Kufuor Pledges Ghana's Support for Nigeria

The president of Ghana, Mr. John Kufuor, today in Abuja said that his country would continue to co-operate with Nigeria in its effort to banish poverty and deprivation from the African continent.

Speaking as the special guest of honour at the official commissioning of the Yar'adua Foundation Centre, Kuffuor said that the country was endowed with the needed resources and size to be the natural leader in Africa and pledged his support towards that goal.

He said that Africa very much needed unity and stability to pull itself out of the woods, stressing that only a committed leadership from all the countries that make up the continent could ensure its unity.

Kuffour said that African leaders must strive to improve the quality of lives of their peoples and also improve the very poor image that the continent conjured over the years as a result of the misrule of a few of its past leaders.

He said that respect for the rule of law, good governance, ethnic and religious tolerance among all were attributes that would move the continent out of its predicament and called on all leaders to embrace those qualities.

The Ghanaian leader said that through the new partnership on african economic development (NAPED), a document co-produced by Obasanjo and the leaders of Algeria, South africa and Senegal, he was hopeful that with the support of the international community, the continent would pull itself out of poverty and deprivation.

Earlier in a lecture he delivered on the virtues of the late Gen. Shehu Yar'adua, former president Shehu Shagari said that from the onset the young Shehu had set out to be a leader and he had worked tirelessly for that until his death in prison in 1997.

Shagari said that Shehu had consulted him on his desire to join politics in the early 1980's after the military government that he served in had handed over power to civilians in 1979.

He said that the late General was an astute politician who was able to build bridges across the various ethnic nationalities and religious boundaries in the country and urged Nigerians to emulate him.