Chairperson of Commonwealth Youth Council, Ahmed Adamu received the Award of African Achiever of the Year at the British House of Parliament.

On Friday, 13th March, 2015 at the British House of Parliament, Mr Ahmed Adamu, the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC) was conferred with the prestigious honour as African Achiever of the year. The award was presented during the African Achievers Awards Annual International Summit, which was hosted by Rt. Hon Sir Gerald Kaufman, Member of Parliament for Manchester, Gorton, United Kingdom. The award was also presented by HE Harry Hugan of the British Department of International Development. Mr Adamu spoke at the summit on the topic “Investing in Africa: A key to Sustainable Development”, where he challenged Africans as being responsible for the economic crack in the continent, noting the huge investment and money Africans transport to the western countries. “We, Africans are responsible for the investment gaps in our continent, because most Africans prefer to invest their money in developed world. We also contribute to the economic development of the Europeans through education tuition fees, visa fees, flight tickets, money transfer etc, all these are injections to foreign economies and leakages from the African economies. For example, the money Nigerians spend in UK for tuition fees and upkeep expenses for only one year is enough to upgrade three federal universities in Nigeria to the standard of an Oxford University.” He mentioned that, Agriculture is the formidable and sustainable sector that Africans should harness to place themselves as the global economic leaders. “Some of the leading African economies are largely dependent on the limited and volatile petroleum resources, which cause many of them to face the danger of Dutch disease as it is manifested recently on Nigerian economy. The reliable sector that Africans should invest is the Agricultural sector.” He further blamed Africans for being exenocentrics, perceiving other people’s culture as superior than theirs. “How many of us here wearing African made cloth? You see for every cloth we buy from outside Africa, we are boosting their economy and divesting in ours” Mr Adamu stated. “For us to fully develop our economies, we have to remove corruption, especially corruption among leaders. Masses who are corrupt, they have to be that corrupt innocently and out of no option, because the government failed to provide their basic needs. Corruption at all levels is abomination though, and there is no excuse for being corrupt. However, most of the African leaders are intentionally corrupt, which is why development become relatively impossible. Africans have responsibility to oust all corrupt leaders through democratic processes, and we will have to let our conscience guide our democratic decisions devoid of sentiments.” Mr Ahmed Adamu further explained. “The first civilisation started in Africa, and Africa is the hope for global prosperity. It is only Africans that can build and invest in Africa, no one else. We have to believe in ourselves and build ourselves esteem. We have to stop looking up to others. If not us, who? If not now, when?”, Mr Adamu concluded.