A Scientist urges African leaders to partner with each other to liberate the continent.

The Vice President of Nigerians in the Diaspora Organisation (NIDO), Singapore Chapter, gave this advice in a telephone interview with the media in Abuja.

Dr. Jonathan Obaje, who is a Singapore-based Nigerian biomedical research scientist has underscored the need for African leaders to work closely together, to ensure economic liberation of the continent.

He said it had become important for African leaders to come up with strategic plans that would help them cope with the new world challenges occasioned by the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19).

According to him, community and religious leaders, politicians, and professionals must come together and turn the pandemic into a historical liberation for Africa.

Obaje said, “We only need few prominent persons to initiate and pull in prominent African Americans and Africans worldwide.

“All we need is to brand this as “fight to kill the real pandemic – Racism”. It is a moral and politically correct argument for a new world.

“This is not the time to talk about poor leadership in Africa, which itself is a product of racism.

“Those who will lead this battle to success will form the core of new generation African leaders and many mediocre leaders will be swept off in this transformation process.

“African Diaspora worldwide has a unique role to play in the actualisation of this liberation movement and nothing will be achieved if we all lay back as usual.”

He expressed his hope on the leaders to seize the opportunity to lead Africa and all who support the Africa liberation movement, saying this is African’s golden opportunity for real transformation.

He said that although it would take years for people to understand the connection between COVID-19 pandemic and Floyd-20 racism pandemic, more should be done to liberate the continent.

“Africa must recognise its golden opportunity to unite and seize the moment.

“Africans worldwide must now demand reparations for the many years of economic exploitation and psychological torture it has suffered and endured for 400 years.

“African leaders must come together to demand blanket debt cancellation across the board for Africa and Africanise companies, institutions and organisations operating in Africa.

“Establish twenty years ban on exportation of natural resources from Africa and ensure that African raw materials are refined and processed in Africa before exporting,” he added.

He noted that African doctors, nurses, engineers and scientists proved to be as good, if not better than their foreign counterparts since the wake of COVID-19 in February.

Obaje, also a chartered chemist of the UK Royal Society of Science/Chemistry, advised Nigerians to shun negative thoughts and rather always think positive.

He is currently the chief executive officer of a transdermal drug delivery research company in Singapore.

 

 

NAN