By In an exclusive interview with the former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, published recently by Vanguard Newspaper, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, the spokesperson for the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), has called on all African leaders, especially country’s presidents to take a leaf from the life and sense of leadership of President Donald Trump of America, noting this as the only way to make feasible progress in Africa.
The erudite Professor identified Trump’s love for his people as a paramount ingredient that drives the man’s decision and administrative focus. He therefore urged African leaders to emulate such virtues if the continent must recover and find her place in the international space. He said the protection of Africans must be a priority. And like Trump, nothing of interest must come before one and one’s country.
“Donald Trump, who only recently assumed office as the President of the United States of America, said ‘America first, America second, America third, employ America by America’ and so on and so forth.
According to Prof. Ango Abdullahi, “This is what every country now has to do. This is a policy to protect America, annunciation by the leader of the capitalist world, protecting the American economy and the American people and this is the kind of courage that African leaders require to get up and say ‘my country first, my country second, my country third’.”
The Professor further mentioned China as another country that has taken the same route in the past. He identified that the start of development can only be through setting out to protect one’s community, state or country as the case may be.
He said duri
ng the interview that: “This is what happened to quite a number of countries: The Chinese did the same, they disappeared for some time and now they have resurfaced as one of the leaders of the world because they protected themselves, they protected their country.
“In Africa today,” Prof. Ango Abdullahi said, “there are only two or three countries that are going in that direction.” He highlighted Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Uganda. He disclosed that “the rest of the countries (in Africa) are just appendages of colonial mentality” and that “Nigeria is one of them.”
“Nigeria is an appendage of colonial mentality and that is why we have not moved, 60years; Nigeria cannot produce 4,000megawatts of electricity that is not big enough for a village in Europe, for about 200million people. Something is wrong basically,” the Professor noted.
When asked about problems and Africa’s corresponding solutions, he identified the people as both the problem and solution, laying emphasise on actions and inactions of elites in the current political state of things as it were. “The problem is with all of us, ” he said. “One major conference that is required is a conference on attitudinal change by Nigerians, particularly those of us the elite.”