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Tag: AU leaders

  • AU leaders, others arrive in Zimbabwe for forum

    AU leaders, others arrive in Zimbabwe for forum

    AFRICAN leaders will converge on Harare, Zimbabwe, today, to seek ways on building critical skills to deliver on Agenda 2063 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for their countries at the continent’s third Capacity Development Forum (CDF).

    Already, all is set for the parley with African Union (AU) leaders and officials as well as strategic partners and experts.

    The event coincides with the 25th anniversary of African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), a AU organ established in 1991 as a long-term strategy to build human, institutional and ‘soft’ capacities for the continent’s structural transformation agenda.

    ACBF’s Executive Secretary Professor Emmanuel Nnadozie, whose organisation and Zimbabwean government co-host the event, said ahead of the conference that sustainable development could be achieved through building skills, knowledge and capabilities of African individuals and institutions, as well as “ensuring that capacity is an integral part of pan-African policies”.

    Such skills, he added, must be retained and harmonised for utilisation on the continent.

    Nnadozie said about 500 delegates would square up on the topic: “Developing Capacity for Africa’s Economic and Social Transformation”.

    His words: “Delegates gathering in Harare as part of our 25th Anniversary will address several important issues, with a view to moving the debate from dialogue to action.

    “This forum will look at how Africa can innovate, emulate, replicate in order to transform and make a significant impact in building the critical skills we need.

    “Ministers of Finance and Planning, multilateral agencies, funding partners, academics and representatives from ACBF-supported institutions will consider the capacity dimensions on Agenda 2063 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with emphasis on the role of governments, development partners, civil society, private sector, training institutions and the media in supporting the development of capacity for Africa’s economic and social transformation”.

    The three-day conference, tagged; “2016 Going Global”, has its theme; “Building Nations and Connecting Cultures: Education Policy, Economic Development and Engagement.”

    The theme will be discussed across 40 sessions featuring 150 speakers.

    “Top emerging economies; Brazil, China, United Arab Emirates, India and Malaysia have implemented long-term transformation agenda, supported by effective socio-economic policies.

    ‘’Many African economies; Ethiopia, Cote d’Ivoire and Rwanda experience rapid growth, with focus on capacity for effective development and commitment to policy formulation and implementation”.

    He added: “Twenty-five years is a strategic milestone. We have held two fora, in Mali and Mozambique. This one presents an opportunity to reposition ourselves in spearheading a new Capacity Development Platform for coordinating capacity building on the continent.’’

     

    “We need an Africa that is capable of achieving its own development and it is time to stop talking the talk and start walking the talk – we should no longer be talking about what needs to be done, but how exactly we are going to do it.”

    Since its existence, ACBF has built human and institutional capacity for good governance and economic development in Africa.

    To date, the foundation has empowered people in governments, parliaments, civil society, private sector and higher education institutions in more than 45 countries and 6six regional economic communities.

    It supports capacity development with grants, technical assistance and knowledge across Africa and among others.

    Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Hon. Patrick Chinamasa, will co-convene the forum.

    Invited speakers include former President of South Africa H.E. Thabo Mbeki and the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission H.E. Erastus Mwencha. There will be several thematic side events, including a session on the role of science, innovation and technology in Africa’s social and economic transformation.

    This is being organised by the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology (NM-AIST), based in Tanzania.

    The African Development Bank will host a parallel event on the role of Development Banks in Africa’s social and economic transformation, while HESPI, the Horn Economic and Social Policy Institute will hold an event on the role of Think Tanks in Africa’s sustainable and inclusive social and economic development.

     

  • AU leaders: how Nigeria, others can develop

    AU leaders: how Nigeria, others can develop

    Nigeria and other African countries have been advised to increase funding for capacity building to enhance economic development and budgets implementation.

    The African countries have been urged to support the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), which aim to build manpower on the continent.

    These were some of the key messages by continental leaders, top capacity building leaders and strategic partners at the opening of the 24th Annual Meeting of the ACBF Board of Governors, which kicked off in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia yesterday.

    Its theme is: “Developing Capacity to Mobilise Domestic Resources to Finance Africa’s Transformation”.

    Those, who spoke at the event were the Executive Secretary of ACBF, Prof. Emmanuel Nnadozie;  Deputy Chairperson, African Union Commission Erastus Mwencha; Ethiopian Minister of State for Finance Alemayehu Gujo; Chair of Board of Governors of ACBF and Gabon’s Minister of Budget and Public Accounts Christian Magnagna; Chair, ACBF’s Executive Board Chair Prof. Callisto Enias Madavo, represented by Mrs. Gun-Britt Andersson of Sweden and Director of Capacity Building of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Adeyemi Dipeolu.

    Nnadozie said: “In fact, African countries are faced with, among other challenges the capacity to mobilise domestic resources to implement Agenda 2063 and the post-2015 development agenda; the national institutional and human capacity to domesticate and coordinate regional and continental policies; and the capacity to implement national, regional and continental policies which has a lot to do with the ability to design, plan, execute, monitor and evaluate programmes.

    “Looking ahead, the forecast for much of African countries remains very encouraging. For example, Africa is ranked as the second fastest growing region and is more likely to maintain such position and even be the fastest in the world. Africa can make faster progress and take its rightful place in a globalised world. The fundamentals are in place in many countries: performance is better now than over the last three decades, young people will be well-schooled and well-trained for good jobs, etc.

    “African governments are heavily investing in development as witnessed by the large number of infrastructure projects taking place across the continent at both the national and regional levels.

    “But when it’s all said and done, infrastructure does dilapidate over time, requiring maintenance and at times renewal. Investing in human capital and institutions therefore remains the single most important investment a country can make. This is what the continent needs to focus on,” Mwencha said.

    The AU Commission’s chief noted that in the rapidly changing world, the most important asset any country could have” is firstly its people and then its institutions”.

    He added that many countries believed that capacity building “is a basic prerequisite for structural transformation, inclusive growth and sustainable development”.

    Ethiopian minister of state for Finance hinged the country’s solid economic performance and double-digit growth in the last decade on investment in capacity building.

    Gujo added that his government recognised that capacity building “is a building block of the country’s poverty reduction strategy, as capacity limitation both in the public and private sector are the main challenges to provide the required services”.

     He urged African countries to take a cue from Germans, which “year after year, decade after decade patiently building up skills, investing in workers, institutions, new technology, research and innovation”.

    “They do it, not because it yields immediate results but because they know it gives them an unassailable lead several years down the road. They keep building at it. There are no short cuts to capacity building, the earlier you start the better off you will be in the long term, this is a key take away point from the Ethiopian experience,” he said.

  • African continent under siege, Buhari warns AU leaders

    African continent under siege, Buhari warns AU leaders

     •Seeks end of illegal migration to Europe

    President Muhammadu Buhari has warned his colleagues at the 25th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) in South Africa that the continent was under siege.

    He said the continent is facing challenges of terrorism and insecurity, poverty, youth unemployment and underdevelopment.

    Buhari noted that Africa has progressed in the past one and a half decades from mainly political goals to more diverse aspirations since the transformation from the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to the AU.

    The President said: “It is, however, clear, Mr. Chairman, that some of the greater challenges to our peoples within this union still lie in the political, economic, as well as peace and security spheres. Our continent is currently bedevilled by the twin evils of terrorism and insecurity; poverty, youth unemployment, and underdevelopment.

    “The destructive effects of the inhuman and criminal campaigns of the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria and neighbouring countries; the Al-Shabab attacks in East Africa, and the activities of the Al-Qaida in the Maghreb, all bear testimony to a continent under siege.”

    He used the opportunity to comment on the role former President Goodluck Jonathan played after the March 28 presidential election.

    Buhari said: “I cannot fail to acknowledge the very positive role played by my predecessor, H.E. President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, in averting the feared crisis, and in facilitating the peaceful transition of power between the two parties.

    “My election has been described as historic. I agree that it is indeed historic because for the first time in the practice of democracy in my country, an opposition Party has defeated the ruling Party in a keenly contested election.

    “The election was also held against the backdrop of the fears and concerns expressed both in Nigeria and among our international friends abroad and partners that the outcome of the election could spell doom for Nigeria. I am glad that even though those fears and concerns were not without basis, the outcome was totally different, to the relief of all of us.”

    The President told the African leaders to do everything possible to stop the illegal migration of Africans through the Mediterranean sea to Europe.

    He said: “The images in the international mass media of African youths getting drowned in the Mediterranean sea on their illegal attempts, and often times illusory hope of attaining better life in Europe is not only an embarrassment to us as leaders, but dehumanises our persons.  Indeed, they combine to paint a very unfavourable picture of our peoples and countries.

    “Those of us gathered here today owe it as a duty to reverse this ugly trend. We must put an end to the so-called push factors that compel our young men and women to throw caution to the winds and risk life, limbs and all, on this dangerous adventure.”

    To this end, Buhari called on the leaders to redouble efforts to sustain the economic development of their countries, ensure empowerment of the youths, create more jobs, improve and upgrade infrastructure, and continue to enthrone a regime of democracy, good governance, respect for human rights and rule of law.

    He added: “These and other measures that engender peace and stability must be pursued relentlessly. In this connection, we must persist in our collective endeavour to work together through the African Union and our respective Regional Economic Communities (RECs), to uplift our continent and provide the African peoples the enabling environment for the realisation of their legitimate dreams and aspirations.

    “At this juncture, let me assure you of the unflinching commitment of Nigeria to the ideals and aspirations of the African Union as explained in the Agenda 2063, which is geared towards ensuring a peaceful, prosperous and integrated Africa in the next 50 years. It is for this reason that Nigeria is fully and irrevocably committed to the ECOWAS vision.

    “We do so because we believe that African integration is best attained through the instrumentality of our Regional Economic Communities (RECs) as the building blocs of viable continental institutions. Nigeria will, therefore, continue to play her part in supporting the African Union Commission and other continental and regional institutions in their efforts to prioritise African development in all sectors of human endeavour.”

     

     

  • Jonathan, African leaders to discuss militants’ threat

    Jonathan, African leaders to discuss militants’ threat

    President Goodluck Jonathan, facing a mounting Islamist insurgency at home, will discuss ways of tackling militancy across the continent with African heads of state while in South Africa, his spokesman said.

    The meeting follows warnings from Nigeria and its neighbours that Boko Haram – which has killed thousands of Nigerians during its five-year-old insurgency, and last month kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls – now threatens the security of the region.

    Leaders from every corner of the continent would meet before South African President Jacob Zuma’s inauguration on Saturday to “focus on collective action to effectively roll back the scourge of terrorism in Africa,” Reuben Abati said.

    As well as Boko Haram, regional and world powers are increasingly worried about the growing reach of groups such as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Somalia’s al Shabaab, which has attacked Uganda and Kenya and this week threatened to unleash teenage suicide bombers in Nairobi, Reuters reports.

    Security experts said cross-border intelligence sharing between countries threatened by militant groups is woefully weak.

    Jonathan and the military have been criticised in Nigeria for the slowness of their reaction to the mass abduction, which took place in the remote northeastern village of Chibok, near the borders of Cameroon and Chad.

    Nigeria accepted help from the United States, Britain, France and China last week and around 80 U.S. troops were arriving in Chad to start a mission to try to free the schoolgirls.