Mr. Will Stevens who is the United States Consul General in Nigeria has asserted that the growing trend of military takeover of government in Africa was because some leaders in the continent refused to relinquish power after their tenure in office.
Stevens also expressed grave concern that Africa is facing challenges like climate change and food insecurity, saying only democratic stability could help in resolving the problems.
The Consul General made this known while speaking at the launch of the ‘Recycling Waste to Wealth Challenge’ competition for secondary school students at Abeokuta Window on America, located at the Youth Development Centre of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Africa Today News, New York gathered that the programme is a US Government supported enterprise competition for students in vocational and technical colleges in Ogun State.
Read Also: Naira Now Among Africa’s Worst Currencies – World Bank
In his words, Stevens said leaders of Africa must embrace the real tenets of democracy by ensuring peaceful transition of power.
According to him, Nigeria has enjoyed 25 years of uninterrupted peaceful democratic transition, urging other African nations to learn from Nigeria.
He said, ‘(Olusegun) Obasanjo served two terms and left power, he set the precedent in Nigeria of you serve and then you step aside for your successor.
‘Nigeria has enjoyed 25 years of presidential succession. President Buhari just did the same thing.
‘There are Presidents of neighbouring countries that have been there for a very, very long time, 20, 30, 40 years, this leads to democratic instability, it leads to coup.’
In another report, the well-known Kenyan lawyer and activist, Prof. Patrick Lumumba, has drawn attention to the fresh exodus of African talents to overseas destinations noting that it’s akin to contemporary slavery.
Lumumba asserts that the legacy of colonialists endures in Africa, with their indirect exploitation continuing despite their departure years ago.
One of the speakers at this year’s edition of The Platform, an Independence Day Anniversary event organised in Lagos by Pastor Poju Oyemade’s The Covenant Nation, was the former leader of Kenya’s anti-corruption agency.
Lumumba, in his address, stressed the importance of Africa redefining itself and drew parallels between the large-scale emigration of African professionals to Europe, America, and other regions and modern slavery.