Second from left: Okebukola speaking during the press conference

Adejoke Adeleye, Abeokuta

Center for Human Security and Dialogue (CHSD)at Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library(OOPL) Abeokuta, with the support of the Brenthurst Foundation is organising an international policy round table on how to adopt the Asian development model for the growth of Africa.

The Director, Centre for Human Security and Dialogue (CHSD), Prof. Peter Okebukola disclosed this on Monday at pre-event world press conference to heralding the 83rd Birthday celebration of former President, Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta.

Prof. Okebukola the birthday of the former President has been used over the years as platform to promote development agenda relevant to the growth and advancement of Africa.

The former NUC Executive Secretary explained that, the policy  round-table on Asian Aspiration tends to adopt the Asia’s development for strengthening Africa’s integration and cooperation in the area of socio-economic development.

He noted that, former Sierra Leone President, Ernest Bai Koroma will on March 5, 2020 deliver a birthday lecture on the theme “The Place of Pan Africanism in an Emerging World of Besieged Liberal Democracy”.

According to Okebukola, the policy round-table will witness formal presentation of the book “The Asian Aspiration” authored by Greg Mills, Olusegun Obasanjo and others.

Speaking on the factors contributing to Africa’s retrogression, Okebukola raised alarm over the continuous increase in the population of the African continent, saying the population is increasing by 2.9 percent annually, but regretted that the continent has failed to turn it to an asset.

He attributed high rate of unemployment, seed of hatred and political violence among other as a result of failures of the continent to maximize its population.

“We want to learn the secret of China and India success and share with African leaders so that in another five years, we will begin to see the result.

“Also, we want to turn the Africa population growth to an advantage instead of disadvantage for Africans in terms of how we can make an huge population an asset, so we already have the recommendations, policy description  that we would be transmitting into different countries in African to manage the asset.”

Okebukola therefore said the solution to the impending danger was for the continent to learn from the Asians who have turned their population to an asset.

Other guest speakers expected at the birthday lecture are former Liberia President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn and both China and India Ambassadors to Nigeria.