By Yemi Kolapo

Monday, 1 Nov 2010

There is a lot of money seeking destination in Africa, former Group Managing Director, United Bank for Africa Plc, Mr. Tony Elumelu, has said.

He added that, despite the availability of funds, a major problem in African economies was making sure that the funds went to the targeted beneficiaries or projects.

Elumelu spoke during the Tony Elumelu Foundation Executive Media Launch in Lagos on Friday.

”There is a lot of money seeking destination in Africa. The problem is making sure that the beneficiaries get them. The funds must go to the right projects to achieve results,” he noted.

He said the Foundation, going forward, would put in place a framework to ensure sustained development of African economies through the right partnership and funding frameworks.

He said that leaders in Nigeria must learn to take economic decisions as and when due, noting that ”for every day we fail to take certain key decisions to drive the economy, several opportunities are lost”.

According to him, ”In the telecommunications industry, it took only one decision to get the GSM here. Look at the huge revenue the industry generates now.”

However, a former President of Ghana, Mr. John Kufuor, said if citizens of a country ”do not take pains to get the right leaders; they should not expect to get the right policies that will ensure sustained growth”.

”If we don‘t take pains to get the right leaders, then we deserve whatever befalls us. Unless the society decides to nurture leadership, we will still not get the right policies or decisions. Politics is the vehicle for business,” Kufuor, who spoke at the same event, said.

The former UBA boss, however, said, in Nigeria and Africa as a whole, the consideration should no longer be ”what we did wrong, but how to move forward”.

He said, ”We need to move away from what we did wrong; we need to move ahead and solve the problems. We need that right leadership to take Africa to the next level.

”For me, we must begin to realise that everyone cannot be everything. Do what you know how to do best, and let others do what they know how to do best. Everyone can then come together to work for the good of the economy.”

Source: Punch