By Chioma Iruke
The Vice President of Liberia, Jewel Taylor, has called on African leaders to work together to change the negative narrative associated with the African continent.
Taylor made the call at the 2021 ALM African Summit held virtually on Friday.
The Vice President who spoke on strong partnership as a key factor in ensuring the growth of the African continent, charged leaders to respect rule of law, promote democracy, integrate peace and infrastructure, while eliminating corruption, misappropriation of public funds.
She called on sister states to partner in trade and promote public and private collaboration.
Speaking on the economic situation of the continent, Taylor noted that about $54bn is needed to respond to the economic crisis, and that it would take a hundred years to achieve notwithstanding, the region should opt for more ICT partnerships.
On his part, the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu represented by the Commissioner for Works, called for more investments in the region and in the state, especially as the state has proven to be a hub for good economic development despite many obstacles.
He highlighted some of the achievements of the government in ensuring the state was economically viable for investors.
Former Chairman of the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus, John King, stated that the major problem plaguing the African region is lack of understanding between the African continent and the Western world.
According to him, the Western world despite being eager to engage in the affairs of the region, lacked the basic understanding of how to do such, hence, most aides given are transactional.
He further stressed the need for the continent to address the unemployment issues between youth, nothing that by 2050, the continent would have over one billion underemployed youths that would be largely dependent, especially with the wide gap between the population and their resources.
