Africa must take ownership of its development – Vice President

Vice President Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has called on Africans to take greater ownership of the continent’s development and narratives, stressing the need for African-led solutions to African challenges. She said Africa must move beyond implementing solutions designed elsewhere and instead build the institutions, expertise and capacity required to determine its own future. Opoku-Agyemang made the remarks in Kigali, Rwanda, where she participated in the inaugural Africa Mindset Reset Forum, organised by the African School of Governance.

She joined a high-level panel featuring Rwandan President Paul Kagame, former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn Boshe and former South African President Thabo Mbeki. According to the Vice President, understanding Africa’s history is critical to shaping its future. “Pan-Africanism was founded on the conviction that Africans could work together to determine their own future.

That conviction must remain at the heart of our development today. “We must move beyond implementing solutions designed for us towards building the capacity, institutions and expertise needed to address our own challenges,” she said. Opoku-Agyemang also encouraged the African School of Governance to prioritise research rooted in Africa’s realities and develop solutions that respond directly to the continent’s development needs.

“Education must prepare our young people not merely to participate in the future, but to equip them with the knowledge, skills and confidence to shape it,” Prof Opoku-Agyemang said. The Vice President further called for greater attention to the bureaucratic bottlenecks and institutional challenges that continue to slow development across the continent. She said policies and institutions must ultimately be measured by their ability to improve the lives of citizens, particularly people who have historically had fewer opportunities.

“We must increasingly ask where Africa ought to be, what it will take to get there, and what each of us is prepared to do to make that future possible.” She said the discussions at the forum provided an opportunity for African leaders and experts to reflect candidly on the continent’s history, present circumstances and development trajectory. Vice President Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has arrived in Kigali, Rwanda, to participate in the Africa Mindset Reset Forum. The forum, which is taking place from August 25-26, is being organised by the Africa School of Governance.

It is a flagship, Africa-led convening on the leadership mindset and results of culture the continent needs to own its development. According to the organisers of the forum, Africa’s challenge of this century was not a lack of potential, but that the African people, resources, geography, and history could drive global growth. “The real question is organising it: setting our own agenda, mobilising capital, building institutions, mastering technology, delivering at scale,” the organisers stated.