President Muhammadu Buhari was among the African leaders at the recently concluded African Union (AU) Summit, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he was conferred the Anti-corruption Champion and also spoke extensively on how to curb the negative events bedeviling the continent.
The four-day programme saw Buhari delivering a paper titled “Winning the Fight Against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africa’s Transformation.”
He also launched the continental Anti-corruption war, stating that corruption has deprived Africa of over $50 billion annually, and challenged his fellow leaders to halt the menace.
“African Nations must find a way of building a synergy between the executive, judiciary and legislature in order to entrench good governance. Leaders must have a change of mindset by prioritising accountability and transparency in order to succeed in the fight against corruption.
“This is not stating that fighting corruption is going to be a straight forward task as corruption will always fight back. Irrespective of any setback faced in the fight against corruption, African leaders must remain resolute.”
The President pledged to do his best “to ensure that the anti-corruption agenda receive the attention it deserves and make the impact we all hope for, during 2018 and beyond.”
He championed for the integration of Youths in the fight against corruption, as there is need for the continent to raise a generation free from the scourge of corruption.
According to Buhari, the rampaging acts of corruption in Africa speak volumes of the need for strong leadership in the continent.
He also joined 14 other members of the Peace and Security Council (PSC), a standing organ of the AU for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts, to find a lasting solution to the crisis situations marauding the African continent.
He iterated the need for deliberate moves, not only to crash the network between transnational organised crimes and terrorist organisations, but also to ensure that the payment of ransom to terrorist groups is truncated.
The President, who noted that Africa had made some significant strides in enacting legal and policy frameworks such as the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (AUCPCC) to address the vice, said the desired impact had been lacking.
“Fifteen (15) years after the adoption of the African Union Convention, 2018 provides a good starting point to take stock of progress made so far, assess what still needs to be done and devise new strategies to address new corruption challenges.”
The meeting addressed the upsurge of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees, climate change and its consequences, as well as the issue of the derailment of National development programmes.
Other issues delegates brainstormed on included climate change, security, Lake Chad and the Sahel crisis, and acts of terror flowing from Libya, Somalia, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The closing ceremony of the Summit witnessed African leaders launching the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM).
