As a follow up to one of our panel discussions on politics at the Power of Africa Conference 2022 held last week, we have decided to share our own two cents on this essential subject especially as it is at the fulcrum of our advocacy as an organisation with the commitment to building a new Africa one idea at a time. We believe that all strategies to be adopted in the course of achieving societal transformation must be people-oriented, people-based and as well people-centric.
(Watch a repeat broadcast of the Politics Panel Session at the Power of Africa Conference Day 1 live on our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIDD7Bo4-CM).
Africa must build a system that would allow its countrymen to thrive in their various endeavours. Such a system must be void of any unusual political interference and other forms of state bureaucracy. If politics must interfere with a people-centered system, then it must play a regulatory role backed by the law of the land. It is the system that would create an enabling environment and cause all the productive forces in that society to converge at a point where people can earn according to the strength of their arms, have equal access to quality education and healthcare facilities and get justice for any dispute or grievance they may encounter.
Even if it seems as though creating people-centered strategies for a transformed society is an illusion or at best an idealistic adventure, African leaders must strive to attain that perfection. The room for improvement is the largest in the world and it will reject any country that is determined to change its approach towards delivering a model society that would deliver the gains of democracy to all and sundry.
People-centered strategies in tune with what is obtainable in other climes must come as an offshoot of carefully planned and properly selected plans and programmes of government to be managed and executed by the organized private sector in the society. Government should build schools while private sector should develop and regulate curriculum. Government should build hospitals while private organisations should deploy expert manpower to be in charge of these facilities. Government should build laboratories while private sector should design research areas and methodologies to impact industry and drive growth in the productive quarters. All these and many more are the ideas for a people centered strategy with societal transformation in view.
Power of Africa is determined to continue to sustain the drive towards building a new Africa. The maiden edition of our conference last week is a testament to this commitment. A new Africa is rising and we are excited to be right at the centre of it.
credits: Samuel Adedoyin