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Osinbajo: How Africa can thrive in complex world

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says Africa can take full advantage of the global complexities and thrive in the face of uncertainties and disruption through knowledgeable leadership.

Osinbajo said this at a public lecture delivered at King’s College in London on Monday.

The Vice President stated that if he was asked what would determine Africa’s ability to turn the problems and complexities of the continent for good, “I will say knowledgeable leadership committed to good governance”.

According to a statement issued on Tuesday by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, the Vice President added the existence of several centres of political and economic power since the unipolar world of the 1990s has meant that there are various ways in which global developments are viewed.

“In addition to the United States, we now have China, Russia, the European Union, the United Kingdom, India, and Brazil as dominant regional powers. The perspectives, decisions and actions of these actors impact not only in their regions but across the world including in multilateral forums,” Osinbajo said.

Speaking on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Osinbajo said: “Apart from its consequences for international peace and security, the war has signalled a breakdown of the global order which emerged at the end of the Second World War and is a source of concern to many African countries who now have to steer their way delicately between major powers. But the more immediate and consequential fallout of the war are the sharp hikes in food, especially wheat, sunflower oil, fuel and fertilizer prices.

“Many African countries are heavily dependent on one or both of the warring parties for food and oil. When the conflict began in February last year, the price of wheat increased by 67% from December 2021. Oil prices similarly went through the roof. The international price of oil averaged $100 per barrel in 2022 as compared to about $70 per barrel in 2021. Given that some of the key manufacturing countries are oil importers, higher oil prices invariably translated to higher prices for manufactured products as well.

“These price shocks and disruption of supply chains of various commodities across Africa led to high inflation at a time when most countries were struggling to overcome the economic and social fallouts of the COVID-19 pandemic especially debt and foreign currency crises. The situation was relieved somewhat by the deal that was brokered to enable the export of Ukrainian wheat.”

On Nigeria’s position in the conflict, the Vice President stated: “Despite our strong objection to the invasion of Ukraine as evidenced by our support for the UN resolution condemning the invasion, we have managed to maintain good relationships with both parties.

“We are now in the process of working out a grain supply from Russia coordinated by the World Food Programme, and we recently accepted to provide port space in Port Harcourt, Nigeria for the distribution of grain from Ukraine to other west African countries.”

Osinbajo stressed that the Russia-Ukraine war had made some African countries like Zimbabwe to look inward, adding: “The economic fall out of the war for us in Africa should be an introspective moment on the issue of self-sufficiency in food production.”

He however, commended the efforts to resolve the crisis, the recent peace proposal by the President of Brazil, Luiz Lula Da Silva of Brazil, saying: “President Luiz Lula Da Silva of Brazil proposed a peace club probably led by China to seek ways of ending the crisis. I think that sort of thinking is the way to go. The world must find parties that can be trusted by both sides to intervene.”

Osinbajo, however, stated that Africa can also lead a revolutionary approach to climate change in a way “that recognises climate action as the job engine for Africa”.

The Vice President added that Africa can provide jobs for millions of its young people, prosper, and lead in the fight against climate change by becoming the green or carbon-free civilisation.

“And we have the comparative advantage to do so,” he stressed.

In her remarks, the Senior Vice President (Academics) at the King’s College, Prof. Rachel Mills, told the audience how the College, especially the African Leadership Centre (ALC), over the years demonstrated its commitment to offering quality education to young talented Africans through its partnership programmes with some African universities.

She underscored the importance of the public lecture delivered by Osinbajo as an opportunity to reflect on Nigeria as a regional leader in economic, political, and social terms and its place in global context that is increasingly fragile and in a state of flux.

Other College officials at the lecture included the Executive Director African Leadership Centre, Nairobi, Shuvai Nyoni; and the Director, African Leadership Centre, School of Global Affairs, King’s College, London, Dr Eka Ikpe: among others.

The Star