Youths’ involvement is critical to winning the anti-graft battle on the continent, President Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday in his remarks at the launch of the 2018 Africa Youth Congress Against Corruption (AYCAC).
President Buhari, who was nominated in January as the African Union anti-corruption champion, urged the youth to check the rising corruption on the continent.
Corruption has been one of the three main objectives of the Buhari administration since inception in May 2015.
Speaking at the old Banquet Hall of the State House in Abuja, the President said: โTo the young people of Africa, this fight against corruption is yours to lead and to win in order to reverse the negative trends of corruption and its implications for Africa.
โThe Youth of Africa must pool their energies to effectively ensure that our natural and mineral resources remain on the continent for value addition, job and wealth creation as well as to create affordable health-care and quality education for our people. Winning the fight against corruption is very much in your hands!
โOf particular interest to the youth, as reflected in the Nouakchott Declaration, is the emphasis on the imperative of investing in the demographic dividends through anti-corruption, education and sensitization campaigns, targeting young people as a means of bringing about behavioral change.
โI thereby encourage young Africans, to use this Declaration as motivation to achieve greater resource investment in developing anti-corruption curricula and anti-graft campaigns in schools, businesses and the general public space.
โAfrican Youth must remain the front and centre of restoring traditional African values of probity, integrity, honesty, diligence and hard work. It is only when the youth drive this change, that corruption will be eliminated!
โAs a build up to this youth congress, l was briefed by the African Union Commission on the African Governance Architecture (AGA)-organized Regional Youth Consultations, dedicated to the Anti-Corruption theme of the year.
โI am pleased to learn that the youth regional consultative forums were informative and rewarding for the over 600 young people from across the continent who sharpened their strategies and skills to fight corruption.
โFurthermore, youth meetings serve as vital platforms for young people to engage. I would like to recognise some of our young leaders here present who have demonstrated the zeal and determination to build the โAfrica We Wantโ.
โFirst, I wish to recognize Mr. Moussa Kondo from Mali for his Accountability Lab in the Republic of Mali. He blazed the trail on how to build sustainable coalitions of โAccountapreneursโ.
โSecondly, I recognise, Mr. Maxence Melo, from the United Republic of Tanzania, founder of Jamii Forums for strengthening the viability of whistleblowing policy tools.
โI also enjoin us to celebrate our very own Nigerian โ Damilola Olawale, founder of Code IT for using technology to give young people the tools to demand transparency in the management of public resources.โ
According to him, youths have excelled in pushing the boundaries of innovation in the pursuit for greater accountability.
He said: โAnd so today, we celebrate them and indeed we celebrate all of you โ anti-corruption youngsters. You are the unsung heroes of our thematic year of the African Union, the high-impact achievers. You are the real African champions!โ
The President described the congress as a grand rallying point to catalyse policy and practical action against corruption.
He added: โWe must listen to the perspectives of the African Youth and engage in frank and honest conversations. Communication, upwards and sideways can only be ignored at a price.
โI am most pleased to observe that this Abuja Congress will take adequate stock of policy and institutional mechanisms in the fight against corruption as well as the role of technology amongst others.
โI am confident that you will give due support to the continental strategies to: stem illicit financial flows out of Africa; expedite stolen assets recovery and return; strengthen the capacity of national anti-corruption institutions; explore the link between corruption and conflicts; strengthen oversight by citizens on budget performance.
โYou should also strongly advocate the universal signing and ratification of the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption by all Member States of the African Union.โ
