Africa Union (AU) has set 2020 date to end the various crisis in the continent, it was learnt at the weekend.
The minister who spoke on the occasion marking the Africa Day celebration in Abuja,
said that AU must end the crisis in the continent for there to be development and progress.
He also revealed that the continent has taken a bold step to end the dependence on partners to fund the African Union (AU) programmes.
Onyeama who happens to be the first Nigeria Foreign Affairs minister to attend the yearly celebration said, “Africa must silence guns in the continent.
“We have 2020 as a date for silencing the guns on our continent. There are too many conflict in our continent and with conflict we absolutely can not have development. We absolutely have to address the conflict situation on the continent, otherwise we are going to leave terrible situation for our youth.
“It can be said today that Africa has largely succeeded in overcoming the challenges and threat to her unity, but that is not uhuhuru
“AU should now be focused in actively addressing the lingering issue of cooperation and fighting underdevelopment and terrorism that are beyond the reach of any single African state to tackle.
We must promote peace and security, intra-African trade and regional integration as drivers of sustainable human development in Africa.”
The minister who also spoke about AU developmental plan tagged 2063 Agenda said the “question of peace is a key priority. We must silence the gun on this continent by the year 2020.”
While noting that the continent might have been facing some challenges, Onyeama however submitted that the continent has also recorded some level of improvement, peace and stability and democratic governance, human development.
He said, “with 5% growth rate over the last 15 years. Africa is definitely one of the region of the world where growth is on the fast lane. Africa is the last frontier. It is the only continent where you can get the highest return on investment.
“The potential is absolutely enormous. So it is just a question of purposeful leadership and complete engagement of all the sectors of our society to rawly realize that carrot that is dangling before our eyes.”
The good thing about the content right now, the minister said is the bold steps taken by Africa leaders to start the transformation process of the continent.
He said, “Now is the time to start transforming our continent and they have taken some very bold steps, understanding that first of all we can no longer be depending on our partners to finance our Organization and have put in place a new mechanism for generating funding. ”
He also revealed that AU will be putting in place an implementation unit that will monitoring the goals and ambitious steps they have taken to transform the AU and Africa.
“It is my firm believe that Africa is really on the march to future prosperity and robust economy and this is the Africa we envisage,” he added.
HARRISON EDEH, ABUJA
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