Nigeria ready to host African central bank, Tinubu tells AU leaders

President Bola Tinubu says Nigeria is ready to host the African central bank, in line with the vision of the Abuja Treaty.

The treaty lays the foundation for the establishment of an African common market.

It was adopted on June 3, 1991 and entered into force on May 12, 1994.

Tinubu spoke on Saturday at the 37th ordinary session of the assembly of heads of state and government of the African Union (AU) in Ethiopia.

He said his administration will engage the AU commission in collaboration with member states to ensure that the bank takes off as scheduled in 2028.

The politician said Africa’s success in addressing its challenges hinges on the firmness of its resolution, built on a foundation of deep-rooted solidarity, if it is to avoid perpetuating existing problems and creating new ones.

Tinubu said the continent’s growth has been delayed by the cancers of coup-birthed autocracies and harmful tinkering with constitutional tenure provisions.

“As a continent and as individual nations, we face strong headwinds and difficult hurdles threatening to complicate our mission to bring qualitative democratic governance and economic development to our people,” the president said.

“Many of these obstacles, such as climate change and unfair patterns of global trade, are largely not of our making.

“However, some of the pitfalls, including coup-birthed autocracies and the deleterious tinkering with constitutional tenure provisions, are developmental cancers we as Africans are giving to ourselves.”

On the military coups in Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, the Tinubu underscored the importance of maintaining regional solidarity within the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS).

He said disagreements over the unconstitutional changes of government should not mean a permanent rupture of the abiding lines of regional affinity and cooperation.

“The drive for a peaceful, strong, and united west Africa is bigger than any one person or group of people,” the politician said.

”The bonds of history, culture, commerce, geography, and brotherhood hold deep meaning for our people. Thus, out of the dust and fog of misunderstanding and acrimony, we must seize the chance to create a new people-centric era of trust and accord.

“To all who care to listen, I declare that if you come to the table to discuss important matters in good faith, you will find Nigeria and ECOWAS already sitting there waiting to greet you as the brother that you are.”

Tinubu had departed Abuja on February 15 for Addis Ababa, to participate in the AU summit.