Africa’s Only Permanent Friends Are Those Who Permanently Support Our Interests – Says Prof Osinbajo

At the Afreximbank Annual Meetings held in the Bahamas, the immediate past Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON stated that it was “one of the most intriguing meetings I have attended in a while,” making the point during the session on “Navigating Economic Transformation in a Polycrisis World: Strategies for Global Africa”,  “that Africa’s only permanent friends are those who permanently support our interests.”

He also explained that the theme of the meeting ‘Owning our Destiny: Economic Prosperity on the Platform of Global Africa’ speaks to the “great ambition of Global Africa, the continent, her diaspora and the socio-economic coming together of Africa and our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean.”

In addition, Prof. Osinbajo noted that convening the meeting in the Bahamas was strategic; “it was a visit of homeland Africa to our brethren in the diaspora, not merely a sentimental visit but one where actual investment deals were consummated and in-depth discussions took place.

“Then there was the coming together of leaders past and present, old and young from Africa and the Caribbean.”

The immediate past Vice President went on to commend the President of Afrexim Bank, Mr. Benedict Oramah, highlighting his successes on the job. He said Oramah has “with remarkable success, boldly and imaginatively revolutionized the thought processes, ambitions, and roles that an African supranational MFI must play in a complex and uncertain geopolitical environment.

“In the past few years under his leadership, AFREXIM has catalyzed intra-African trade, propelling the AFCTFA, creating critical trade facilitation tools, the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), and lately MANSA – Africa’s Digital Due Diligence Repository. We are indeed seeing the golden years of the bank.”

Present at the annual meeting were Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Philip Edward Davis; Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley; President of Guinea Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló; President of the Republic of Suriname, Chan Santokhi of the and the First Lady of Suriname, Mrs Santokhi; President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo; Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Philip J Pierre;  President of Guyana, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, Former President of Nigeria,  Olusegun Obasanjo; Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-olu; Former President of Senegal, Macky Sall, amongst other dignitaries.