By Marylin Eze
The founder of the African Children Talent Discovery Foundation (ACTDF), Noah Dallaji, has enjoined Africans to work together to lift the continent from dependence to productivity.
He stressed the need for attitudinal change both at individual and leadership levels to create an Africa that works for all.
He made the remarks at the global summit of the Africa Development Forum (ADF) with the theme “The Africa we Want”, held in Accra, Ghana, at the weekend.
‘The responsibility we have is to choose our leaders wisely. We have to decide the kind of leaders we want. Most times, some of these leaders have no business being in government because they lack the basic requirements. Yet they get into office because we citizens helped them to attain political power by influencing your ballot. We have to recognise that this is a democracy which is a people’s government and not a leaders’ government. We surely need a new Africa where there’s political stability, deepened democracy, equity and justice and economic prosperity. But this will only materialise when we attain a position of self-reinvention, vision, which I usually refer to as a ministry because of intrinsic values, inclusive government, leaders with capacity and competence and altruistic enough to be servant leaders,’ he said.
He also charged Africans to learn to tell their own stories rather than accept the anti-Africa narrative told by Western media.
Africa, he said, deserves the best because it has the best of all things from the abundant resources, weather to healthy food, intellectual capacity and creativity, spanning the music, arts and entertainment. ‘You have to tell your own story the way you want it not the way the Western media want it,’ he said.
In her keynote address, Vice President of Liberia, Dr Jewel Howard-Taylor said that women have a crucial role to play in the conversation for a new Africa.
‘I think the Africa we deserve takes us to a higher plane, women who hold up half of the sky must be part of the process. We bring a whole different aspect to governance. We’re interested in doing things to the end, we’re interested in collaborating so that women from all spectrums in Africa can work together to build the Africa we want for our children and posterity. The time is now. We must now begin to work in implementing the key aspects we want in governance so that the Africa we want can be created,’ she said.
Dr David Egwu, an ACDTF director, said the best way to change the social profile of Africa is by electing people-centric leaders.
‘We need vibrant leaders who are people-centric, not pocket-centric, meaning that we have to ensure our leaders are men and women who are committed to excellence, probity and selfless leadership and that’s what we need to transform the African continent,’ he said.