Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, former Vice President of Nigeria and Global Advisor, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), emphasized that Africa’s only permanent friends should be those who permanently support the continent’s interests.

Osinbajo stated this recently during the session on “Navigating Economic Transformation in a Polycrisis World: Strategies for Global Africa” at the Afreximbank Annual Meetings held in Nassau, The Bahamas.

He also explained that the theme of the meeting, ‘Owning our Destiny: Economic Prosperity on the Platform of Global Africa’ speaks to the “great ambition of Global Africa, the continent, her diaspora, and the socio-economic coming together of Africa and our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean.”

Similarly, Osinbajo, who noted that convening the meeting in the Bahamas was strategic, added: “It was a visit of homeland, Africa, to our brethren in the diaspora, not merely a sentimental visit but one where actual investment deals were consummated, and in-depth discussions took place. Then there was the coming together of leaders past and present, old and young, from Africa and the Caribbean.”

The ex-Vice President also commended the President of Afrexim Bank, Mr. Benedict Oramah, highlighting his successes on the job.

He said Oramah has “with remarkable success, boldly and imaginatively revolutionized the thought processes, ambitions, and roles that an African supranational MFI must play in a complex and uncertain geopolitical environment.

“In the past few years under his leadership, AFREXIM has catalyzed intra-African trade, propelling the AFCTFA, creating critical trade facilitation tools, the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), and lately MANSA – Africa’s Digital Due Diligence Repository. We are indeed seeing the golden years of the bank.”