President Bola Tinubu has stated that Nigeria is ready to host the African Central Bank in accordance with the goal of the Abuja Treaty.
Addressing African leaders on Saturday, February 17, at the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, the President stated that his administration will work with the African Union Commission and member states to ensure that the bank begins operations as planned in 2028.
He said: “As a continent and as individual nations, we face strong headwinds and difficult hurdles threatening to complicate our mission to bring qualitative democratic governance and economic development to our people. Many of these obstacles, such as climate change and unfair patterns of global trade, are largely not of our making. However, some of the pitfalls, including coup-birthed autocracies and the deleterious tinkering with constitutional tenure provisions, are developmental cancers we as Africans are giving to ourselves.”
Speaking about the military coups in the Republics of Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger as well as the three countries’ withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the President stated that differences over the illegal political transitions shouldn’t result in a permanent rift between the long-standing bonds of regional cooperation and affinity.
“The drive for a peaceful, strong, and united West Africa is bigger than any one person or group of people. The bonds of history, culture, commerce, geography, and brotherhood hold deep meaning for our people. Thus, out of the dust and fog of misunderstanding and acrimony, we must seize the chance to create a new people-centric era of trust and accord.
“To all who care to listen, I declare that if you come to the table to discuss important matters in good faith, you will find Nigeria and ECOWAS already sitting there waiting to greet you as the brother that you are”.
“In helping to achieve the Agenda 2063 objective of a peaceful, united and prosperous Africa, I consider African education, not only in the narrow context of the benign use of science and technology to improve the material standards of our people, but also in the nuanced appreciation of the fact that Africa must also become better educated in the humane art of democratic practice, diplomacy, and conflict resolution without violence.
“This year’s theme encourages us to remodel our educational systems to fit these goals. In Nigeria, my administration is devoting ample resources to education at all levels. From redesigning our school feeding programmes and academic curricula to making ourselves an Information and Communication Technology hub, through which we shall bring more youths into the classroom and furnish them with the tools required to flourish in the global economy of the 21st century,” he said.