Press Releases

IBA Conference: Fashola Canvasses New World Legal Order To Save Africa

Oct 8, 2009 - Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Thursday called for a new World Legal Order that will unleash the potentials of the African Continent saying the future survival of the entire human race will depend on the prosperity and empowerment of the African people.

Governor Fashola, who made the call in Spain at the African Forum Luncheon of the International Bar Association (IBA) held in Madrid, stated that as the world economic, environmental and political leadership enters a new age of transformation, the survival of much of the Planet Earth will depend on Africa’s resources.

Speaking on the subject, “Whither Africa? Challenges and a New Vision”, Governor Fashola declared, “I venture to predict that so much of our planet’s future and its survival will depend on Africa’s blessings; her sun for renewable energy, her rain forests for medicine and protection of the eco-system, her natural extractive resources of oil, gas and solid minerals, but most importantly, on her people”.

According to the Governor, the world can only benefit from these resources if the African people are protected, through “a new inter-national legal order”, from leadership that abuses their trust and enables them to be free from conflicts fuelled by the proliferation of small arms from the West and “reverses the current trend where a gun is cheaper than a home”.

Governor Fashola said the new order must “lift the corporate veil of sovereignty and non-interference that currently exist in the United Nations” in order for the international community to be able to act in the name of common humanity “to ensure and enthrone truism of jurisprudence that law is made for man and not man for the law”.

“This is the legal order that will unleash Africa’s potentials, that will prosper and empower her people, that will drive her agriculture and develop her vast resources for the natural benefit of the human race”, Governor Fashola said, warning that any threat to the African race and Continent is a huge threat to the human race and its survival chance.

The Governor lamented that for too long, “Africans have been seen by so much of the world as a hungry people who need charity, who are ravaged by internal strife, genocide and nature’s cruelty that manifests itself through drought and famine. A Continent in chains”, adding “But really and truly, this is not Africa”.

This picture of Africa, the Governor said, has been painted by “those who took advantage of her, who benefitted most from her, those whom she trusted, and those who introduced her to their own concept of civilization, who raped her like a young woman and took her human and material resources”.

“This picture overlooks her role as the continent that literally provides and supports the needs of almost the entire human race from her rich agricultural basket to her energy contributions from oil and gas and her vast extensive extractive resources especially in gold, copper and tin that have been so critical to the success of the industrial revolution in the West and delivery of this Information Technology Age”, Governor Fashola said.

Recounting the exploitation of the Continent through trans-Atlantic slave trade which he described as “the most devastating human experience of cruelty and inhumanity”, Governor Fashola added that the people who paint the wrong picture of Africa are the same people who used Africans to build the resources, the infrastructure and economies of the World’s most powerful states.

The Governor, however, expressed joy that although Africa has suffered deprivations like many other races, only the Continent “has endured and survived captivity and from there risen leadership”, adding, “The African story for me continues to remain an unfolding story; a story of pride, rather than shame, for the human race”.

“It is a story still unfolding that shows the limitless capacities of this race, a story that requires those who disparaged her to stand back and away and take another look”, the Governor said cautioning that from henceforth Africa must be approached with respect and as a partner.

He said although Africa has been abused and lost her innocence, “she remains brutalized yet a desired maiden; attractive to many suitors ready only to enter upon an enduring partnership with those who will love, respect and cherish her”, adding that the Continent still remains a huge market for global economic recovery, while her resources form a most critical asset for delivery and sustenance of the information technology revolution.

Expressing appreciation to the IBA for the opportunity to address the gathering of lawyers from all over the world, Governor Fashola declared, “A gathering of lawyers to discuss Africa at a time of globalization, a changing world, an environmentally heightened planet, is probably the best that an African can ask for”, adding that the gathering was the right time and forum to discuss Africa.