NEPAD!
LEARN FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION CENTRE (DEC) ENUGU
ABOUT THE MOST RECENT ACRONYM IN THE FIELD OF AFRICA
DEVELOPMENT CALLED NEPAD (“THE NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT”)

• This New Partnership for Africa’s Development is a pledge by African leaders, based on a common vision and a firm and shared conviction, that they have a pressing duty to eradicate poverty and to place their countries, both individually and collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development, and at the same time to participate actively in the world economy and body politic. The programme is anchored on the determination of Africans to extricate themselves and the continent from the malaise of underdevelopment and exclusion in a globalizing world.
• The poverty and backwardness of Africa stand in stark contrast to the prosperity of the developed world. The continued marginalization of Africa from the globalization process and the social exclusion of the vast majority of its peoples constitute a serious threat to global stability.
• Historically accession to the institutions of the international community, the credit and aid binomial has underlined the logic of Africa development. Credit has led to the debt deadlock, which, from instalments to rescheduling, still exists and hinders the growth of African countries. The limits of this option have been reached. Concerning the other element of the binomial aid we can also note the reduction of private aid and the upper limit of public aid, which is below the target set in the 1970s.
• Africa, 340 million people, or half the population, live on less than US $1 per day, The mortality rate of children under 5 years of age is 140 per 1000, and life expectancy at birth is only 54 years. Only 58 per cent of the population have access to safe water. The rate of illiteracy for people over 15 is 41 percent. There are only 18 mainline telephones per 1000 people in Africa, compared with 146 for the world as a whole and 567 for high-income countries.
• The New partnership for Africa’s Development calls for the reversal of this abnormal situation by changing the relationship that underpins it. Africa’s are appealing neither for the further entrenchment of dependency through aid, not for marginal concessions.
• We are convinced that an historic opportunity presents itself to end the scourge of underdevelopment that afflicts Africa. The resources, including capital, technology and human skills, that are required to launch a global war on poverty and underdevelopment exist in abundance, and are within our reach. What is required to mobilize these resources and to use them properly, is bold and imaginative leadership that is genuinely committed to a sustained human development efforts and poverty eradication, as well as a new global partnership based on shared responsibility and mutual interest.
• Across the continent, Africans declare that we will no longer allow ourselves to be conditioned by circumstance. We will determine our own destiny and call on the rest of the world to complement our efforts. There are already signs of progress and hope. Democratic regimes that are committed to the protection of human rights, people-centred development and market-oriented economics are on the increase. African peoples have begun to demonstrate their refusal to accept poor economic and political leadership. These development are, however, uneven and inadequate and need to be further expedited.
• The New partnership for Africa’s Development is about consolidating and accelerating these gains. It is a call for a new relationship of partnership between Africa and the international community, especially the highly industrialized countries, to overcome the development chasm that has widened over centuries of unequal relations.
• Finally, the lofty plan by African leaders cannot succeed without the participation of all stakeholders (ie the African People themselves) from planning, to the implementation stage of the programme; and I call for greater support and involvement of all in this project NEPAD.