not transforming the colonial economies. There is need for new economic order, rule of law, strong institutions and political stability. Africa is the fastest growing economy in the world. A lot still needs to be done to improve the investment climate in Africa. There will be no development without investments.
“African countries must put in place friendly business policies and improve the business environment to attract investors. With conflicts, wars, terrorism, political instability, impunity and corruption, the attraction of Africa for doing business will be reduced. What happened in Anambra State on Sunday is sickening. Everything should be done to stop it, in order not to send wrong signal to investors. We should make it easy to do business in Africa.
“Investment is the food and oxygen that nourish an economy. Without investment, the economy stagnates, shrinks and retrogresses. Attracting investments should be top priority. Investments can be sourced from local and foreign entrepreneurs. Investments are attracted to areas with conducive environment.”
Dr. Kikwete also stated that emphasis should be placed by African leaders on peace, stability, strong institutions, tackling corruption and impunity, respect for human rights, with investment policies designed to benefit all stakeholders, without shortchanging anybody.
Wike, in his remarks, stated that the Niger Delta state was safe, despite yesterday morning’s hijack of a commercial bus on East West Road and the kidnap of the 16 passengers, who were marched into the forest in the Emohua axis of Rivers.
He claimed his administration had tackled insecurity, in conjunction with security agencies, which according to him, recorded tremendous success.
The governor of Sokoto State urged Africans to always live in peace, harmony and believe in themselves.
Tambuwal urged stakeholders to always promote development on the African continent, despite the surmountable challenges, while positively portraying Africa as a continent of peace and hope, not of conflict, crisis or war.
AFBA President Hannibal Uwaifo stated that the association made a lot of progress, forging cooperation among bar associations and taking centre stage at international legal discourse.
Uwaifo said: “We must not forget what brought this continent to this sorry state – Weak institutions, rampant corruption, impunity, red-tapism, uncoordinated immigration and customs’ rules and self-inflicted blockades hampering free movement of human and material resources, people and human rights abuses, to state a few.
“We fail to enforce women, children and minority rights, in a continent where 90 per cent of its citizens wallow in abject poverty, while the rulers and economic saboteurs live in opulence.
“There are no good roads and no plan for the future. Our legal system, which should be the bedrock of investment confidence, is not unaffected by the malaise of corruption and other inefficiencies that have permeated the African society. The legal profession is in crisis and we need urgent solutions. Lawyers engage in unethical and unprofessional practices.”
The president of AFBA also stated that end must now come to the human rights abuses being perpetrated by the Cameroonian government against the people of Southern Cameroon.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Nigeria Forum of AFBA, Inuwa Abdul-Kadir, assured that the members of the association would have hitch-free conference.
The Alternate Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of AFBA, Ibrahim Eddy Mark, who is also the association’s Vice-President, Budget and Finance, in his welcome address, noted that the LOC scored high in security arrangement, while pledging to do more during the entire period of the conference, in view of the “negative and untrue” allegations of insecurity in Rivers by persons he described as those whose stock in trade was to see everything bad in the state.
Mark reiterated that the security agencies had done the needful, while lauding their dexterity and tactical disposition, adding that Port Harcourt defeated three other contestants to win for Nigeria, the host of the annual conference.