Anyaoku said the call became necessary in view of the fact that no
nation could achieve a stable development without security, rule of
law and respect for human rights.
Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth has
called on African leaders to focus on the building of infrastructure
to consolidate on democracy, security, and respect for rule of law.
Anyaoku made the call on Thursday in Abuja at the 2019 Investment in
Africa World Summit and Expo, a bilateral investment forum.
Anyaoku said the call became necessary in view of the fact that no
nation could achieve a stable development without security, rule of
law and respect for human rights.
According to him, having achieved independence on the basis of belief
in democracy, the challenge Africa faces today is to consolidate on
democracy and make democracy real in their individual countries.
“Democracy is not an event, it is a process, it goes slowly along to
consolidate and entrench democratic ideals.
“Africa is still struggling to develop its social-economic potential
because colonialism in the continent was based on the principle of
extracting raw materials by the colonial masters.
“Infrastructure was neglected; power was neglected, education and
health facilities were inadequate and roads and railways were focused
only to enable the transfer of raw materials from their sources to the
seaports.
“The challenge of Africa today is the development of its social
economic potential, consolidation on its democracy and internal
security because unless a society is secure, it cannot develop
meaningfully,” he said.
Anyaoku called on African leaders to build unity within the continent
in a practical, integrated and collaborative manner.
He said failure to build the unity would continue to hinder the
countries from building structures that enable the continent to tap
its social economic potential.
He said the formation of sub-regional organizations would help to
build the infrastructure needed to develop the regions.
According to him, the cooperation that Africa needs to boost
intra-African trade is the expansion of possibilities of trade within
the continent, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.