AFRICAN leaders have been urged to protect their sovereign autonomy, with warnings that failure to do so could leave the continent perpetually dependent despite its vast natural endowments.
This admonition was given yesterday at the strategic policy workshop with the theme ‘Has Africa Come of Age? Muritala Muhammed’s Pan-African Vision 50 Years After’, jointly organised by the Muritala Muhammed Foundation and the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) to mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of General Muhammed Muritala.
In his welcome remarks, the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Dr Eghosa Osaghae, stressed that it was time Africans reclaimed their assertiveness on the global stage, arguing that Africa was no longer an appendage of world powers but an emerging centre of influence in a multipolar world.
Commenting on Muritala’s historic speech that Africa has come of age, which was delivered on January 11, 1976, at an OAU extraordinary summit in Addis Ababa, Osaghae noted that indeed Africans must tackle their challenges with local solutions, adding that continued dependence on foreign aid would not yield a positive outcome.
He said: “When General Muritala said Africa had come of age, he was saying to the world, don’t think Africa is an appendage anymore. Don’t think Africa is what you like to put today as a copycat. To say Africa has come of age is actually to put on the stamp the meaning of strategic autonomy. And I just say that Africa has become its own voice, its own master. Africa has now insisted that it must only follow tracks and tractions that are determined by Africa for Africans.”
In her remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Dr Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode, lauded his father for his commitment to Pan-Africanism, which, according to her, elevated the status of Nigeria and Africans on the global stage.
Reflecting on her father’s enduring influence on Nigeria’s governance and Africa, Muhammed-Oyebode emphasised that his father stood at the forefront of Africa’s liberation struggle.
She described his father’s popular saying that “Africa has come of age” as a rallying cry that continues to resonate in Africa’s pursuit of unity and independence in international affairs.
In his tribute to the late General, a former Nigerian Minister of External Affairs, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, described him as a man of several parts. He said that he’s recognised for bringing out the pride in Nigeria, and his efforts at governance were unparalleled.
Speaking on the panel session, the Deputy Researcher at the NIIA, Dr Joshua Bolarinwa, argued that Africa was yet to fully realise the vision of self-reliance and courageous leadership articulated by the late General nearly five decades ago.
In his submission, the President of the Nigerian Political Science Association (NPSA), Prof. Hassan Saliu, also said that Africa and Nigeria were yet to fulfil the vision of General Muhammed Murtala, especially on issues of sovereignty, defence, unity, liberation and freedom as contained in his Addis Ababa speech.+
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