Africa is rich, doesn’t need aid – Jimoh Ibrahim

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Sen. Jimoh Ibrahim, Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN, says Africa is a rich continent that does not require aid from other continents to develop.

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Jimoh spoke at a reception in honour of Nigeria’s Ahunna Eziakonwa, who was appointed a Senior Adviser on Africa to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

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The Nigerian diplomat criticised the perceptions of Africa as a beggarly continent for aid.

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“Africa consists of 25 per cent of the world population. The future of the world is in Africa. That’s something to talk about,” Jimoh said.

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“I will not be part of the people that are talking about aid to Africa.

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“Africa is made up of sovereign nations; we are independent, and we cannot afford to trade our sovereignty for aid.”

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According to him, what Africa needs is trade, collaboration, cooperation and partnership.

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“I must thank President Donald Trump for initiating trade and investment as replacements for aid.

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“Fantastic programme, so that we can actually capture the essence of our sovereignty and independence.

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“I won’t be here to plead for any aid to any African country. We don’t need it. We need collaboration and cooperation and partnership towards human and material development.”

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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Africa’s participation in the U.S. government’s new “Trade over Aid” programme remains noticeably low.

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Of the nearly four dozen signatories, only six African nations have joined the scheme, with Nigeria taking a prominent but measured role.

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Jimoh also expressed concerns over Africa’s absence from the permanent seats of the UN Security Council.

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He noted that Africa was not on the table when nations were negotiating the power make-up of the UN in 1945, as African countries were still being colonised.

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“We agreed, but over the past 60 years, Nigeria has been a member of the United Nations; we have spent 60 years here, but we haven’t got this permanent seat.

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“Africa doesn’t have a permanent seat, and Africa is about 25 per cent of the entire world population.

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“If you talk about insecurity, maybe because Africa is not on the permanent seat of the United Nations.”

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Jimoh underscored the importance of Eziakonwa lending her voice to a legitimate permanent seat or seats for Africa in the UN Security Council.

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“As adviser on Africa (to the UN Secretary-General), it will be very historic to continue to put your voice at the center of this engagement,” Jimoh said.

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The ambassador conveyed the goodwill of President Bola Tinubu to Eziakonwa, saying the president was proud and happy about her appointment.

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He said he was recently in Nigeria to brief the president about Eziakonwa’s UN appointment and also had lots of discussions about Nigeria and Africa at the UN.

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Jimoh also commended Ms Amina Mohammed, saying Tinubu and the 250 million Nigerians were proud of her achievements as the first woman Deputy Secretary-General of the UN.

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Speaking at the event, Mohammed congratulated Eziakonwa on her appointment, saying “how many aspired to it but you earned it”.

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In her response, Eziakonwa thanked Nigeria for the support through her UN career, saying, “Nigeria is home”.

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“This is the country that brought me up. I was educated from birth in Nigeria. We can have all kinds of perspectives about Nigeria today, but Nigeria produced me.

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“With all its challenges, I am a product of Nigeria. So all the achievements that you are looking at, the seed was sown in Nigeria. I’m fully made in Nigeria.”

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Eziakonwa, a UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Assistant Administrator, was, before her new role, the longest-serving Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa.

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