A former presidential aide, Laolu Akande on Thursday applauded President Bola Tinubu for speaking as a strong voice on behalf of Africa at the 78th United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
Akande who appeared as a guest on the Channels Television programme, Sunrise Daily from New York said the speech by the president was a notable one, especially when considering the fact that it was his first speech at UNGA as Nigeria’s president.
In the interview monitored by QUEST TIMES, Akande said “Clearly this was a very notable speech that the president gave. Of course, you know, like he indicated himself, this was his first speech as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Not only did he speak for the Nigerian people but he also made some very important statements on behalf of the African continent. He said the time that Africa used to be seen as a place of people to be pitied is over and that what Africa wants is a mutually beneficial partnership”.
“He spoke about four important things. Number one, he spoke about the development of the African continent. He said that what Africa is looking for is a mutually beneficial relationship, namely that the international community ought to partner with Africa. He did refer to the marshal plan which of course was the plan that was put up by the international community after the end of the Second World War to sort of help Europe to recover”.
“He said that even though the circumstances of Africa are not compared to what happened in Europe after the war, the same kind of commitment that the international community, especially European countries gave to rebuilding Europe is the kind of request that Africa is making for serious political commitment and mutuality in terms of international relations”.
ALSO READ: Ondo Deputy Governor Aiyedatiwa Faces Impeachment Over N300m Bulletproof Jeep
Akande said Tinubu as chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Tinubu also spoke about partnerships with the international community on how to stem the growing tide of coups in Africa as well as calling out foreign nations who are stealing the mineral resources of Africa.
“Secondly, he spoke about democracy. This is a very important one because of what has been happening in Africa with the coup that we have been having all over the place, especially the question of Niger. He said that the solution to the problems is not coups. He said as chairman of ECOWAS, he was looking for a partnership with the international community on how to stem the tide of coups in the continent”.
“He then talked about the ‘dark channel of commerce’ that has been perpetrated in the international community in places like Africa and other developing countries where there has been a pillage of mineral resources by foreign countries taking advantage of mineral resources in places like Nigeria where they come and basically steal our mineral resources and do all kinds of illicit transactions and taking away the resources of Africa and other continents in a way that not only is despicable but in a way that perpetuates poverty of the people but also promote conflict”.
“I think what the president has done is that he has made an attempt to retake our place of importance, the significance of the Nigerian voice in the international community, the significance of Nigeria as a voice for the black race, as a voice for the African continent and as a voice for the developing world, a voice that cannot be ignored”.