Peace, security key to Africa’s development, says Buhari

TRACKING___THE development African countries will depend on the ability of leaders to ensure peace and security within the continent, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday.

President Buhari stated this in a message to African leaders to mark the ‘Africa Day 2020’, commemorated by the African Union Commission in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO)

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the President said Africa has given the world a new hope by choosing “Silencing the guns in the context of the COVID-19” as this year’s Africa Day theme.

He stressed the need for African leaders to channel every effort at ensuring the success of silencing the guns on the continent, emphasizing the need to sensitise Africans about the inseparable connection between peace and development.

The statement reads: “Peace, security, unity and harmony are prerequisites for development in Africa,” the Nigerian leader said, urging citizens all over the continent to innovate on how “Silencing the guns” can be used to achieve peace and grow African economies.

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He also urged regional economic groups, civil society organisations and the private sector in Africa to take full ownership of the theme of this year’s celebration to strengthen collaborative efforts among member-countries of the African Union.

Africa Day is observed annually on May 25 to commemorate the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the precursor of the African Union, which was created on May 25, 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.