THERE MUST BE A GENERATIONAL TRANSFER OF POWER AND WEALTH TO THE YOUTHS . . . Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina.

By Mike ALADENIKA. 

The President, African Development Bank Group, Nigeria's, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina has advocated for a genuine "transfer of power and wealth to the youths, with a view to growing the nation and for a better repositioning in the interest of all. 

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina who stated this while delivering a Convocation Lecture, titled "BUILDING A  NEW  NIGERIA : IMPERATIVES FOR  SHARED PROSPERITY." at the American University of Nigeria, Yola, said "the popular folk talk should no longer be 'the young shall grow', it should, rather, be: 'the young have arrived'.”

According to the Nigeria's former Minister, "the young shoots are springing up in Nigeria. Today, Lagos has its own Silicon Valley. Yabacon Valley, which has emerged as one of the leading tech hubs in Africa with between 400 and 700 active start-ups worth over $2 billion, second only to Cape Town".

"Andela, a global technology start-up based in Yabacon Valley, recently attracted $24 million in funding from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The $200 million investment by Stripe (a Silicon Valley firm) in the local payments company Paystack, and $400 million into three Fintech companies in just one week in 2019 signals the huge potentials of Nigeria to attract global digital commerce and financial services."

Dr, Akinwumi Adesina said "the African Development Bank is currently working on a $500 million program, Digital Nigeria, which is being designed to help further transform Nigeria’s digital competitiveness and build on the incredible entrepreneurship of Nigeria’s youth."

"The Bank is also exploring the establishment of Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks -- financial institutions for young people, run by first-rate young bankers and financial experts, to drive youth-wealth creation."

"We must address the fundamental reasons for agitations, by listening, understanding, removing prejudices, and allowing for open, national dialogues, without preconditions, but with one goal: build one cohesive, united, fair, just and equitable nation for all, not for a few or for any section of the nation or religion.

"A nation, unified by a sense of common wealth, not a collage of ethnic nationalism. A nation driven my meritocracy, not ethnocracy, religiocracy or aristocracy."

The  African Development Bank Group, President, while drawing comparison analysis between Nigeria and Singapore advocated for a review of Nigeria's constitution

stressing that "they put in place a constitution that reinforced national fusion. Article 12 of the constitution forbids discrimination based on race, descent or place of birth. It reads, “We the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language and religion, to build a democratic society based on justice and equality”.

It goes on to say, “there shall be no discrimination against citizens of Singapore on the grounds only of religion, race, descent or place of birth in any law or in the appointment to any office or employment under a public authority or in the administration of any law relating to the acquisition, holding or disposition of property or the establishing or carrying on of any trade, business, profession, vocation or employment”.

Dr. Adesina said Nigeria "should 

manage its diversity to create wealth --- shared wealth."   "Our diversity is not our problem. Diversity is our strength."  "Nigeria is blessed with incredibly rich diversity: of people, of cultures, of religions, of mineral resources, oil, and gas, an amazingly rich biodiversity, that should make us the envy of the world. We are blessed with abundantly diverse agro-ecologies, that should also make us a land of bountiful harvests with capacity to feed Africa."

"We are a religious nation, so we should understand that God loves diversity. The diversity of rich and brilliant colours that we see in our forests, oceans, seas, and in flora and fauna, reflect the beauty of the Creator."

But when mismanaged, diversity becomes divergence. Rather than unite, we become splintered, with each entity believing that, somehow, it is better without the other.

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina then called  "for a new Nigeria, where one from the north shall be at home in the east; where one from the east shall break bread with one in the north; one where the one in the west shall eat from the same plate with one in the north; and wash hands in the same basin as one in the east."

He also advocated that "there must be accountability for better lives for all Nigerians, regardless of their levels of income.There cannot and should not be a Nigeria for the rich, and another Nigeria for the poor.

"We must build one Nigeria, where every citizen has the right to a decent life.We must build a better nation.We must start building again, not splintering again. We must re-build trust, equity, and social justice, to propel strong cohesiveness as a nation.

"The tides are high, I know, and our boat rocks from time to time. Yet, I have hope. Hope for a better Nigeria … a renewed nation. Hope for a nation helped and healed by God. A nation, where the sacrifices of Nigerians past and present shall not be in vain.

I pray and long for a better Nigeria.

For a nation, built not on the division of its past, or the foundations of ethnicity, but on a new foundation, the foundation of equity, fairness, justice and unity, one Nigerian to the other.

For a new Nigeria, where one from the north shall be at home in the east; where one from the east shall break bread with one in the north; one where the one in the west shall eat from the same plate with one in the north; and wash hands in the same basin as one in the east.They shall not raise alarms against their neighbors, for we shall once again be renewed with a spirit of nationhood".

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