Mokgethi Monaisa, the consul-general, South African (SA) High Commission in Nigeria, has urged the African Union (AU) to critically integrate New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD’s) fundamental objectives to lift the Continent’s technological development.
NEPAD is AU’s technical body, positioned for radical and new intervention, to address critical challenges facing the continent such as poverty, development and Africa’s marginalisation internationally.
Speaking to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek at SAGE Software Day in Lagos, Monaisa, said that in the face of brain-drains and capital flight evident in the Continent’s technology space, it behoves on the leaders to activate NEPAD founding objectives to provide unique opportunities for African countries to achieve common technological development agenda.
In the ‘80s and ‘90s African governments went on to design a series of pan-African development approaches which they felt were relevant to the needs of their people.
These initiatives included: the Lagos Plan of Action (1980), the Final Act of Lagos (1980), Africa’s Priority Programme for Economic Recovery (1986-1990), the African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programme (1989), the African (Arusha) Charter for Popular Participation and Development (1990), the Abuja Treaty (1991) and the Cairo Agenda (1994) amongst others.
However, the failures of these plans, the ills of the structural adjustment programmes of modernisation and falling growth rates when other regions such as Asia were on the rise, ‘a new breed of African leaders’ entered the 21st century with cravings for a re-birth for Africa, which were part of reasons for the establishment of NEPAD in 2001.
Monaisa told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek that, “Some years ago, our leaders on the continent conceived the idea of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and if we can all as, African countries implement NEPAD as proposed by our leaders, I think that will go a long way to promoting technology in Africa instead of looking for technology solutions from other Continents.
“We have a lot of brain-powers in Africa and we need to utilize them. And we have a lot of skills that we need to tap into too. And we have in the Diaspora, Africans who are holding positions at certain industries abroad and we could bring them with those skills into the continent, and go into production and refines our product and NEPAD could be the vehicle to achieve that.
“The aim or objective of NEPAD is to bring about inter-trade and promote investment in the continent and also to stop cash flow outside of the continent.
“While we don’t break ties with our friends abroad, either in Europe or America, we don’t wish to ‘de-capitalize’ but we wish to be equal. They need to also come and import from us finished product so we should be dealing at the same level with them as equals.
The Consul-General, South African (SA) High Commission in Nigeria added that the future of Africa depends on Africans themselves, who should be recognized by the various Governments as catalysts for the Continent’s technological growths.