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The Herald, January 23 1993

AFRICANS should “get off their backsides” and work hard to help solve the myriad problems facing the continent, former Nigerian military ruler Major-General Olusegun Obasanjo, said yesterday.

“There is much which we need to put right in Africa. But the situation is not hopeless. I do not see Africa as a basket case,” Gen Obasanjo said in an interview.

The international community has also a role to play by acknowledging and supporting positive changes in Africa, he added.

Gen Obasanjo is one of the six former heads of State attending the “Africa Summit” of the Interaction Council, a think-tank of elder statesmen founded in 1983 to tackle international, political and economic problems.

Delegates at the Council’s three-day summit in Cape Town are discussing ways of counteracting the marginalisation of Africa and re-integrating the continent into the international system.

Gen Obasanjo said growth and development could not be sustained in Africa without democracy and political freedom.

LESSONS FOR TODAY 

 According to information on its website, the InterAction Council of Former Heads of State and Government, is an international organisation established in 1983 whose objective is to address political, economic and social problems confronting humankind. 

It aims at fostering international co-operation and action in three priority areas: peace and security; world economic revitalisation; and, universal ethical standards. (interactioncouncil.org)

 The former Nigerian leader is a respected statesman who is among a handful of former African Heads of State who are members of the Council.

 The display of an inferiority complex is unfortunate moreso when Gen Obasanjo uses an international pedestal to lecture the continent’s leaders when he was once a military and civilian leader. 

 Africa, like other continents has challenges that are peculiar to it.  African problems need African solutions from its own leaders and citizens working together in unity.