When Bako Sabo Kantiok recently completed his Masters Degree in Communications Development in the US, he could have opted to stay back like many others. Even without a valid visa, some would not mind being an illegal immigrant in the US and make do with any job they can find on the excuse that there is not much for them back home. But Bako, now Programme Officer, Fantsuam Foundation, Kafanchan, Kaduna State, Nigeria, believes there is no place like home, no matter the problems Nigerians have to cope with. “If you don’t fix it, you won’t enjoy it,” he said. Bako was in the US with two other Nigerian youths, Taiwo Adegboyega Adewole and Ruth Nwukabu Audu, to participate in the first three-day Presidential Forum with young African leaders. Adewole is CEO/MD, Taiwo Adewole and Associates, while Audu is Programme Manager, Community Action for Popular Participation (CAPP).

The youths had the privilege of hearing President Barack Obama share his dream for Africa, which he hopes can be achieved through them. Some of the highlights of his remarks:

High rate of African youth emigrating to the West

“…Given different stages of development around the world, one of the problems that poorer countries often have is that the best educated and the most talented have opportunities elsewhere. And so there’s what’s called the “brain drain” — people saying, I can make 10 times as much money if I’m a doctor in London as I can if I’m a doctor back home. And so this is a historic problem. Here is the interesting moment that we’re in, though — if you look at where the greatest opportunities are, they’re actually now in emerging markets. There are countries in Africa that are growing 7, 8, 9 percent a year. So if you’re an entrepreneur now with an idea, you may be able to grow faster and achieve more back home that you could here.

Now, it entails greater risk, so it may be safer to emigrate. But it may be that you can actually achieve more, more quickly back home. And so the question is for young leaders like yourselves, where do you want to have the most impact? And you’re probably going to have more impact at home whether you’re a businessman or woman, or you are a doctor or you are an attorney, or you are an organizer. That’s probably going to be the place where you can make the biggest change…”

The possibility that Taiwo, Bako and Ruth (Nigerian delegates) may one day wear President Goodluck Jonathan’s shoes

“What I’m hoping for is that some of you will end up being leaders of your country some day. And if you think about it, back in the 1960s, when all these — your grandparents, great-grandparents were obtaining independence, fighting for independence, the first leaders, they all said they were for democracy. And then what ends up happening is you’ve been in power for a while and you say, ‘well, I must be such a good ruler that it is for the benefit of the people that I need to stay here.’ And so then you start changing the laws, or you start intimidating and jailing opponents. And pretty soon, young people just like yourself — full of hope and promise — end up becoming exactly what they fought against. So one of the things that I think everybody here has to really internalize is the notion that — I think it was Gandhi who once said you have to be the change that you seek. You have to be the change that you seek.”

Africa has missed huge opportunities for too long

“When my father traveled to the United States and got his degree in the early ’60s, the GDP of Kenya was actually on a par with, maybe actually higher than the GDP of South Korea. Think about that. All right? So when I was born, Kenya per capita might have been wealthier than South Korea. Now it’s not even close. Well, that’s 50 years that was lost in terms of opportunities. When it comes to natural resources, when it comes to the talent and potential of the people, there’s no reason why Kenya shouldn’t have been on that same trajectory.

And so 50 years from now, when you look back you want to make sure that the continent hasn’t missed those opportunities as well. We want to make sure of that as well. And the United States wants to listen to you and work with you. And so when you go back and you talk to your friends and you say, ‘what was the main message the President had’ — we are rooting for your success, and we want to work with you to achieve that success, but ultimately success is going to be in your hands. And being a partner means that we can be there by your side, but we can’t do it for you.”
On the second day, the delegates met with some US Senators and Congressmen/women including Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, Senator Isakon of Georgia, Congressman Donald Payne among others on Capitol Hill, after which they went to the Peace Corps Headquarters, where they discussed and explored innovative approaches to development through social entrepreneurship and increased civic engagement.

Edward Kemp, the Deputy Director Bureau of African Affairs of the US Department of State said the community service element of the forum was designed for the delegates to see how the US does community service and have them share their own experience with the different service organizations. The organizations they visited include: DC Central Kitchen, where delegates had a dialogue with the CEO and Head Chef, and then worked with the Chef; Boys and Girls Club of Washington, to interact with the staff and kids; Capital Area Food Bank, where they toured the facilities, interacted with programme heads and participated in sorting and preparing food for shipment; First Baptist Church Senior Centre, where they met with staff and participated in poetry reading, card and jewelry making with senior citizens.

Coming from a country where Senior Centres or home for the elderly are not popular, Miss Kane Aminatakone from Ivory Coast, who serves as the Vice President of Muslim Students back in her country, said the experience of meeting the elderly at the First Baptist Senior Centre left her feeling more empowered to initiate a similar project back home.

“This meeting shows me religious community can take care of the elderly,” she said. “It helps elderly people break loneliness and gives them a chance to live longer…it is a good social obligation,” added Elycheikh Ahmedtolba from Mauritanian. Ravat from Mauritius said the visit to the senior centre empowered him to see how senior citizens can stimulate young people.

Dayo Israel, social representative to the United Nations had initially signed up for Boys and Girls Club of Washington as a result of his passion for youth issues, but later joined the team at the Senior Centre. He noted, “Sometimes we focus on the future and we don’t reflect and review our past. There is an African proverb that says “a youth without a link to the elders is like a tree without a root”…this is what spending time with the elderly did for us. I’m sure when they saw us, they saw hope.” One of the senior citizens said, “We are glad to have them. They are young and excited, so they made us feel good.”

On the last day of the forum, there was a Networking and Partnering Conference at the Newseum, aimed at developing new partnerships and deepen ties between public sector and civil society leaders in the US and throughout Africa. The networking session which provided a platform for participants to engage in discussions with leading US organizations focused on: Economic Opportunity and Entrepreneurship; Advocacy, Transparency, and Human Rights; Social Responsibility, Volunteerism, and Interfaith Action; Leadership and Youth Empowerment; and Innovative Solutions for Global Health.

Judith McHale in a closing remark promised that the US government will be reaching out to Embassies and Consulates in Africa to organize follow-up events with participants. “We want to support your efforts to use social media to continue your conversation and cooperation. We will offer small scale transformation grants to support future-oriented and creative proposals that focus on the themes of this forum… we know that with all the best will and efforts in the world, sometimes it takes a little bit of cash to get things going.” She also said that there would be African Alumni enrichment workshops involving African Alumni of US government exchange programmes in order to continue to expand the dialogue to give opportunities to youths active in their communities to be involved locally. “In the first quarter of 2011, there is going to be a follow-up forum in Africa…in different regions of Africa in order to engage more youths.”

She revealed that the Department of State is launching Apps for Africa effort all over Africa. “State Department looks to expand opportunities for technical innovators and programme developers to come together in each country in Africa with civil society leaders to develop technical responses to social challenges. A pilot project has been launched in Nairobi, Kenya.”

Thomas Kojo Quayson from Gambia said, “What I am taking back with me is a lot of hope. When I listen to the way people are brimming with ideas. I know there is hope for Africa.”

Culled from The Nation Newspaper

Columbia University’s SIPA Pan-African Network, African Business Club and African Law Students Association

Invite

The 7th Annual African Economic Forum

March 26th and 27th, 2010

Columbia University in the City of New York

Sessions:

African Hospitality: The Power Within| Infrastructure Development in Africa

African Fashion Going Global |China-Africa Trade and Investment

Aid vs. Investment| Brand Africa: Defining a Continent

Greasing the Wheel: Law, Corruption and the Economy

Niger Delta Investment Summit

Fashion Show | Movie Screening

Details: http://www.aef2010.com

Register: http://africaeconomicforum.com/aef2010/register

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnRPunzOZds

On Saturday Feb. 6, 52 people braved the winter to attend Solving Africa’s 2010 Kickoff event. Our vision is to have three or four events like this every year that follow this format:

1. Three Africans present their ideas for projects they’ve been thinking of launching in their communities in Africa. These ideas usually fall into education, health care, or the general pool of entrepreneurship.

2. Attendees choose a project to work on for the evening. They brainstorm, create project deliverables, and build a steering committee to get the idea up and running.

3. After the evening, participants meet offline and continue working on these projects, giving ongoing feedback to the larger group and asking for whatever help is necessary.

In this fashion, between 9 and 12 new small scale projects will be launched each year by people from the communities they want to serve.

photo: Jos Main Market. Courtesy PlateauStateGov.org.

Jos, the city I grew up in, is fighting. Again. No one is sure why the fighting started and already, 149 people have died. One story says the fighting started when residents opposed the rebuilding of a Mosque that had been destroyed in the 2008 riots. Another report says angry Muslims went to St. Michael’s church and started shooting people as they left church. None of these stories makes heads or tails. The Muslims I know are not angry people, so where exactly is this coming from?

Why is no one asking?

- How were people so readily armed? I know the parts of the city where this fighting is happening. Those guys can’t afford the kinds of specialized weapons and uniforms that all of a sudden appear as if on demand when a fight breaks out.

- Who is supplying the weapons being used to terrorize my city? One friend theorizes that it’s the surplus from army reserves being sold by dirty officers on the black market. That’s a theory. The truth would be nice.

- This started in 2001, again in 2006, and 2008. Why has the governor not investigated the previous riots and come to the bottom of it?

- Yes it’s a safer response to leave the city entirely. But what is the best response? When those who can afford to relocate do so and leave the city in the hands of people who don’t mind burning it down. What then?

Read the story here (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100118/ap_on_re_af/af_nigeria_violence)

THISDAY NIGERIA NEWSPAPER REPORTS:

The young man, who yesterday night attempted to ignite an explosive device aboard a Delta Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan in the United States has been identified as Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old son of Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, former First Bank chairman. Mutallab, a former minister and prominent banker recently retired from the Bank’s board.

The older Mutallab, as at the time of filing this report, had just left his Katsina hometown for Abuja to speak with security agencies, family sources say. According to the family members, Mutallab has been uncomfortable with the boy’s extreme religious views and had six months ago reported his activities to United States’ Embassy, Abuja and Nigerian security agencies. Continue Reading

At least 30 people have been killed in clashes between herders and farmers in Nigeria’s central Nasarawa State, witnesses say.

Local people have described armed men driving from house to house shooting. Farms and homes have been destroyed in the remote village of Udenin Gida.

The fighting follows weeks of tensions between the two groups.

Nasarawa is in Nigeria’s “Middle Belt” where rival ethnic groups often clash over land and other resources.

To each person who sees that ordinary individuals have the potential to transform a village, city, country or continent, we invite you to be part of what we’ve loosely called the Solving Africa movement. Our goal is to showcase, inspire and mobilize young Africans and their friends involved in: thinking up, launching, and executing fantastic projects in their villages, cities, and countries.

We are a smattering of entrepreneurs, development professionals and skilled idealists from around the world interested in creating a new African dream. We think it’s possible that if one thousand people, say Cameroonians, decided to start hospitals that adhered to international standards and treated the diseases most common to their people, these 1000 individuals would have essentially transformed the healthcare sector of their country. Yes, there are many variables and unknowns but that’s how a country is changed – one daring individual effort after the other.

What is your Solving Africa initiative and how can our growing network of entrepreneurs, development professionals and eager-to-work idealists help?

Starting January 2, SolvingAfrica.com will be replaced with www.SolvingAfrica.org…