• Tasks surveyors on insecurity, flooding
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday charged African leaders to brace up to tackling economic development of the continent by making it their priority.
He believed that Africans after successfully fighting for the political independence of the continent, their next priority was how to consolidate the independence by ensuring that the continent remained self-reliant.
Meanwhile, President Jonathan has said that effective deployment of surveying and mapping as well as efficient acquisition and management of geo-spatial data would help address insecurity, flooding and contemporary challenges presently facing the country.
The President, who made the call while addressing the South African parliament as part of the activities marking his state visit to the country, noted in Cape Town that having successfully liberated the continent from colonialism, racism and apartheid, African leaders must now give the fullest possible attention to the economic emancipation of their countries.
He called on his colleagues across the continent to make building strong economies and strengthening democratic governance their topmost priority. His visit also coincides with the opening of the World Economic Forum (WEF), today in Johannesburg where the President is also expected to address the Forum. He is expected to follow it up with a visit to Namibia, on Thursday.
His words: "On the 25th of this month, Africa will be celebrating the golden jubilee of the Organisation of African Unity, (OAU) now the African Union. As we take stock of the achievements of our continental organisation, it is also appropriate that we reflect and decide where our continent should be in the next 50 years.
"That destination has to be a democratic and united Africa that is at peace with itself and can compete with the rest of the world", the President declared.
Noting that Africa has emerged as the new frontier for trade and investment in the world, Jonathan said that African leaders must rise to the challenge of managing the new opportunities presented by this situation for the benefit of their peoples and countries.
"There is certainly a lot more that we can do. We must work together to put an end to the exploitation and exploration of Africa's resources for export without any value added; African countries must transform from being primary sources of raw material into producers to create jobs and opportunities for our people.
"We must check the loss of Africa's trained manpower to already developed countries. We must work together, to promote trade and investment among our countries and build trans-national infrastructure in such critical sectors as trade, telecommunications and transportation in order to fast-track the process of people-centred, continental integration.
He called on international agencies to assist Nigeria in establishing a network of Real-Time Disaster Ready Tidal stations for monitoring and early warning services for marine hazards or related emergencies.
Declaring open the 27th FIG (Working Week) International Surveying Congress yesterday in Abuja, the President noted that Nigeria and the whole world were facing serious challenges such as climate change, desert encroachment flooding, gully erosion and food insecurity, adding that effective surveying and mapping was critical to addressing these problems.
Represented by the Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, Jonathan noted: "Following the spate of flooding experienced in many parts of the country in 2012, the scourge of gully erosion in the South and desert encroachment in the North, the choice of Nigeria as the venue for this programme is appropriate. Surveying is the bedrock for physical national development."
The Guardian
African leaders including himself because he also lacks when it comes to development in Africa. What he said is right though...Good one!