African leaders must find home-grown solutions to continent’s problems — Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Wednesday, said that African leaders must find home-grown solutions to the myriads of problems confronting the continent.

Mr Obasanjo stated this while addressing a delegation of students and youths across African countries at Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta.

The delegation, which included student leaders from Ethiopia and the Tigray region, was led by the president of the All-Africa Students’ Union (AASU), Osisiogu Osikenyi.

The students were on a “thank you” visit to Obasanjo for facilitating the permanent cessation of hostilities agreement between the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front (TPLF) in Pretoria in 2022.

The former president insisted that “no problem in Africa is too great for us to solve.”

Mr Obasanjo said it was important for Africa to consider the peculiarities of its people in designing and implementing workable home-grown solutions to the problems confronting the continent.

He said that the African Union (AU) had taken a lead in finding home-grown solutions to the continent’s problems with the way it resolved the civil war between Tigray and Ethiopia.

“It is a great lesson for us to know that yes, whatever may be our problem – political, economic, social in Africa, we can solve them if we go about seeking solutions rightly.

“What is very important and which I want you to take very seriously is that what we were able to achieve in Tigray between TPLF and the Government of Ethiopia is what you and I will regard as finding African solutions to African problems.

“This is what our leaders have been clamouring for even from independence in the early 1960s.

“No problem in Africa is too great for us to solve; problem of peace, problem of insecurity, problem of youth unemployment, lack of empowerment, lack of skill acquisition and general bad governance,” Mr Obasanjo said.

In his remarks, the president of the Ethiopian Higher Education Institutions Students’ Union (EHEISU), Oli Wako, said that African students’ leaders were with Mr Obasanjo on a ‘thank you’ visit.

Mr Wako noted that the former president played a key role in the historic signing of the Pretoria Peace Agreement between the Federal Republic of Ethiopia and Tigray Liberation Fronts.

According to him, the deadliest war in Tigray region of Ethiopia has brought immense tragedy, claiming the lives of countless young individuals and leaving behind widespread destruction and trauma.

He, however, noted that the move initiated by Mr Obasanjo had saved countless lives and provided a foundation upon which the war-torn region of Tigray could be rebuilt.

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“Baba, we extend our heartfelt appreciation for your unwavering commitment to brokering the peace agreement in Ethiopia.

“Your contributions have brought a new sense of hope to our people, and we stand here today, forever grateful for your remarkable efforts.

“It is with humility that we approach you today to seek your continued assistance,” he said.

(NAN)