The Immediate past President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, on Thursday called for cooperation among African nations to tackle their challenges.
Akufo-Addo made this call at a book launch in Abuja in honour of a former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, noting that African nations should not rely on foreign aid for survival, arguing that the COVID-19 pandemic made some nations to be independent.
According to Akufo-Addo, the pandemic taught the world several lessons, including the need for global leaders to “admit the urgency of the infrastructural deficiency in our countries, especially in the health sector, as was exposed by the pandemic”.
He added that the pandemic also enabled governments to embark on a programme that involved the construction of hospitals for the citizens.
9News Nigeria Reports that some of his words were; “There is no such thing as charity in international relations. Nobody is going to give you vaccines until their own needs have been fully satisfied,” he said.
“African countries therefore need to cooperate with each other and not count on aid from the international community. That is why Senegal, Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda, and others have taken the responsibility of manufacturing their own vaccines.”
