During his address at the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, President Bola Tinubu expressed Nigeria’s readiness to host the African Central Bank in accordance with the Abuja Treaty.
Tinubu affirmed his administration’s commitment to collaborate with the African Union Commission and member states to ensure the successful establishment of the bank by 2028.
According to Tinubu, Africa’s success in conclusively addressing its challenges hinges on the firmness of its resolution, built on a foundation of deep-rooted solidarity, if it is to avoid perpetuating existing problems and creating new ones.
“As a continent and as individual nations, we face strong headwinds and difficult hurdles threatening to complicate our mission to bring qualitative democratic governance and economic development to our people,” a statement by presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale quoted Tinubu as saying.
“Many of these obstacles, such as climate change and unfair patterns of global trade, are largely not of our making. However, some of the pitfalls, including coup-birthed autocracies and the deleterious tinkering with constitutional tenure provisions, are developmental cancers we as Africans are giving to ourselves.”
He also weighed in on the military takeovers in the Republics of Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, and the exit of three of these nations from the regional bloc – the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The President said disagreements over the unconstitutional changes of government should not mean a permanent rupture of the abiding lines of regional affinity and cooperation.
“The drive for a peaceful, strong, and united West Africa is bigger than any one person or group of people. The bonds of history, culture, commerce, geography, and brotherhood hold deep meaning for our people. Thus, out of the dust and fog of misunderstanding and acrimony, we must seize the chance to create a new people-centric era of trust and accord.
“To all who care to listen, I declare that if you come to the table to discuss important matters in good faith, you will find Nigeria and ECOWAS already sitting there waiting to greet you as the brother that you are,” he added.
