Follow Us on Google
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has stressed the need to promote democratic governance in Africa against the backdrop of recent coups de’tat in West Africa.
A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President, Laolu Akande, quoted Osinbajo as stating this in Arusha, Tanzania, when he met with his Tanzanian counterpart, Dr. Philip Isdor Mpango, ahead of his participation at the inaugural session of the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights for the year 2022.
The Vice President emphasised the need for other regional bodies on the continent and others in the global community to support actions already taken by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders.
“We in ECOWAS have experienced in just under a year, four coups de’tats, including attempts, and it is disturbing because we felt we had put those things behind us, and now they seem to be coming back.
“It is something that we think has to do with more cooperation. AU has been very forthcoming (in condemnation) in saying that we cannot tolerate unconstitutional seizures of power. But sanctioning these coupists without any proper “teeth” has not been particularly effective.
“There might be a need for us to reach out to some of the regional bodies; development financial institutions such as the World Bank, IMF, and the EU. The EU has been quite responsive, but we think that we can do a lot more just in terms of cooperation, so there is an effective deterrent if everyone agrees that undemocratic change of government is unacceptable.”
On Climate Change and the attendant goal of net-zero emissions, he observed that “the major challenge is that the wealthier countries are abandoning fossil fuels and gas and some of them are already defunding gas projects.
“We in Africa will run into trouble because gas projects are important even for the transition. It is important for us to come together to oppose any situation where the wealthier countries insist that on account of going towards net-zero emissions in 2050, we should then abandon gas which is one of the major sources of energy for industry and clean cooking. We think that the wealthier countries are asking us to do what they didn’t do – use renewable energy for industry.”
