IBRAHIM QUADRI
Former Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari who was a Nigeria Permanent Representative in the UN, Prof Ibrahim Gambari, has said Africa must take advantage of her youth population to leapfrog its development, noting the continent should be positioned as a joint rulemaker for the world.
Gambari gave the charge as a guest lecturer during the 12th Anniversary Lecture and Investiture into the Realnews Hall of Fame at Ikeja, Lagos.
The event which was organized by Realnews Online Magazine was with the theme, ‘Africa in World Shifting Geopolitics, Matters Arising on Demography, Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Natural Resources.
The 2024 inductees of the Realnews Hall of Fame were Ms Beatrice Eyong, Prof Ibrahim Gambari, Ms Hadiza Bala Usman, Dr Karim El Aynaoui and Engr Shehu Tijjani.
Gambari who was also a former Minister of Foreign Affairs noted that the theme which has been selected for the event is the place of Africa in the ongoing geopolitical resurgence and realignment which according to him, “we are all witnessing in these trying times around the world.”
Gambari said, “The African continent is destined for a significant role in the demographics of the world in a context in which populations are both declining and ageing rapidly in many other parts of the world. Although if presented by some of the key actors in global affairs as a security challenge, not least for manufactured fears of migrations, it is also the case that demographics of the continent present a major opportunity to drive the structural transformation of the continent if properly harnessed.
“Taking advantage of the African demographic dividend in a renewed season of global geopolitics effectively means that the countries of the continent must build national and regional strategies by leveraging on the energy, innovative acumen, and futuristic vision of its young people in order to ensure that as a new world order takes shape, we are positioned to be joint rulemakers.”
According to him, “The import of the foregoing is simple. Although there is no doubt that we are in the throes of rapid, complex, multidimensional change in global affairs, it is equally important to know that the outcome of the ongoing geopolitical shifts are not necessarily destined to be at the expense of or to the detriment of our people and content.
“That means that we must be ready to harness our abundant human and natural resources to leapfrog our development in order to achieve the structural transformation that has eluded us for too long. It also means that we cannot afford to sit on the sidelines while the rules of a new world order are being written;
“We have the opportunity to insist on being joint rule makers so that the new global order that is being forged reflects our values and aspirations for a fairer, more inclusive, and equitable world. In this, we must ensure that our youth bulge is turned into an advantage that puts us at the forefront of the digital economy and the innovations underpinning it.”
“it is fair to say that we are indeed living in interesting times in the world, comprising an admixture of positive and adverse developments that are working in complementarity to shape the process of change that is unfolding.
“Integral to the dynamic of change that is taking place is the breakneck speed at which it is happening. Across all spheres of human endeavour, change is taking place at a velocity that is as impressive as it is also potentially disorienting.
“Events in our everyday lives unfold with a rapidity that ensures that even before we accustom ourselves to them, they are already superseded by new happenings,” he stated.
He further stated, “This revolution has been refracted into every facet of governance and development. It has been a crucial driver and accelerator of the processes of globalisation that underpinned the increase, albeit uneven, interdependences we have seen among nations.
“Globalisation, propelled and fueled by the many new possibilities opened up by the advancements in digital technologies, may have made our world to feel much smaller than it would have been to the great explorers who undertook various voyages of discovery some 600 hundred years ago.
“However, we were and are still far from the ideal of becoming one world not least because the benefits of globalisation such as it was experienced were unevenly distributed among and within nations. The implication of this is that the acceleration of the processes of globalisation was accompanied by numerous discontents, including a growing crisis of poverty and inequality, that has sustained calls for global governance, development, and security reforms, and produced some of the anti globalisation sentiments that we are seeing playing out in some countries of the world, among them those of Europe and the Americas.”
Continuing, he added, “A big winner from the dynamics of contemporary globalisation has been China and several of the countries of the East, including key East Asian countries and India. Together, their successes in the exponential expansion of their economic fortunes have added up to ensure that by the dawn of the 21st century, global economic power was rapidly being de-centred from the West and shifting to the East is a development which is continuing and which speaks to the most radical reshuffling of economic power since the end of the Second World War.”
Gambari, therefore asserted that “Africa, it was said, could expect to be a big beneficiary of that expected peace dividend. The doctrinal framework for this was wrapped around the idea of the liberal peace.”
The Chairman of the occasion who is the Country Representative, UN Women, Beatrice Eyong, emphasized on the need for Africa to position women in the process of governance.
While citing the inadequate number of women in government, she believes feminization of poverty would further deepen the level of degradation witnessed by African women.
In her welcome address, the Publisher of Realnews, Maureen Chigbo, said the anniversary lecture series is one way the magazine contributes to nation-building and development by providing a forum for policy change-oriented discussions by professionals, scholars, technocrats, and decision-makers on the way forward for our great nation and Africa.
She explained that the magazine picked the theme for this year because of the concern about how Africa could be integrated into the global economy amidst the move towards authoritarianism, protectionism, nationalism, and the unbridled influence of technology on the socioeconomic well-being of its people.
While buttressing the Realnews impacts on politics, oil and gas, business and economy, women, youth and the environment, she however noted that the challenges have been in fashioning creative ways to sustain the publication in a difficult economic environment with dwindling prospects for advertisement.
For a better society
Follow us across our platforms:
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/championnewsonline/
Facebook – https://web.facebook.com/championnewsonline
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/champion-newspapers-limited/
https://x.com/championnewsng/
You can also like and comment on our YouTube videos.
https://youtu.be/QIBfD1tT80w?si=R4Qf3so2LxYu3GC2
