The Nigerian Government has decried the spate of security threats in Africa and its implications for the continent’s development.
A statement signed by Special Assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on Media and Communications Strategy, Alkasim Abdulkadir, says this followed a Ministerial Meeting of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, TICAD in Tokyo, Japan.
According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, Africa’s security and development landscape is increasingly witnessing complex threats in the form of terrorism and transnational organized crimes.
He opined that these vices are destabilising Africa’s peace and security architecture, undermining the pursuit of democracy and good governance, and disincentivising foreign direct investors from investing on the continent.
The Minister reiterated Africa’s commitment to leveraging the TICAD’s multidimensional approaches to addressing the root drivers of the insecurity encumbering its development.
According to him, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, the presence of foreign mercenaries, the impact of climate change, and the availability of safe havens encouraging illicit financial flows are worrisome to the continent, adding that the continent loses an estimated $88.6 billion annually to illicit flows or the equivalent of 3% of its GDP.
He also drew attention to the activities of cryptocurrency pirates undermining macroeconomic reforms on the continent by attacking local currencies saying that these exogenous factors are responsible for the Unconstitutional Change of Governments, UCGs being witnessed on the continent.
He opined that these security challenges could be the reason for the perceived decline in Japanese investment in Africa but encouraged Japan not to shy away, but to work with African leaders and other African development partners towards tackling the challenges.
Ambassador Tuggar, further posited that multidimensional support from Japan and other partners is required to actualise the global desire for a developed Africa and called for increased support in addressing the security concerns in the Lake Chad region, the Great Lakes, and the Sahel regions, as well as Sudan, Somalia, and other parts of Africa currently facing security challenges.
The Minister also proposed that the TICAD 9 Summit should focus on providing strategic infrastructure, foreign direct investments, capacity building, and the transfer of technology to support the growth of indigenous entrepreneurship, and innovation as well as engage in the progressive empowerment of women and youths in Africa.
Ambassador Tuggar concluded by calling on Japan to join Africa in pushing for the reform of the United Nations Security Council in support of Africa’s quest for fair and equitable representation in the Security Council, which he said is ethically just and temporally restitutive.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
