Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, a former Chairperson of the African Union (AU), has reiterated the need for Africa to be self-reliant instead of depending on aid.

She said African governments must improve revenue collection, manage expenditure, increase production and improve trade.

Dr Zuma was speaking at the BlackGold Lecture and award series organised by the BlackGold, publishers of both the Corporate Guardian and the Business Week in Accra.

The event, which was under the theme: “Good Governance for the African Renaissance,” was organised to honour and award Dr Zuma with the BlackGold Order of Merit for her contribution to Africa’s development.

She was awarded with a Trophy, a Medal, a Memento and a Queen’s Regalia from the queenmothers of the Ga State.

Dr Zuma said ensuring the creation of a non-sexist society by governments was what was meant by good governance.

She said girls and women constituted more than 50 per cent of Africa’s populations, adding that their inclusion, participation, empowerment and development were, therefore, a democratic and human rights imperative, which made economic, cultural and social sense.

She said Africans must adopt the right mind-set by believing in themselves and their progressive cultures while discarding the elements that were no longer relevant.

“We have to adopt a mind-set that we shall not be defined by our past or present, but reach for the future we want, and build that future today. It is a mind-set we must instil in ourselves and in the generations after us,” she added.

The former AU Chairperson noted that though there were things that were terribly wrong; the irony of a rich continent with poor people, the poverty and underdevelopment that seem endemic, conflicts that had gone on for too long and claimed too many lives, with new challenges like terrorism and climate change, African must never, for a moment, think that these issues were the natural condition for Africa.

“It is our mind-set that does not allow us to be told by others what are good for us, but an Africa who charts and drives its own path. A mind-set that tells our history and promotes our heritage is tangible and a mind-set that Africa will be great again and shall rise again,” she said.

Dr Zuma commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for implementing the Free SHS Policy.

Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin II, the Okyehene and Chairman of the occasion, encouraged Africans to embrace science and technology in development planning.

He said Information and Communication Technology was fast developing the world by helping to combat problems such as corruption and mismanagement of resources.

The Okyehene said the world was moving in one direction, where science and technology was rapidly changing lives, improving health systems and increasing productivity in all sectors.