…As Gov Mbah chairs 13th Ziks lecture
From Emmanuel Uzor, Awka
The President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mohamed IBN Chambas, has identified foreign influence as the cause of political instability in Africa and called for a united Africa in the area of security and socio-economic development.
Chambas, who stated this yesterday as the guest speaker at the 13th Ziks Annual Lecture series held at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, noted that youths have lost faith in the democratic leaderships of the continent.
“The erosion of trust in the leadership of Africa has fuelled so much agitations in the continent and has led to civil unrests.
“The Great Zik of Africa had while alive made it clear that without unity, Africa would be vulnerable to political instability and external intervention,” he said.
He advocated for a collective security approach to guard against foreign influence across the continent, adding that political instability remains the greatest challenges for the African continent.
Chairman of the occasion and the governor of Enugu State, Dr Peter Mbah noted that the joint efforts of Africa leaders in the area of bilateral relationship would surely jump-start the process of facing the challenges across the African continent.
The governor urged the ECOWAS leadership to make concerted efforts at uniting the member countries and stem over-dependent on foreign influences.
Also speaking, the Anambra State Deputy Governor, Onyekachukwu Ibezim, who represented the governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, noted that as a government the ideology of Nnamdi Azikiwe in the area of governance are being replicated in the area.
Also Prof Uche Azikiwe, the wife of the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, commended the organizers of the lecture series, adding that with such intellectual exercise, it goes to show that her husband is still alive while urging them to produce a compendium of all past lectures about her husband.
The benefactor of the Ziks Annual Lecture Series, Senator Ben Ndi Obi recalled: “Thirteen years ago, I endowed this Zik’s lecture series, 13 years after we are proud of the tremendous success achieved so far , doing what Ziks of Africa will be proud of, setting a platform for robust academic discussion to key national leaders that will be credible, informed, accountable and capable of solving the myriads of societal problems facing our nation, continent and the world at large”
Also, the Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Prof Benard Odoh, described the lecture series as on discussion that would continue to contribute to the socio-economic development of the African continent.