Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea have signed pacts on a number of areas, including petroleum and security.
The agreements were reached shortly before a dinner organised in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s honour by host President Teodoro Mbasogo in Malabo yesterday.
During the dinner, President Tinubu emphasised the importance of peace and unity in catalysing Africa’s development.
He stated that “the time is now” for the continent to be in charge of solving its problems.
The Nigerian leader highlighted the brain drain and talent loss Africa faces due to poverty, archaic judicial systems and tribalism. He advised that these issues must be addressed to foster development.
President Tinubu also appealed to international organisations to invest more in African research and development.
He said: “We have to work together to make peace the focus of our development in order to really develop. Without peace you cannot develop.
“Our problem is not that we don’t know what to do, we identify them, we understand what to do, our problem is how and when we should do them and I say the time is now.
“We better roll our sleeves, put on our nickers and move for peace, stability and progress.
Why are we complaining about healthcare problem if our doctors cannot have a home in their continent, if our nurses are faced with destitution, if our judicial system is archaic, if tribe is the hero in the middle of nothing?”
“Tribalism has no place in Africa, we have to take the continent and take it strongly and… it together, help one another, develop our resources for our progress, find solutions among ourselves, dwell on research and develolement, reward those research and development programmes, bring out the results, don’t sell it out.
“To the international organizations, we say thank you, we are partners, we’ll continue to partner, but put more than half of the results of research and development here in the continent, we have a lot of youths to cater for, millions of them yearning for progress.”
The President also stressed the need for collective action to address conflicts in regions such as the Congo Republic and the Sahel.
He said;”Our gathering here today(yesterday) is a significant milestone in the history of Africa and particularly West Africa, between Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.
“I am very happy to have listened to the very deep thinking coming from my brother, the President of Equatorial Guinea on Africa.
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