The President spoke through his chief of staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, at the launching of a biography for former president of Africa’s Business Roundtable, Dr Bamanga Tukur, in Abuja. The book is entitled ‘Legacies of a Legend.’
Gambari, a former special adviser to the United Nations on Africa, hailed Tukur’s role in the debt relief for African countries, just as he lamented that previously incurred debts were “not channeled into appropriate economic goods and services that directly lay the foundation upon which the economic growth will be experienced.”
He said, “Debt, if properly contracted and utilised effectively, is an important instrument in the economic blueprint of a government in its policy making sphere.
“Our President is determined to execute these projects and ensure that before he departs office, under his watch, the infrastructure gap of Nigeria which was widened has been reduced considerably.”
Recalling Tukur’s role in the seeking debt relief for Africa, he said “During the latter part of my engagement there, I recalled Bamanga Tukur’s activities with Tony Blair led Commission for Africa in 2004/2005 and how that led to the 2005 G8 Summit landmark decision on debt cancellation for 32 African countries. Prior to that, many poor African countries were using a large portion of their little resources to service debt obligations.
The benefits of debt cancellation was that many African countries were then able to free up resources which they previously channeled into debt servicing and deployed them into socio-economic and infrastructural projects. That explained the fact that shortly after, the fastest growing economy was from Africa which perfectly fuelled Africa’s rising narrative.
“To my mind, many credits are not yet given to the role played by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur in the process. We must recognise that now,” he said.
Speaking, chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Gen Buba Marwa, described Tukur as a man of many parts, adding that
“When he was in active politics, he played it without bitterness and rancour. Tafida is a great father and a teacher,” he said.