Okyenhene calls for collaboration to reduce poverty over exploitation of Africans in gulf countries

Okyenhene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin is worried about the millions of African youth who are continually lured into slavery in the Mid-Eastern and the Gulf countries in seeking greener pastures.

He said the most disheartening aspect of the phenomenon is the plight of young African women who are forced into domestic and sex slavery in these countries.

Speaking at the congregational ceremony of the North Eastern University, Boston, USA, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin hinted that even though the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights prohibits human beings from being held in slavery or servitude, the worst form of slavery continues to occur targeted at the very poor African youth.

The traditional leader noted that the Universal Declaration on Human Rights further states that, all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, however, the opposite is in reality in most parts of the world with Africa at the receiving end.

Osagyefo attributed these human rights violations to the phenomenon of mass poverty in African countries occasioned by multifaceted indicators.

The Okyenhene mentioned that out of one billion people, two-thirds of them are women and children and they live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than one dollar a day.

"Over 60% of the adult population in Sub-Saharan Africa is engaged in subsistence agriculture with reliance on rainfall due to the absence of irrigation. In essence, there is no all-year-round employment. Thus, mass rural poverty, drudgery, and unemployment are endemic. However, these rural communities have been able to survive by the means of inherent human ingenuity to adaptation, knowledge of nature, and established customary institutions for the preservation and sustainable exploitation of natural resources", Osagyefo said.

The chief furthered that in the past five decades, livelihoods have encountered the hazards of climate change and will compound existing poverty.

"The adverse impacts of climate change will be most striking in the developing Nations of Africa because of our geographical and climatic conditions, our high dependence on natural resources, our limited capacity to adapt to a changing climate, projected changes in the incidence, frequency, intensity, and duration of climate extremities as well as more gradual changes in the average climate will notably threaten civilization, further increasing inequalities between the developing and developed worlds", Okyenhene noted.

Climate change is therefore a serious threat to poverty eradication and its anticipated impact on developing countries paints a gloomy picture due to the economic importance of climate-sensitive sectors like agriculture and fisheries which supports the livelihoods of the majority of its people.

Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin added that African countries lack the human, institutional, and financial capacity to anticipate and respond to the direct and indirect effects of climate change.

Their vulnerability is the highest as they bear the greatest burden of climate change in terms of loss of lives and relative effects on investments and failed poverty reduction policies on the economy.

According to him, the conventional policy models for tackling poverty fail to take into account the peculiar socio-economic and political conditions in Africa.

He said in most instances, the vast majority of those living on one dollar a day, mostly rural dwellers are not captured by governmental statistics and state institutions, making poverty reduction through fiscal institutions ineffective.

He outlined: “The core of the matter lies in the fact that policy measures for livelihood, food security, and occupational agriculture are designed by bureaucrats in the capitals of Africa completely divorced from the conditions and circumstances of local communities and the neglect of the participation of
traditional leaders in these communities. Age-old customary observances
that assured the integrity of the natural ecology, including accumulated knowledge of the flora and fauna of these living communities have been ignored in the developmental policies".

He advised policymakers to take advantage of the knowledge, expertise, and leadership of traditional leaders to ensure the fight against poverty is won.

Osagyefo called for deeper and more effective cooperation between Okyeman and the North Eastern University to set the pace for cooperation between traditional leaders in Africa and global academia.

The Okyenhene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin later signed a memorandum of Understanding between the Akyem Abuakwa State and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the United States of America to enhance research activities and publications related to mine land reclamation, eco-tourism, education, and open STEM.

The five-year MOU will also enhance the joint publication of research findings between institutions of higher learning in the Akyem Abuakwa State and Worcester Polytechnic, participation in seminars and academic meetings, scholarship and undergraduate opportunities, graduate and students’ activities, and the exchange of research personnel.