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An international workshop on Pan Africanism themed ‘Sustaining
the New Wave of Pan-Africanism – Youth Shaping Global Africa’s Development in
21st Century’, has held at the University of Namibia, Namibia, from December 6
to 9.

It was jointly organised by the Centre for Black and African
Arts and Civilization; the Nigerian High Commission in Namibia and Pan-African
Strategic and Policy Research Group, headed by Ishola Williams, a retired
Nigerian Army general. The Pan-African Centre of Namibia and the National Youth
Council of Namibia were also co-organisers.

About 45 participants from Nigeria, Namibia, Mauritania, Sudan,
Congo, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Tanzania, Jamaica, United Kingdom, Eritrea,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and the USA took part in deliberations at
the meeting.

The objectives of the workshop, a prelude to the celebration of
the International Year of the People of African Descent holding next year,
included focusing future generations of Pan-Africanists on the outcomes of
previous Pan-African conferences and discussing ways of implementing the
resolutions.

Making recommendations on the role of future generations in the
ideological movement was another goal of the conference which noted that youth
in Africa and the Diaspora have significant roles to play in achieving the
goals and visions of Pan-Africanism.

Founding president of Namibia and patron of PACON, Sam Nujoma,
delivered the keynote address and opened the workshop on December 6 at Safari
Hotel, Windhoek, Namibia.

Depleted resources

Nigeria’s ambassador to Namibia, Adegboyega Ariyo, also spoke at
the occasion. He lamented that despite becoming independent decades ago and in
contrast to the dreams of the founding fathers of Pan-Africanism, most African
countries don’t control their economies. He blamed the development on the
extant political systems, which allow a few to become millionaires by
exploiting resources while the majority remain in penury.

Ariyo also identified the culpability of Western countries, as
to whose benefit it is for Africa to remain under-developed. “The African
middle class has been reduced in size. 80 percent of Africans in Africa and its
Diaspora today live below the poverty line because we have allowed too many
millionaires. African resources are being depleted everyday to enrich a few
Africans and many non-Africans,” noted Ariyo. He called for a review of the
social contract between the people and their governments.

The diplomat however noted that the onus of charting a better
future for Africa lies on the shoulders of leaders and youth. “African leaders
and youths have very serious questions to answer in order to chart a better
future for Africa. Certainly we know that there are many hungry lions probing
the world for means to sustain their self-centred sybaritic economy. Because of
the current architecture of the world economy and the limitedness of what it is
intended to accommodate and for who, there is need for Africa to chart a new
“Africonomy” based on our historical evolution as a people. The African economy
of old cared for all members of the community. African development should be
based on our historical experience. African Development must be based on a
holistic understanding of what development means. It is used to denote what is
new.”

Social engineering

Ariyo further decried the pervasiveness of Westernisation which
has impacted negatively on the study of African history and social engineering.
“We look at our civilisation and assess the state of our being from other
people’s understanding of their civilisation and state of being. We tend to
forget that there was a period in our history when we existed without any
interaction with the Western world. What constituted our state of being then
should have been what we should be developing, though mindful that there are
new things, to which we are now exposed and must relate to, for us to develop.”

The diplomat noted that the great civilisations of Africa could not have
been achieved without social, economic and political systems obliterated under
colonialism and suggested that, “we need a road map to empower ourselves
economically” for Africa to make move forward.Members of the Namibian executive
council and National Assembly were among guests at the opening of the
conference, which followed another hosted by CBAAC and PANAFSTRAG in October in
Abuja, Nigeria.