Accra, December 3, GNA — Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has presented a significant statement at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg, declaring the official initiation of the Accra Reset’s interim Secretariat in Ghana.
A statement from Ghana’s Presidency indicated that former President Obasanjo emphasized President John Dramani Mahama’s revolutionary leadership in redefining global development cooperation.
Mr. Obasanjo, representing President Mahama, who is leading the Accra Reset initiative, informed the gathered global leaders that the Global South-centered platform has broadened its Circle of Leaders to encompass over two dozen former Heads of State and leaders of international organizations from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the Caribbean.
He stated, “President Mahama expresses his profound gratitude to H.E. President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose leadership has steered this G20 cycle with clarity, courage, and a deep commitment to justice,” relaying special regards from the Ghanaian leader, who has also served as an African Union Champion for Reparations.
The Accra Reset signified a pivotal transformation in development ideology, departing from what Mr. Obasanjo termed “an economy of dependency” fostered by conventional aid and loans.
The former Nigerian leader asserted, “To progress, we must restructure our economies around trade and investment.”
Mr. Obasanjo underscored that the program sought to convert development cooperation into a framework that was “country-led, regionally empowered, and globally coherent,” signifying a shift from decades of top-down methodologies that had defined North-South ties.
The declaration of the Secretariat’s establishment in Accra marked a new chapter for the effort, which President Mahama advocated as a means to ensure that global governance improvements were “co-created, not imposed; negotiated with fairness, not inherited from history.”
A High-Level Panel was created to prepare a seminal report on the restructuring of global governance, to be submitted to a commissioning authority comprising Heads of State from both the Global North and Global South, the statement indicated.
Mr. Obasanjo commended South Africa’s G20 Presidency under President Ramaphosa for promoting priorities that closely align with the Accra Reset mission, such as a more equitable global financial architecture, enhanced global health resilience, equitable technology partnerships, and increased participation of the Global South in multilateral decision-making.
Mr. Obasanjo stated that the Accra Reset is prepared to collaborate closely with the G20, characterizing the platform as a “connective tissue interlinking the public, private, and civil sectors of Global South societies.”
The program aims to shift international development from perpetual idealistic aspirations to viable business models that foster substantial and lasting change, embodying President Mahama’s pragmatic vision for economic transformation throughout the Global South.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo. Re edited by TNT news online
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